Gama Bomb - Little Civic - Friday 17th October 2008

Couple of new bands to check out along with a couple of old friends, surely a recipe for a good night?

Sworn Amongst were up first with their modern take on thrash. There were elements of the Big Four of course, but they beefed this up considerably with extreme metal touches and some truly ferocious breakdowns. The vocalist/rhythm guitarist turned out to be a more than adequate frontman too, although he was guilty of committing the only real musical flaw of their set by missing his first solo. The lead guitarist was a good technician and was allowed to shred freely which he did with sweep-picking gusto. Completing the line-up were a five string bass player and drummer who formed a tight rhythm section. Worth keeping an eye on these guys, I feel they have the potential to record a killer album or two.

Godsize played an absolute stormer of a set at the recent Meltdown Records all-dayer and it was always going to be fascinating to see how they followed it up. Effortlessly and clinically are the obvious words that spring to mind. I've seen these guys a lot over the last twelve months or so, and they are always tremendously entertaining. Bravely they started off with, as they put it, a new 'un, in the shape of “Until You Scream” - thankfully they nailed it and then followed it up with much loved live classics. Another relative newie “Love Glove” was the prelude for four tracks off the album; “Hate Fuelled Abuse”, “Beer Slag” and “For You” were all stunning, before “Start Her Up” closed the set in blistering fashion. I have to thank the band for the signed setlist, really appreciate it fellas. On the evidence of their last two performances Godsize have moved up to the next level and I look forward to seeing them move onwards and upwards rapidly.

Bonded By Blood made me wonder if I was in a time warp, as you could quite easily have been in a Bay Area club in '84 as they blasted their way through their old school repertoire. They are a very young band who attacked the stage from the off and were technically brilliant. Regrettably one song very much morphed into the next and I was quite relieved when they finished. I'd heard it all first time around, and good as they were as musicians, the lack of breakdowns and the similarity of their material left me distinctly non-plussed. They didn't endear themselves with a very ordinary cover of Death Angel's “Kill As One” either, especially as Death Angel's version on the same stage earlier in the year had been jaw-dropping. Had a good chat with their bass player Ruben shortly afterwards; great bloke, he's clearly very focussed and got his head screwed on. I wish him and the rest of the band well, guess I've been playing too much technical stuff lately – then again can you listen to too much Gojira or Meshuggah? Nah....

Gama Bomb's maxim “faster is gooder” tells you all you need to know really. No frills, no excuses, just blisteringly fast thrash played meticulously well. Unfortunately, after the previous set, it was the last thing I needed to hear. I've seen these fellas a couple of times before and enjoyed them immensely, it just got a little bit too much on this bill. Less is more would be my maxim to sum up the evening, simply one band too many. Guys, I'm sure I'll see you numerous times in the future, and enjoy the vast majority of your performances, this got very samey very early on for me I'm afraid. I was clearly in the minority though as everyone else seemed to be going completely apeshit. There was a new style of appreciation tonight as well – the truncated mosh. Essentially a mosh taking twenty seconds or less to complete, truly bizarre... Having said that Joe and the guys are great company and it was good to have a chat at the end of the night – see you when you next tour fellas.

Overall an entertaining evening although the last two bands got very samey. Sworn Amongst are promising and Godsize again won the band of the night award quite comfortably. Keep this up fellas and 2009 should be very kind to you.