Whitechapel – Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms

It’s difficult to write a live review these days without descending into overworn clichés due to the sheer number of zines, blogs and other general ‘stuff’ that appears all across the world wide interweb it becomes difficult to say anything which doesn’t seem vomit inducingly irritable. Thankfully, reviewing Whitechapel’s performance can be done without this risk. Well, not entirely but you see my point.

The opening ‘Breeding Violence’ is a perfect demonstration of just why this band seems to be constantly moving forwards despite their level of extremity. Whilst the (pretty short) set draws mostly on their most recent album (not a surprise though really) there  does exist a genuine (not neo-cliched) power in their performance. It’s important to stress that whilst this review is descending into the cliché ridden mess which I predicted, I have a genuine love for this band.

I’ve seen then play live on several occasions and have to admit that they are truly superb. I’ve fallen out of love with a large amount of heavy music (I mean, does anyone ACTUALLY like Metallica these days?!) but Whitechapel made me realise just how good a band can be. As overwrought as it sounds, I really can’t recommend these guys enough. Maybe there is some hope for the music scene.

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Mr Bogle

It’s been quiet!

Hi guys, Alex here.

As you can see it’s been a bit quiet here since the new year. We’ve all been rather busy you see, but I understand that some of you still want to read about the latest releases and all that jazz.

Which is why I’m writing a quick one to inform you that my personal blog and review site has been going for about a year now. You can find it at http://www.twaddlefish.wordpress.com if you would still like to read the kind of stuff we’ve made here and previously at HeadBang. We do count on your support for all this, so please subscribe!

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Alex/T-Fish

Dillinger Escape Plan @Brighton Concorde 2 4/11/10

Unfortunately owing to the company kept at the gig (that being your humble author) I have been able to keep a brilliant memory of this gig. Of course I’m neglecting to tell you that I would have remembered such a fucking incredible show regardless of who was there and who wasn’t. Kicking off the evening was The Ocean, who I’d previously been unaware of, admittedly I was expecting a show resembling the old Concorde2 toilets, but I remembered that they were on tour with DEP so they can’t have been terrible. And they weren’t, they were really damn good, tight as hell with some awesome tunes. Resembling a mix of The Defiled and DEP themselves, I’m sure I would have largely ignored them had they been presented to me via Youtube, but live they made a great impression. One to look out for. UK fuckingmentalyetsomehowawesome-core band Rolo Tomassi were next up and while it’s clear they are a band in their infancy, it’s also clear that they are aware of the underground fuss being made of them, after their awesome album ‘Cosmology’ was released earlier this year, their frantic blend of hardcore, metal and electronics is beginning to take the shape of something slightly more coherent with a hint of something special waiting in the wings. And if the mutters of ‘Wow she’s hot… holy shit she’s growling’ are anything to go by they’ll be getting plenty of attention anyway.

Dillinger Escape Plan burst onto the stage with ‘Farewell, Mona Lisa’ the opener from this year’s album ‘Option Paralysis’ and literally tore the place apart. (It’s really surprising how the Concorde is still standing after all these hardcore and metal bands threaten to tear it down and usually near on do). The epic-ness of ‘…Mona Lisa’ showcases their unquestionable skill in the first 5 minutes of the gig, leaving those wondering how they were going to pull off their insane songs live slapping themselves for being so stupid. They tore through favourites ‘Fix Your Face’ and ‘Milk Lizard’ straight after and then continued to plough through their set, a good mix of old and new songs, including the spectacular ‘Good Neighbour’ and the bonkers classic ‘43% Burnt’. During the hour or so they were on stage, nothing stood still, the whole place was just a sea of people going mad. Frontman Greg Puciato wastes no time in whipping the crowd up and even goes for a little jump during the last song.

Dillinger are on fine form and hopefully it won’t be too long before they come and destroy our seaside resorts again.

Come back soon, lads.

10/10