Reviews

With mist and fog filling the air outside it seemed the best place to spend what is usually the first big outdoor holiday of the year was in the confines of the L'Ancresse Bay Hotel where the first of Guernsey's music festivals was taking place.

With the UK having already seen the Give It A Name and The Camden Crawl festivals over the last few weeks, music fans in Guernsey had a new music event to keep them busy before the main events of the Green Man MCC Chaos Weekend and Vale Earth Fair later in summer, that being the Black Star Tattoo Bank Holiday Beatdown.

Nick Brouard of Iron Cobra.

Things got started with a band making their debut, Iron Cobra. Featuring several former members of death-screamo perpetrators Perpetual of the Blinding, Iron Cobra launched out of the blocks with a mix of southern rock and hardcore that at its high points brought to mind 90's metal greats Pantera.

With a few moments of sludiger and doomier sound thrown in for good measure, along with some killer heavy riffs this is a band that sounded good but displayed the potential to be great.

Second on stage were the interestingly monikered Dangerous Kids and Machine Gun Antics. Featuring the other two former members of PotB, Clinton Millard and Ben Lickley, they proved that one band ending can often lead to greater things.

Ben, Ryan and Clinton of DKAMGA.

Playing a form of screamo-metal DKAMGA's use of two vocalists really worked well as Clinton and Ben’s voices complemented each other to produce a great sound, and alongside the guitar of Ollie Hargreaves, who even fitted an attempt at a proper guitar solo into one track, this band could also do well with more shows under their belt.

Next up came the ever evolving If All Else Fails. From their beginnings as a lighter end emocore band they have transformed themselves into something of an unexpected metallic treat.

If All Else Fails.

Continuing with the heavier and less melodic vocal style the inclusion of dual guitar parts more reminiscent of classic metal has really made their sound deeper. The attempted melodic vocal parts may not have worked today but it just shows this a band still evolving their sound and getting better with every show.

As ever Vietnameasles changed the pace of things and once more confounded a large majority of the crowd with their hardcore chaos.

Blasting through around 20 songs in their allotted half hour, they managed to fit in original favourites like Emma and Beatdown Syndrome alongside a cover of the Proclaimers '500 Miles' (today dubbed '300 SPARTANS!') and a rendition of their rarely played but always welcome tongue-in-cheek "power ballad to Saddam Hussein" 'Play Your Kurds Right' which as ever featured a guitar solo like no other.

Ryan and Andy of Vietnameasles.

As is expected, whether the music was note perfect or not, Vietnameasles left me with a big smile on my face, and the feeling that I'm almost certainly going to Hell for laughing at their jokes.

Things took a turn for the mellower next as The Escape Fall stepped onto the stage. Playing a softer more 'emo-rock' than emocore style of music, The Escape Fall are a band who dare to be different and succeed brilliantly because of it. Far and away the softest band on the bill today, they also had one of the biggest audiences of the afternoon session, with a large number of the female audience members seeming most eager to be there.

Samuel K. Meader of The Escape Fall.

Expanding their sound today with a funk jam and a Muse cover, and the inclusion of some new songs, The Escape Fall continue to be one of Guernsey's hidden musical delights and if they stick to their guns could go far.

Another band making their live debut today was "killCORE" crew Alexander. While the band made a great noise, which started off with a lot of potential, by the end of their set I was left thinking their sound was somewhat lost without a direction.

Loydie of Alexander.

This sense of no direction was really evident through the fact that there was no change in style throughout the set so all the songs seemed to merge into one, and for all the sub-Judas Priest synchronised movements they were a monotone heavy metal offering today.

The Archetype Formation on the other hand play a similar, if not quite so heavy, style of music, but have found the sense of light and shade that any form of music needs to remain interesting for an extended period.

Kobrakai of The Archetype Formation.

While today's outing lacked some of the vitriol and spite of their showing at The Golden Lion a few weeks back TAF still put on a great show, and once again Kobrakai displayed what an energetic and frenetic front man he is when freed up from his guitar.

The evening's entertainment featured three of the big hitters at the heavy end of the local music scene, the first of these being southern stoner rockers Teaspoonriverneck.

Erneck of Teaspoonriverneck.

Sounding heavier than I have ever heard, the 'Neck seemed to be turned up all the way to 11 with Onriv's drums really providing a crazily heavy backbone for their groovy low end rock 'n' roll, over which Teaspo's lead guitar parts really soared even more than usual. With their self-titled debut album available at the show Teaspoonriverneck really seem to be winning over both the younger and more mature ends of the local music scene.

Next up things reached their pinnacle of heaviness as Ferox took to the stage. Playing a selection of now familiar material, alongside some new tunes, Guernsey’s top death metallers were on fire and also displayed a new variation on their sound with moments bordering on black metal and others exploring more thrashy territory.

Matt of Ferox.

The highlight of their new material came in the form of 'Rancid Abortion Chorus' and as ever their "theme tune" 'Cannibal Ferox' and 'Insides Out At The Mortuary Gates', tonight with a Black Sabbath-esque introduction, were the sets real top spots.

Finally taking to the stage were metalcore heroes MyLastVictory. Playing a mix of classics and new material they proved why they are at the top of the island's heavy music scene.

Clearly having great faith and confidence in their new material they blasted through two epic slices of original metal, an untitled new song and 'New Modern (Obsession)', to start the set and got the first real pit of the day going, as the previously un-energetic crowd suddenly came to life in a barrage of fists and feet.

Josh and James of MyLastVictory.

Playing and sounding like a full-on professional touring band it was MyLastVictory's classic tracks that really got the crowd going even more tonight. Especially their final song 'Scars and Memoires' for which they were joined by Luke Vidamour on joint vocals and proceeded to tear the place apart, even getting a circle pit going at one point.

When all was said and done all the bands put in a great effort at the first ever Bank Holiday Beatdown, even in the face of an often less than enthusiastic audience. But in the end it was once again MyLastVictory who came out as band of the day and showed they really could have what it takes to be huge when they relocate to the UK later in the year.