Reviews

Teaspoonriverneck have never been ones to do things on a small scale, from their sound, to their concept, to their gigs everything is pushed to the limits. So it came as something of a shock when their debut album surfaced a few moths ago with little in the way of fanfare.

Teaspoonriverneck coat of arms.

Well tonight they more than made up for that with a special album launch show at the L'Ancresse Bay Hotel. The first thing that struck me when entering the hotel's ballroom was that the Teaspoon' boys, along with Black Star Tattoo, had gone out of their way to change the usual atmosphere of the place.

While usually lit with plain lighting and being a largely plain and unexciting space, tonight the light bulbs were dark red and hanging from the walls were banners depicting the bands various logos, including two pieces that looked like the work of artist Dave McKean and really helped set a mood for the crushing heaviness that was to come.

Bobby and Dave of Iron Cobra.

First up on stage were local newcomers Iron Cobra. In the past Cobra's sound has shared a lot in common with many of the other young bands on the scene, tonight however they showed something a little different.

While they have always had elements of southern metal to their sound, they seem to be embracing these more now with much slower tempos giving their music a much more groove based feeling while upping the heaviness factor even further.

Iron Cobra got the crowd punching the air.

Tonight the band debuted two new songs which demonstrated this perfectly, and while their subject matter may not be to everyone's taste, 'Let’s Get Physical' and 'A Parody Of Actual Events' really showed the strengths of this young band who are cutting their own path in the local music scene.

Up next were another band who have also been making their own stamp on music in the Channel Islands, Jersey based duo, FalenizzaHorsePower. These two masters of rhythm play a style of music that frankly words can't describe, but as it's my job I'll have a go. Mixing elements of heavy metal, stoner metal, freeform jazz and plain straightforward rock, they play a kind of 'experi-metal' using just a bass guitar and drums.

Dave S of FalenizzaHorsePower.

Last time I saw the band play on their home turf, at Jersey's Live Lounge, they were somewhat underwhelming, after all I had heard, but, tonight they lived up to the hype brilliantly.

Storming through a set of some of the most crushing sounds I have heard on a local stage, while at the same time having both haunting and mellow moments as well, FalenizzaHorsePower's layered walls of sound really went down well with the large audience and gave Teaspoonriverneck quite an act to follow.

Before the 'Neck hit the stage we were treated to a selection of tunes from one of the evenings DJs. While it has become somewhat customary to just have some form of random shuffle of songs between bands recently, tonight between band entertainment came in the form of some heavy sounds from the record collections of some of the evening's band members spanning everything from classic rock to death metal to alternative and really kept the tone and spirit of the event in the right place even when the music wasn't live.

With matching Gibson SG guitar and bass propped up against their respective stacks on stage it was time for tonight's heroes, Teaspoonriverneck. Tonight the usually exceptional band were on fire and surpassed themselves even more than I expected.

Erneck of Teaspoonriverneck.

Starting out with 'Thanatoid Ripsnorter' and 'Truck' it wasn't long before they had the whole crowd locked into their stoner metal grooves and proceeded to do their best to blow the venues roof off with a mix of old and new tracks.

What made tonight's show extra special was that while launching their debut album, the band also debuted a selection of new material, including tracks 'One Riff Pony' and 'Gideon' which took everything that Teaspoonriverneck are famous for and turned it up to 11.

Onriv of Teaspoonriverneck.

Even with the new material though it was a couple of the bands classics which were the real highlights, in the form of album opener 'Eaten By The Devil' and 'Blonde Witch'.

By the end of the set though the crowd in the hot and sweaty confines of the L'Ancresse Bay were not satisfied and still wanted more. So they were treated to another, extended, run through of 'Eaten By The Devil', which got a majority of the biggest audience I've ever seen at this venue, singing along.

While Teaspoonriverneck may have had some tough competition from two bands playing at their best, tonight was always going to be theirs and with a triumphant, if somewhat belated, launch for their debut full length record they slayed all in their path and left fans expectant of what is to come next.