Reviews

Rock and roll has grown from its roots in the 1950's to encompass many different sounds and tonight at the L'Ancresse Bay Hotel it was the heaviest of these that was on display as Ferox launched their debut album, 'Insides Out At The Mortuary Gates'.

Starting the evening with an impact were black metallers Darker Shores, making their first full live appearance as a five piece and previewing some material from their upcoming new record and musically speaking they were on top form.

Mark and Dano of Darker Shores.

The addition of an extra guitar and lead vocalist has really opened up the band's sound to a level of skull rattling heaviness Darker Shores has previously only hinted at. Using the second guitar to create a wall of rhythmic sound along with the bass and drums meant that the listener was constantly bombarded with noise.

Above this, the dual vocals of Mark and Phil gave a greater depth to the demonic roars and screams that are one of the hallmarks of the genre and allowed the guitars more freedom to solo and at times even small melodic passages found their way into the mix.

While Darker Shores sounded huge tonight their set was somewhat let down by the breaks between the songs where the energy from the band, and thus in the room, seemed to drop.

This, though, was probably down to the band having only previously played three songs together live with this line up and hopefully with a more responsive audience and more live shows under their belt Darker Shores could be an epic musical prospect.

Second on stage, and also suffering from the somewhat distant crowd, who seemed content to lurk in the shadows at the back of the hall, were Teaspoonriverneck.

Erneck of Teaspoonriverneck.

Blasting their way through a similar set to that which they played here a few weeks ago, featuring mostly new material, as ever they sounded great with 'Gideon' really standing out as a future classic of local music.

Towards the end of the set the band seemed to suffer from some problems with the drum kit, however from a musical standpoint these weren't noticeable as they closed with 'Eaten By The Devil' and 'Blonde Witch' from their debut album.

As ever Teaspoonriverneck's tunes were great head banging and dancing rock but even that didn't bring the appreciative but distant crowd forward.

Even without hearing Ferox one could easily tell that it was going to be something brutal as the room was decorated with banners showing their gruesome album cover and so there was great anticipation as they took to the stage.

Matt of Ferox.

Blasting through most of the songs from 'Insides Out At The Mortuary Gates' Ferox put on a solid show tonight, but it seemed to lack something of the intensity they have become known for.

This also can't have been helped by the front half of the room remaining largely empty throughout the set as all but a few stuck to the shadows at the back. The few at the front did their best to get a pit going but with only three willing members it was sporadic to say the least.

While Ferox may have lacked their trademark intensity they still sounded great and with metal as ferocious as this really deserved more of a crowd reaction, as did the other bands playing tonight.

While all three bands put on a good show I couldn't help feeling a little under-whelmed after the show as the shear brutal intensity of this heaviest of metals seemed somewhat lacking.