Gig reviews for November 2011

Glory for a Dead Man at the Soundhouse, 10 November

Kevin Gaughan reports.

The Soundhouse was packed tonight, full of young moshers, t-shirted with an extra dose of under-arm body odour and ready for some serious moshing. It was a great party atmosphere in the venue, the crowd were in good spirits and vocal and it was only half past eight!

First up, a young man from Leicester by the name of Cassius Povey, armed with his guitar, he was only given two days notice for this gig. With plenty of friends in the audience, however, he seemed confident and relaxed.

Cassius has recorded some heavy-as-hell rock tracks, but as he didn't have any time to rehearse for tonight's show, he played some rock covers acoustically including Alice in Chains, Korn and Metallica, among others.

Cassius Povey © Kevin Gaughan

His performance tonight was confident which I think affected his singing in a negative way, as some notes fell a bit short. Cassius was joined at the end of his set by Joe Doyle from the Weekend Schemers who helped with the vocals, but more enhanced the fun element of the gig with the crowd joining in on some songs.

Cassius Povey on Facebook.

Cassius Povey and Joe Doyle © Kevin Gaughan

Next up, Unknown Bullet, a new four piece, post hard-core, screamo band from Leicester. These guys, and girl-on-drums were bristling with energy and taking their performance seriously.

Unknown Bullet © Kevin Gaughan

With the mosh-pit in full swing and oodles of the wonderful aroma of eau d'armpits, the Soundhouse erupted into an energetic hard-core frenzy. Plenty of enthusiasm from front man, Alun Davies who was putting every ounce of energy into his screamo parts. They were great fun to watch and, indeed the screamo sounded OK, but I would say his normal singing voice needs some work.

Unknown Bullet © Kevin Gaughan

Unknown Bullet, however, were entertaining to watch but there's room for improvement.

Unknown Bullet on ReverbNation.

Click here to see Unknown Bullet perform at the gig.

Last up for the night was a brand new band from Leicester, Glory for a Dead Man. This being their debut gig, I expected them to have some teething problems, I wasn't far off the mark.

<strong>Glory for a Dead Man</strong>
Glory for a Dead Man © Kevin Gaughan

Again, the mosh-pit took off into a hair-raising (literally!) mass of sweaty arm pits and bodies, just having a great time. Occasionally, lead singer, Rory Kelly, jumped into the audience to join them for a quick mosh before returning to the stage.

The style was the same as Unknown Bullet - good, solid hard-core screamo stuff with the odd, catchy guitar hook.

While the vocals were an improvement on the previous band, it was obvious they could have done with more rehearsing, as there were some obvious mistakes. At times it seemed Rory was struggling with the screamo - hardly surprising as he put his heart and soul into it!

The performance was again, good to watch with plenty of enthusiasm from most of the band but with room for improvement, which is to be expected at their debut gig.

On the other hand, the crowd's performance tonight was fantastic - full on crowd participation and enjoyment all the way making for a frantic, energetic and a bit smelly, atmosphere!

Glory for a Dead Man on Facebook.

Click here or here to see Glory for a Dead Man perform at the gig.