Local groove-metal crew hold party to celebrate release of new album. Also, likely to be my last ever gig in LEGENDS, as the building has been bought by an outfit which prefers the idea of the 'theme bar'. Great news for hen parties and fans of fake cowboy hats. Yee and, indeed, haw.
Anyway, the place is rammed tonight, sold out and more. It will get hot, sweaty and very, very messy. Hi-jinks and goings-on will ensue.
Line-up:
ACID REFLUX: Doomy sludge (sludgy doom?) from Glasgow. I looked on t'internet for info on this band once, and now I get a lot of ads for belly ache medicine and discussion groups. Not helpful.
There's three of them, very young, and they don't talk much. And play their set in almost total darkness. It's nice to (almost) see a young band that doesn't want to sound like Metallica or Pantera. These kids sound, rather, like something dragged from the sulphurous depths of a tar-pit. Slow, thick and filthy.
ROBOT DEATH MONKEY: The year's first appearance of the 'Hardest Band In Scotland'. Certainly won't be the last. I really shouldn't need to tell you anything about these lads by now. Seriously.
Even faster than usual, they will be joined by a number of guest singers during their set, both invited and not. Chaotic and immense fun.
STATE OF DECEIT: 'No nonsense metal' from South Wales. Not NEW South Wales, but the original one. The one that's not in Australia, but in actual Wales. They're down one guitarist tonight, so his place is taken by their bass player. They carry on regardless, sans bass. They seem impressed by the enthusiastic Edinburgh crowd.
SERPENT: Local 'groove metal juggernauts', it says here. A tad hyperbolic, perhaps, but maybe they're thinking ahead. I have seen them before (a statement that applies equally to all of the above, except for the Welsh lads) and, y'never know, they might be right.
Actually, they seem to have come on a lot since I last saw them. They're bursting with confidence and ability. They look the part, and sound it. They COULD be huge. Best o' luck to them.
They (m ore or less) end their set with a chaotic version of 'Ace of Spades' dedicated to the memory of PHIL CAMPBELL whose death was announced this morning. They invited the crowd onto the stage, and the crowd obliged. There was upwards of forty people up there, I reckon.
So, a fitting end to LEGENDS. Messy, sweaty, turbulent, noisy. It was easy to see it as a farewell party and to forget the fact that this was SERPENT's EP release show. Good luck in the future for everybody involved, sound crew, bar staff, gig bookers, all of them. You'll be missed.
And, it may be petty of me, but I look forward to the rodeo bar we get in it's place crashing and failing, rapidly and miserably.
