Post by neilcrud on Apr 8, 2007 22:13:34 GMT
From the Ashes
After the Last Sky
Empire of Vomit
After the Massacre
The Pilgrim, Liverpool
6/4/07
[/size]After the Last Sky
Empire of Vomit
After the Massacre
The Pilgrim, Liverpool
6/4/07
(review n pix by MWJ)
Someone who may or may not have been me in a past life or in my imagination may once have known that some of the best deals to have been done were courtesy of bent Scouse coppers selling off confiscated stuff through nefarious gangland connections. Best deals until you are ultimately ripped off with no prospect of any comebacks without the putting your kneecaps on the line. Allegedly.
Anyway, now when I’m looking for gig fixes Liverpool definitely is coming up with the goods. So finding a bit of grind with added crust definitely nailed it for me on Good Friday. ;-)
Had a slight problem finding this first time visited venue due to a postcode search mixup, but that allowed us the opportunity the opportunity of some legendary local wit and humour
Walking along a street between the two cathedrals
Scally kid – Eh, where’s der cathedral?
Me – which one?
Scally – any one, like
Me – there’s one there
Scally – no, it’s over there.
Runs off laughing. As I said, legendary. Anyway, after a diversion to Roadkill for directions and to enjoy the car crash themed décor we eventually got down to the pub which appropriately enough seemed to be a converted church. There wasn’t much sign of band action but then we discovered upstairs. It was pretty quiet and intimate with only about 30 or so there and no background music, and a hell of an “English Smog” as we’ll call it due to no smoking ban yet.
I had a feeling we may have already missed the first band “The Backpack Bombers” but soon ATM were up and running on their home turf. As previously reviewed they are impressive crust punk with two roaring female vocalists, tonight particularly working well together and giving me memories of the digital hardcore outfit Lolita Storm I’d seem some years ago. They have a new album out but unfortunately for me had sold out of their copies, also reasoning that “no-one in Liverpool buys anything anyway”. Anyway, as they are about to embark on a month long self organised European tour they could pick some up from their Italian label while they were over there. Fantastic adventure for all concerned I’m sure, great to just go for it.
It was musical chairs for Empire of Vomit as ATM guitarist become vocalist, bassist becomes guitarist and they have a new rhythm section. They did collectively change quite a bit more in style, having a much more ferociously speed-core punk delivery, the blasting drummer at the heart of this. It was in the vein of a lot of the classic late 80’s UK hardcore and good for it. The vocals were also impressive, cramming a lot in but retaining some audibility of the lyrics, which is good as like their predecessors they have a lot of worth to say.
Heard good things on the Ethernet about After The Last Sky and they certainly did deliver. Grindcore can be as constrictive as any genre but they brought plenty of variety and sheer inventiveness to their set through changes of pace, diverse drum rhythms, and a good two-pronged vocal attack. The main hoodied vocalist’s screams and growls backed up by the guitarists harsh, impassioned roar, where he leads on the brooding intro to their last song it’s almost Cult of Luna territory and that’s a winner for me. They have a four-way split EP with the headliners and a couple of others, great grind value for money with 10 tracks each!
To finish, from Sweden, From the Ashes. A glance at their 20+ song setlist with not much time left til closing suggests they’ll be flown through and they certainly do. 1-2 minutes raw grind numbers, less complex than the last band but still full of aggression and impressively powerful from only a 3 piece. There is an element of that successful Swedish death metal sound to them, downtuned and distorted, but they also have a hardcore immediacy and groove more like Unsane. They throw in an excellent cover of the old Napalm Death classic “Fascist Control” and receive much applause at the end of their set.
Along with that EP picked up a gem of a free CD sized vinyl, 5”? of yet another 10 tracks of grind, pushing an overdose now surely