GIG REVIEW: Kill II This, Divine Chaos +more at Lyrics Dundee.
Bands: Kill II This, Divine Chaos, Burning The Dream, Dirty Judas, Tusk
Setup to be quite a monster ever since the 2 shows running the same night decided to combine and collaborate instead clash of and make a full course meal of a metal! With 3 of 6 the bands (That's half) only recently rocked out a major a festival; Bloodstock this year, this was set up to be a great way to finish of the metal year with this the last meal and gig of the year!
So on we go and get stuck in! Tusk are on first and are get on stage quickly and efficiently and fire up in a fashion of band proud to open for one of their favorite bands. This time looking much more confident and relaxed. Kicking out some solid covers of L7 and Motorhead as well as their own tracks.
It's great to see them being a lot more confident in their own material giving them more of an emphasis in their set this time, feeling as if they are slowly pulling away from the covers. It's also so good to see look as if they are enjoying themselves more, a much more relaxed Tusk was on stage this time. This is something they have taken from the studio and truly applied to their live show, learning to have more fun and it's working noisy wonders.
Despite having slightly truncated set due to the number of bands on, and the later start to get try more folk in first. The did an honorable job of leading everyone into this night of metal revelry.
Getting up on stage next is Bloodshot and provided the most banter between the song and some of longer tunes for the night. Ripping some quite majestic southern rock/metal jams their set was a good mix of old songs and one or two new ones, all proudly written by themselves as proclaimed by singer Lee Annandale. Like an old bull-dog you’d probably call “ol’ Reliable” that a bit looks rough and creaks and groans a lot, but when provoked the right way can still fetch like the best of them. They played a solid set of songs, very entertaining if a little shorter than normal.
Dirty Judas work their magic again on stage. Bringing a can and a half of groove, served in meaty chunks, up in the perfect bowl fit for the bulldog above like the finest pedigree chum. Definitely feeling a looking more fluent and confident being higher up in the bill that last time.
I was surprised that front man Danny Sexbang Col MacGregor didn't come forward out to the crowd to help get the limited audience engaged more into the action. Not the most energic I've seen them but what they lacked in movement they made up for in precision in strikes
Pretty much explosive from the very outset Burning the Dream swamp everyone in their signature style. A shitstorm of styles melding Groove metal given a modern metal facelift with melodic death metal and even adding elements of slam death metal into the heavier bits,
A hurricane of a front man (Paul Kelly) who is not afraid to get up close and personal into the dauntingly empty pit area. Trying to get people moving as there was a plenty a headbang happening but the there was no pitting sadly.
Blatantly political in their attitude and especially in their merch they have an uncompromising style, with a clear aim, “Get fucking Moving!”
The band that really need to get a release out and fast, although they promise it's in works. Watch this space.
Tied for the “band of the night” between them and Burning The Dream, Divine Choas quickly took to the stage and came on like a tsunami, sweeping away all in their wake. While the previous band focus was the heaviness of their package, Divines chaos attack was more gear towards the progressive. Showing off massive Melodic death metal hooks combined with some breakneck thrash/death fast sections, and elements of crust in the vocal delivery.
The rapidity of the set with littlest of a gap between track after track each having the equal part melodic sweeping technicality to neck wrecking thrashing that really made it hard one on the neck muscles.
An intense set that was fired out quickly and precisely for a very complete attack!
Up finally was Kill II This taking their time to get up and ready on stage but what time they spent on delaying and building anticipation was more than made up for in Volume! They were the loudest band of the night and submerged us all in a lake of hard rocking alternative metal infused with industrial elements. And it's this sample-heavy fusion that is really blunt force the main focus on the chaos.
In the riff department, they keep things mainly simple, splashing from the old nu metal vial with the vocals providing mostly clean and their darkly uplifting gothic overtones.
Overall I found the sound enjoyable but kind of dated, in a fascinating way like a "Niche within a niche". Rooted in the 90′s to early 2000 wave of metal where they hit some relative success, but they were too underground for most mainstreamer metalheads (like myself) to be that interesting at the time, and are now too mainstream and dated at the same time for now matured and older metalhead to really get invested in apart from the nostalgia element if you knew them at the time.
It's great that these guys are having another shot to get the recognition that never got first time round but like the aging rock stars of the glam hair metal era, that might be even a little insincere of them to try and jump on the trend of the time.Thankfully they have not compromised anything, and look like they love doing what they do and probably more so now than they even did back then.
Photos by the awesome JGW Lee Photography
https://www.facebook.com/pg/Jgwleephotog
This although a great show and had some amazing bands playing, as well as a rocking after show party at the only metal nightclub in the town KAGE, it was a good night!
The only real and my biggest complaint of the night was the crowd. Well, lack of, turning out to be another night of bands pretty much playing for other bands with minimal others in the room.
This might be a case of the relative obscurity of the headliner and or an aging metalhead scene in the town, or even a competing out of town show. It certainly could do with more people to help elevated this gig from a good standard one to a great one!
The venue was nice and comfortable, with a good sound. As another venue that is only "thinking about" putting on more metal shows it would do well if it did no doubt. Although the decor might be a bit too swanky for the metal crowd.
