I am back reviewing a gig in a castle, like buses two came along one after another. This time I am at Chepstow Castle to watch headliners The Blackout, who were main support for Funeral for a Friend at Rock the Castle in Cardiff for my last review, with support from BlackGold and The Brass Bambees.
Any bands I don't know before I see I always have a look and listen to what they are all about to get a sense of what I am about to watch, The Brass Bambees (7) are defiantly a band you should be keeping an eye out for in the future in my opinion. Coming to the stage with a near capacity crowed the smiles were beaming from there faces, no fancy recorded intro just straight into a song, With a wall of indie rock smashing drums that transition to hardcore post punk drums when the song needs it, and punk rock vocals very similar to Dennis Lyxzen from Refused but with that awesome Welsh twang in the accent from singer Rhys Davies.
I recently saw The Melvins in Bristol and very much see The Brass Bambees being on a bill with them, the guitars and bass come at you hard especially the bass tones, keeping your body moving with hardcore punky grooves while the guitars have that classic indie rock uplifting choruses. There is a gritty energy to every song that bites at you, a song that stood out for me was Modern Cassanova, a love song straight from the streets of Merthyr, were the band are from and formed in 2022. Sounding and looking very at home on stage I was surprised to hear from Rhys that this is the biggest gig they have played so far, not something you would think from the presence and attitude they have throughout their set.
I was very impressed with The Brass Bambees or The Bambees as I think they are going to be known from now on, like I said earlier most certainly a band to look out for in the future, can most certainly see them playing some big venues and playing with some huge bands very soon.
Next up we have New Nu Metal or rap Metal or whatever you want to call it, I call it dam good music, BlackGold (7). Entering the stage with their well known black and gold attire, face masks, Think late Nineties dress code but different variations of the band colours but dam these lot pull it off with style and machismo.
Next up we have New Nu Metal or rap Metal or whatever you want to call it, I call it dam good music, BlackGold (7). Entering the stage with their well known black and gold attire, face masks, Think late Nineties dress code but different variations of the band colours but dam these lot pull it off with style and machismo.
Being the age I am this is my music era all summed up in one set, back when I was going through late end of school days and college it was the age of Nu Metal, I can see why BlackGold get the label but its so much more than just a nostalgia tribute act, this band is a force of its own in all aspects. You hear the modern influences in their music in each song with the chugging djent guitar riffs that bounce back and forth from bouncing half times to classic Nu metal groovy verses.
A song that stood out was the 2022 single On Another Level, leading to the song we had a medley of classic old school rap songs including Simon Says by Pharoahe Monch, the groove on this song will keep you moving and dancing throughout, "oh yeah this is Renegade music, slick rick type of s#it, on another level with it" a chorus that has almost everyone chanting by the mid of the song. Fast rapping verses into punching catchy choruses is what this band does best and On Another Level got me bouncing.
The stage presence from all members were excellent, confidence oozes from these lot, slick and look at real ease on stage and handles an audience effortlessly, even with the elder emo jokes thrown in from the vocalist which lets face it the majority of people at this show is, me having lived through it also. BlackGold are obviously a band you have to like Rap and metal and when there is such a musical culture clash it can either bomb or have an entire era dedicated to it and a new genre created from it, BlackGold sit in the Musical genre that became infamous but don't just rely on past glories to win over fans, with enough creativeness and forward thinking that can please both ew fans and fans of old skool Nu Metal.
Having seen The Blackout (8) recently supporting FFAF at Cardiff Castle but only getting a shorter set I was happy knowing I was going to get a full unedited set. Straight into first song Higher And Higher the crowd go wild, lots of energy from all on stage including the always classic mic spins from singer Sean Smith, The Blackout have more energy onstage than a washing machine on full spin with 4 house bricks getting a wash. There is plenty of banter from Sean and other vocalist Gavin Butler, many of times throughout the set actually made me laugh out loud with how funny they are.
We move on to more past songs including said and done and The Children Of The Night from their 2009 album The Best in Town, in between two more songs we get both vocalists giving praise to both supporting bands and thanking everyone that has come as this being their only headlining gig this year and no more gigs planned, saying they feel so privileged and humbled that the gig happened and that "people still show up to see us". With the sing along Children Of The Night done we move onto pit moving songs like STFUppercut and their last release Wolves. Every song is met with an 800 year old castle echoing with lyrics from The Blackout songs, band and crowd not skipping a beat next with the classic song Save Ourselves ringing out for miles and miles.
As we head to the end of the set a song that was teased earlier in the night by the crowd chanting it was I'm A Riot You're A F~cking Riot, not what I was expecting to close the show but a song that had everyone bouncing and shouting "Riot! Riot!" at the top of their lungs, singer Sean decided to abandon the stage half way through and just join the crowd in the pit for the last song which was so good to see them having so much fun together. Knowing of The Blackout out since them getting started to now and never seeing them to seeing them twice in the space of a month has been a strange experience, knowing I never saw them in their prime so to speak for me a newbie to watching them live I feel like they could easily be a top up and coming band out today and do really well.
Reading through a few promo posts from The Blackout leading up to this gig I noticed a comment by the band to a fan who said "Could we hear new music in the future" to which the band replied "we genuinely believe that not enough people would care and that isn't a "woe is me" message, there's a trillion bands making new music that never gets seen, we don't want to dilute the pool even more, we have had our go, if people still wanna come jam to the old songs then cool"
I get it and on one hand think its very nice to hear this and them being so supportive to new eras and bands but on the other hand I am very much in the opinion that if any new music from The Blackout was released there would be a lot of interest from new and old fans around the world.
Superb venue, great support bands and one of Wales best music exports headlining.
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