A trio of top quality bands playing a local show for only a few pennies? Sign me up!
Happily I knew the headliners were always going to deliver so for me it was more about checking out the other two bands, one with a pedigree on the South Wales music scene while the other came over the bridge to show whether they were as gnarly live as they are on record.
With the Cardiff Uni's Alternative Music Scene out in force for the gig, along with some other ruffians, a miserable Thursday started to heat up nicely as the first band took the stage.
This first band were Gnasch (8), who's most recent EP made my ears bleed, so with my earplugs in firmly, the Bristol foursome took to the stage and proceeded to play filthy, noisy, sludge. Taking tracks from their most recent EP and their previous releases too, the volume was at the top level, as the guitars created a thick syrupy brew of distortion, driven by heavy hitting drums.
If you want melody then this is not the place to get it as Gnasch give audio abuse, these huge sludge cuts are topped off by the possessed vocals from Russ, who screams, growls and gargles while rolling his eyes back into his head. This was the debut of their new guitarist Lewis and he slotted in perfectly with low hanging guitars slinging muddy riffs.
A meaty morsel to begin this feast of noise and up next there was no let up because Dosed (8) don't do slow. They're a raging hardcore monster comprised of some veterans of the South Wales heavy scene. For them this is about having good time and getting the crowd moving, frontman Paul is in the thick of it shouting from the audience as he stomps around.
Behind him the band play hardcore with a bit of thrash, the crossover riffs leading to light speed blasts and knuckle dragging breakdowns, which of course caused some fly kicking in the crowd. However consideration came for those of us who perhaps don't want a foot in the teeth as they called for 'consensus' moshing so if more people were push pitting than fly kicking then do that. I found this quite considerate well until they managed to turn the floor into a circle pit!
Heavy fun from Dosed which managed to increase the tempo and the movement after the opening sludge bomb all leading up to the headliners.
I've seen Thrakian (9) a fair few times, from their early incarnation through M2TM right up to modern day but I'm unsure if I've seen them Matt Strangis playing bass. He and frontman Atanas are both members of Pantheïst but Thrakian is a different beast and by the looks of this set a much more ferocious one.
There's always been groove, heavy repeating groove that balances mysticism and aggression, much like how modern day Rotting Christ drive forward with chugging precision, Thrakian do something similar, the rhythm section of Atanas (guitar), Saska (drums) and Matt (bass) lay down riffs that shift between flurries of speed and methodical crushing.
Atanas is a raging engaging vocalist, his guitar often held high in the air, which is where Matt lays down some effects driven low end that just creates this bass drops you can feel in your stomach. With this solid rhythm section creating the loudness, Kristiyan seems now to have more room to add some lead flourishes and solos, and sees Thrakian emboldened by a more cinematic sound.
Playing as yet unreleased track from their upcoming album, cinematic would be the best word to describe it, as it feels like they have hit on what they are as a band, inspired by both their Bulgarian heritage and their Welsh
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