So another night in Bogiez Rock Bar and Nightclub for a night of British heavy metal. I will admit that I went to this gig for Sacred Mother Tongue as Revoker have never really done it for me, however tonight was my epiphany as they really impressed me but more on that later. First up however were Exeter's Cry Havoc.
Cry Havoc
Billing themselves as Thrash 'n' Roll Cry Havoc delivered just that with equal parts thrash, groove and sleaze metal. The band are lewd, rude and tattooed featuring a dual guitar attack and some screamed/clean vocals from frontman Gav. The band exploded into a short opening set that perfectly showed their obvious talent. They reminded me of Avenged Sevenfold in their City Of Evil phase using classic metal riffage with modern sensibilities and dousing it all with a fuck it all attitude. A7X have never been my favourite band and Cry Havoc are also not a band that I would go out of my way to see but they deliver a feisty cocksure set that will see them gain a lot of fans (that will be considerably younger than me). 7/10
Sacred Mother Tongue
The band of guitar virtuoso Andy James, Northampton's Sacred Mother Tongue mix rock and modern metal to bring a very explosive but melodic attack to their set. The band played a mix of old and new with a lot of the set coming from their new EP A Light Shines the highlights of which were Bleeding Out and the monstrous Seven. Andy James' guitar playing is as usual simply phenomenal his rhythm is chunky, heavy ad filled with groove and his solos are masterful and have melodic precision. This is not a one-man-band however bassist Josh Gurner has his own extreme technical gifts and bounces around the stage like a kid on a sugar rush, the drumming of Lee Newell is also great and shakes the foundations. It's the vocals of Darrin South, who looks like a cross between a giant and a mad wizard, that are also a revelation as they are equally at home screaming as they are producing a powerful croon and can switch with ease. The band continued to rip Bogiez a new one (even when the vocal P.A onstage had exploded) with the would-be classic Two Thousand Eight Hundred. SMT played a set full of groove laden, heavy metal with lots of melodic rock styling’s, which was helped by the great sound that the venue continues to deliver. Great stuff from these modern British metallers. 8/10
Revoker
Rhymney Valley natives Revoker returned to their nation’s capital to prove why they have been featured as support on so many bands UK tours. Their brand of modern thrash that is part Machine Head, part Pantera and part fellow countrymen BFMV has always left me a little cold the last few times I've seen them however they certainly managed to stoke my fire here tonight from the opening shout along chorus of opener Stay Down which features the refrain "It's just another Saturday night in my hometown!" and in the nation’s capital this was close enough to their hometown to incite a riot. They were on fire running through their debut on which they have been touring for a good few years now, as such this is both a blessing and a curse as tracks like Time To Die, Psychoville and Nature Of The Beast were all delivered with extreme tour honed precision however it does mean that their set has become a bit predictable. Despite this Jamie Mathias' voice has become strong with all of their touring. The band's modern thrash inspired many pits and crowd surfing and managed to pull quite a considerable crowd. This was the best I've seen the band, who aired a new track called Killing Floor which was the heaviest track they played and also put in a cover of the TNT that they managed to turn into a Pantera song. Ending on Hate Inside the boyo's managed to create a set of finely tuned thrash that left the crowd battered and grinning from ear to ear. They just need a new album and some new songs to propel them to stardom. 8/10
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