Another Point Of View: Skindred (Review by Stief, with contributions by Nicola and general ramblings by Rhod)

Skindred, The Globe

After a quick drink in the Pear Tree with our designated driver, Nic and our designated drinker, Rhod, we headed down the road to what seems to now be a frequent haunt for the Musipedia crew, The Globe for a night of English, Polish and pure welsh metal.

Feral Sun

Starting the night off is London based Hard Rock band Feral Sun. Although playing to a small crowd, the quartet seem to enjoy the atmosphere nonetheless. Their slow-to-medium heavy rock, chugging riffs seem to be a strange fit considering the headliners of this gig, but their sound is pretty much solid. Mick Burns' voice (which, although good, doesn't jump out), Alex Nikitin's heavy bass riffs paired with Marco lo Coco's guitar gives a good steady flow to the beginning of the night  The highlight of the band however is drummer Jay Stephenson, whose expressions range from determined to pure happiness, showing he's there to have fun and play music. 6/10

Chemia

Next up is Chemia from Poland...or Isengard as lead singer Łukasz Drapała keeps telling us. Much like Feral Sun, Chemia start off with heavy riffage, sounding very much like a lesser Grand Magus at points. This isn't a bad thing, however, as Łukasz's singing sounds just shy of JB Christofferson's soulful voice. As they continue through their set, Chemia pick up the pace with each song building with tempo, getting the crowd pumped up for the headliners. Having already played Hard Rock Hell earlier in the month, I'd say Chemia are a band to look out for. 7/10

Skindred

Not many bands can get away with using two songs to introduce themselves, but Newport's Skindred are one that are exempt. After pumping the crowd up with AC/DC's Thunderstruck in its entirety, the band file on stage to a remixed Imperial March, with the crowd going haywire at the sight of front-man and all around snazzy dresser, Benji Webbe. Adorned in a white top hat, dyed white Jacket and white sunglasses, he immediately tears into Rat Race. Throughout their entire set, Skindred keep it going with Benji giving no quarter to the Cardiff crowd, letting us know exactly how he feels about sub-par responses to Cardiff chants and lack of dancing. Benji's vast vocal range is backed up by the excellent musicianship of his fellow band members, Mikey Demus' guitars, Arya Goggin's drums and Dan Pugsley's bass relentless in their attack on the crowd's ears. Songs from this year's Kill The Power are mixed with classics such as Pressure and Destroy The Dancefloor, the night ending with crowd favourite Warning. We're even treated to a few remixes over the night, the first being Macklemore's Thrift Shop,which is interwoven with Metallica's Sad But True and Skindred's own Trouble, which the band blast into afterwards. However two major highlights of the night occur towards the end of the night, the first being a singalong of Slipknot's Duality which breaks unexpectedly into a huge, heavy drop halfway through. The second highlight of the night is a Christmassy singalong of McCartney's Wonderful Christmastime with a personal spin on the lyrics by Benji. Overall a blistering set and as we file out of the venue, there's not a single frown to be seen. 10/10