Bloodywood, Armada Of Secrets, Endeavour & Liquid State, The Lanes, Bristol
Nu-metal from New Delhi? It can only be Bloodywood! Bristol, UK. It was warm. Very warm. The term Indian Summer is thrown around a lot but tonight it was incredibly apt. Bloodywood, the ex-parody cover band now making their own sounds, came to a very warm Bristol to play their first show on UK soil.
The show started off with local four-piece Liquid State (6) who roared into life bringing their catchy melodies and groovy sound to an ever-building crowd - who took to the band quite well. Next up Endeavour (5), post an appearance at the M2TM Bristol Semi-Final, played their heavier Dream Theater style sounds. Personally, I am not one for guitar solos that form the core part of a song, but they were a tight group and for those who are into that sort of thing will get a kick out of them. The final support act was Armada Of Secrets (6) - who I had never heard of before but brought a pretty good show to the now busier and warmer Lanes hallway. Vocalist Caroline had a great voice that really rung out while the crashing bass and good old fashioned rock and roll sound got people moving and singing.
It was then time for Bloodywood to enter the fray. At this point, a nearly sold-out crowd had packed into the venue and waited. And waited. The band stood silently looking out over the crowd as some form of technical issues prevented them from starting but when they did they launched into their (now over) one million viewed Machi Bhasad (Expect A Riot). For those who haven't heard the track (and you should!) its a solid nu-metal track that will keep your head banging and asking why tabla drums aren't more extensively used in metal. The energy and intensity was high and the two lead singers play off each other and the crowd really well. People were bouncing up and down and creating. I was really struck by the simple good old fashioned sound that made nu-metal such a force when it hit the scene. After that, they dived into three tracks Endurant, Jee Veerey, Rang De Basanti that most of the crowd didn't know but obliged with a lot of partying too.
Rapper Raoul Kerr left the stage as the band then dove into two cover songs - the first bhangra infused cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit that caught the party hungry crowd by surprise with and then a heavy metal cover of Tunak Tunak (If you don't know it Google it...). Two more of their of own tracks came next including Mundian To Bach Ke Rahi, and the very popular Ari Ari (now sitting on 3 million views on YouTube) Kerr came bounding past me as the band did their thanks and said how proud they were of everyone involved in the scene and said they had one more to play... Deja Vu! All of a sudden they launched back into Machi Bhasad (Expect A Riot) - normally a cardinal sin of gigs. But I was hard-pressed to find anyone in that room who was complaining.
Overall I am giving Bloodywood a strong (7). The band aren't going to change the world, nor did they do anything different, BUT if you are looking for a solid, head nodding, nu-metal group these guys have got it in buckets.
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