Appleby Surprise

So there I was walking past the Appleby in Burton and I notice a band setting up, odd considering it was a Thursday, I check the listings and it says 'TBA'. So here is a review of 4 surprise bands randomly watched at my local.

I find out from Kev that the first band is called Deadlight, their made up of 2 lead guitarists, a bassist, rhythm guitarist and a lead singer, they appear to be extremely young and very scream-core. They played well though and had a good sound, I would recommend a name change to something more original and for the vocalist to listen to himself more and improve on his clarity. Otherwise they were a fairly enjoyable band who could go far.

Next up came Propane the blues, a local 5 piece (lead, rhythm, bass, drummer, singer) they started badly and went downhill from there, the 2^nd song was terrible with low vocals, and each band member having to keep checking what each other is doing, next came a ballad but it was a totally unintelligible intro and the lead singer was accompanied by the lead guitarist, unfortunately on this song the female singer was actually audible and the male was low, this could be down to the venue rather than poor setup but that's what sound checks are for. They followed this up with a dreadful behind blue eyes cover I headed to the bar looking for booze, muscle-relaxant, before being served though I notice a mildly familiar face next to me, the bassist from Propane the blues, no less! It turns out the lead guitarist moaned at him for soloing, the band did 3-4 more songs before finally leaving us in peace.

Sins of the Father next, consisting of Raz (bass), Morgan (lead guitar), Brass (lead singer) and Billy (drums), the latter 2 are familiar Appleby regulars, they start with Breaking the law but Brass can't wail and without a rhythm section it sounds empty and unfulfilling, the next song was, I think called King, it was very Iced Earth in its style but as before felt empty, other wise it was a very good song. Next was a cover rip-off of Iron Maiden's Lord of the Flies, it was so close I almost sang along. I felt betrayed though the lead singer did sound a lot like Blaze Bayley during some parts of the last song aswell. Next was whiskey in the jar, not as good as the Thin Lizzy version, but it was the best they'd played all night and showed the bands potential. To finish they played another great tune called call of Valhalla, which was helpfully described as being “about Norse mythology”, I figured he worked in the department for no shit Sherlock during the day. Anyway this was yet another Blaze Bayley style track and he and Maiden did a Viking song this is what it would sound like.

Finally came Devil Down, who are extremely Killswitch Engage in their style they started off with come get your devil down, which instantly got the crowd going and an excellent mosh pit ensued. Holy diver next, as you'd expect they tried to do it in the Killswitch style but the instruments clashed all over the place, the lyrics were overwhelmed and it was complete chaos, Havoc was a good way of describing it and coincidentally that’s what they played next. This was still very Killswitch Engage, and also excellent. A few tracks later came The Devil went down on me, quite homo-erotic and the title explains it all, if a girl sang it, then it would've made sense, it reminded Phi of The devil is a loser by Lordi, they finished with a song called twisted which was yet another KE style song. Overall it would have been best if only Devil Down played an the others stayed at home, except for the rhythm guitarist from Propane the blues, he was actually quite good to watch and had some dexterity in those little fingers, he should go find a band as good as he is and join them.