Friday 13 June 2014

Last minute decision

It's been far too long since I wrote in this blog, however the summer holidays are coming soon so I should start writing more often (I know, i've said that bullshit promise so many times here).

A while ago on the 12th of may, I went to a gig, partially on a whim, and partially because I changed my money about saving money.
I brought the tickets the weekend before for £12.50, which for that line-up was a pretty amazing price. Born of Osiris were headlining at the Joiners in Southampton, with After the Burial, Betraying the Martyrs and Buried in Verona as support acts.

I only knew half of the bands playing, I saw Buried in Verona last year, and I had listened to Born of Osiris on and off for the last couple of years, but they had never particularly been on my 'I have to see these bands live before I die' list. Turns out they definitely should have been on that list.

Buried in Verona opened, and like  they did not disappoint, just as they did this week. I'm not a fan of their latest album, as I just find the songwriting boring compared to their previous records. Hearing the standout songs from that album live didn't change my opinion of the songs, but I certainly enjoyed it more than I did when listening to it on album. For me their set really kicked off at the last two songs when they played some older songs.

Betraying the Martyrs played second. I had given their music a good listen prior to the gig and they played a great set. As usual with a metal gig, the pit really got moving during the second band's set. I would say they were the heaviest of the support acts, followed by Buried in Verona.

After the Burial were up next. They were fairly similar to Betraying the Martyrs, except they were a little more technical. Also to note was one of their tunings, which involved a C# 0, which is a note you'd usually find on the bottom string of a bass guitar. Add this note and a heavily distorted guitar tone together..you can imagine the results. At points where they hit that open string, I could feel the floor  literally moving like waves beneath my feet.

Last up were Born of Osiris. They opened as I expected, with 'Machine'. Their set
was surprisingly good. I was expecting them to put on a stellar performance, and they did, but I was thinking that they would be let down by a bad sound due to bad acoustics and an inferior sound engineer. They fared much better than I expected, lots of clarity for a band in that genre.
The set as a whole was really tight, despite their singer, Ronnie stumbling into the drum kit, temporarily putting the music on hold.
They only had one guitarist on stage due to their other guitarist, Jason, leaving a band a few months previous, so they used pre-recorded guitars for a lot of their rhythm, leaving Lee to play the lead guitar and solos. He absolutely nailed the solos, even on 'Follow the Signs!'