I attended this show not quite knowing what to expect as I had heard a mixture of opinions on several of the bands, but when I arrived to a relatively large anticipating crowd, I thought I might be in for a good night.First on the bill was Pen Knife Love Life, a local band who although new, managed to bring an army of loyal fans down with them who were on their feet after the first few songs bringing along with them a great atmosphere. Saying that, it was a difficult task to distinguish which song was which as the majority began with the same screamed introduction. This band appeared to be an obvious cliché, covering something that has been very much overdone within the new 'hardcore' scene, but if you like the scene, you will like this band. They do have great stage presence, successfully managing to get the crowd more interested throughout their show with various members leaving the stage to conduct parts of their show on the floor for which you must respect them when the majority of the audience was hiding right at the back. Understandably, some might say, as their style will certainly not be to all tastes. Although they put their all into it I think they would be a hundred times better if they were found sharing a stage with some bands more of their genre, as throughout the night it became apparent that all the other bands prided themselves on at least some melodic, serene interludes which were definitely lacking from this first act.
When Pen Knife Love Life left the room, sadly so did a huge group of people who were clearly only interested in seeing the band who screamed the most. This was a great disappointment as the band who followed were one of the best I have seen in a long time. An alteration to the original line-up, The Printed Sound took the stage in a manner that made it almost impossible to imagine what to expect from them. They began playing to a crowd of only about 25 despite which their sound was way above the standard I had expected. The only thing I found disappointing about this set was the bloke with a pint dancing at the front, the novelty of which wore off quickly and began to irritate both the band and the audience when he proceeded to try to distract them from their set.
Each member of TPS seemed to put all their energy into tonight's performance and a combination of the melodic guitars, heavy drum beat and the absolutely incredible vocals which contained both power and serenity when necessary were, I felt, of too high a standard to be found in the back room of a pub. I couldn't have expected better on a much larger stage. The highlight of the set had to be the ballad 'She' which it was absolutely impossible not to tap your feet to (or dance, as proved by a crowd at the front). With its many accessible layers of emotion and melodies, this song was of the highest quality. Altogether I'd highly recommend seeing these guys as their completely individual sound is difficult to find.
Next up were Kram, for whom the room became a lot more packed. Despite my head still full of the previous band, Kram again caught my attention. They appeared to be a rock band with a hint of grunge, metal and some fantastic guitar melodies and this great diversity is probably what has acquired them their good reputation in the area. Several of their songs seemed to be strongly guitar driven and this worked well with the powerful vocals and the heavy beat which underlined the whole thing. Kram are worth seeing as their talent and combination of genres makes them difficult to dislike.
The headlining band, Ten Seconds of Chaos arrived on stage next. Although I didn't see their full set, I saw enough to realise that this band's power and their fantastic introductions are some of their main talents. Along with tuneful vocals, this band manage to make something regularly done sound unique and interesting. Again their focus seemed to be heavy riffs with melodic interludes and they definitely appeared to put all their energy into the performance and get totally lost in their own sound.
Tonights show was definitely worth the £4 entry fee with some very talented musicians in a unique combination of genres which kept you interested all through the night. The Printed Sound, in my opinion, were the main attraction mainly due the fact they had something special, something that made you stop and listen which I found lacking in all three of the other bands.
