Reviewed on 28th September 2005.

These Monsters

Live at Dr Wu's on Monday, 26th September 2005

Tonight our two opposing bands compliment each other well. Both believe in experimenting and trying diverse, intriguing methods of song writing, which is always nice to hear.

The away team tonight are Brenda who combine haunting Jeff Buckley style harmonies with beautiful measures of melancholy. But more than this they know how to play hard and play loud. Brenda will break your heart before taking you outside to break your legs. Although the length of the songs borders onto the tedious, I am impressed with the creativity deployed (I have never seen a bass slammed into the floor whilst being hammered by a drumstick!) and the energy they deliver it with. The vocals are fantastic and well matched by the surrounding cacophony of sound. They also know how to work with the crowd and are clearly enjoying what they do.

These Monsters really aren't that scary at all despite being a Frankenstein's monster of ideas. They sound like a collection of thought processes that never quite come together. This said it is a glorious shambles to behold. These Monsters are a loud mix of the perverse and intolerable with punchy bass lines that are complimented by great drumming and sneering guitars. The sax playing was quirky but largely unnecessary and the general stage presence of the band does need working on as well. It took me a couple of songs to figure out where the vocals were coming from until I found the singer lurking just right of the stage, appearing almost marooned. Without a real focal point the band play from one long song after the next seemingly trying to kill time. However I get the feeling the band don't take themselves too seriously and are quite happy making their loud expressive racket on their terms.