Minutes to Midnight

Another night on the town and feeling decidedly ragged. Not me though! Wednesday finds me gate-crashing Certificate18 for a mid-week feast for the ears. The occasion? Roy has recommended listening to Uniting The Elements.

I arrive half way through the set of Arctic Fury, heavy metal muthas, which I don’t mind at all since I’m currently going through a bit of a metal phase. More like mental! Although not technically the most accomplished of musicians, vocals were a bit wobbly, the guitar solos a bit rubbish, and their timing was not exactly spot on. Despite everything, their songs were good and they put up a fine performance. Arctic Fury are: Nick Montegriffo (Vocals), Alex Mullings and Rick Blomfield (Guitars), Liam 'Yom' Hardy (Drums), and Gaz Percival (Bass.)

Scream Arena were a bit weird. Heavy metal, as before, but the lead singer (Andy Paul) had an enormous ‘80s poodle perm and that bass player (Nick Daniel) had long blond hair that kept covering up his face like some kind of veil. On the other hand, the lead guitarist (Chris White) looked like he had just been dragged in from a building site; normal looking bloke, normal hair, normal clothes, just a normal-Norman. Other band members were: ‘Zep’ on drums, and Simon Gillott on rhythm guitar. Technically they were very good and they had obviously rehearsed until the cows came home, but the songs weren’t quite right and they never really pulled it off.

Finally, Uniting The Elements. This was a 3 piece heavy outfit fronted by a feisty red-haired vixen. There was Sarah on drums, more manic than Animal from the Muppets. Ola the classic, stocky, bald, tattooed guitarist with a bank of FX pedals that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a Star Trek set. And Dawn, the scrawny red-head looking a like Shirley Manson (Garbage) or Siouxsie Sioux. If you can imagine a white Tina Turner fronting a metal band, that’s what it was like. Hailing from Germany, they delivered an explosive blend of contemporary rock tinged with Punk and tenacity. The drum was frenetic, the guitar soloing superb, and Dawn had such stage presence, she was mesmerising. Well recommended.

Grump of the night. Hmm, haven’t got one.

This week I ‘ave mostly bin listening to ... Minutes to Midnight by Linkin Park. What an absolutely top album. Yes, there’s still some tracks that are very shouty and with swearing. That’s OK, I quite like a bit of shouty/sweary. But there are also some more melodic, thoughtful tracks. Ballads?!? Mike Shinoda's rapping on Hands Held High is fantastic. And I don’t like rap!