KYLESA, Circle Takes The Square, Ken Mode @The Temple 20/2/12

When RTM walks into the Temple there are three beardy blokes on stage setting up.

They don’t walk off stage at any point and it is only when the lights go down that you realise that these men are Ken Mode. The no frills approach encapsulates their sound too, they just plug in and play half an hour of songs that basically sound the same. A kind of melding of prog metal, stoner and metalcore, they posses monstrous riffs, but next to nothing that is memorable.

“We are Ken Mode, Circle Takes the Square are next” is the entire communication with the audience, and, as such we have no idea what the songs were they played – and to be honest, there is no reason to seek them out much further anyway.

The same goes for the aforementioned CTTS. The foursome from Georgia have recently become active again after a hiatus and, in a similar way to bands like Between The Buried and Me, their remit is to take chances. As such, if you “get” them they are probably a satisfying band, but the blend of screamo, post-hardcore and punk leaves us a bit cold.

The crowd is, on the whole, bored and bemused as the set goes on and on – again no communication with crowd doesn’t help - and by the end of the 45 minutes attention for the most part has all but totally wandered.

So its left to Kylesa to pick things up and the band – like CTTS from Savannah, Georgia – set about doing that. Their’s a unique sound, based not just around the headline grabbing front duo of Laura Pleasants and Phillip Cope, but also two drummers, Carl McGinley and Tyler Newberry and bassist Eric Hernandez (who recently made the move from the kit to stage front) who drive the evening on the back of a huge wall of sound.

It doesn’t seem like two years since the brilliant “Spiral Shadows” dropped, but it is and they play four songs from it tonight – including set highlight “Tired Climb.” 2009s “Static Tensions” is well represented too, with opener “Said And Done” particularly impressive.

Kylesa is a band you suspect that doesn’t want the limelight and a band, rather like Crowbar, where the music matters more than money, but that doesn’t necessarily make for a thrilling live spectacle.

There is a tiny break at the end of the set to allow for an encore, not it seemed because they needed the adulation, but rather because that’s what bands are supposed to do and they delve into their back catalogue for “Where The Horizon Unfolds” before a quick wave and they are gone.

Not a bad evening by any means, but one which never got anywhere to being exciting.