I AM I, Primitai @Birmingham Academy 2 27/5/12

When ZP Theart planned the debut gig of his new venture I Am I, he probably didn’t plan it like this.

First, the Academy 2 is barely half full, despite a free t-shirt offer to all ticket holders and a reasonably cheap price, but then a Spinal Tap moment happened. The band starts up and Theart gallop on stage, opens his mouth and….nothing. Sound men below where RTM is sat get excitable and wave their arms about, but its not until he gets through the first verse and chorus that he remembers to turn his microphone on.

As starts go it is not the most auspicious.

Before all that, though, it’s the turn of Primitai to show their potential yet again. The Berkshire outfit have bubbling just under the surface for a while. RTM first clapped eyes on them a couple of years ago when they opened for White Wizzard and, although it is easy to see why they get lumped in with the current New New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (if you will) movement, they are not a retro sounding act.

They are currently recording the follow-up to superb second album “In The Line of Fire” and on the evidence of the one new track they air “Fortune Favours The Brave” it is going to be a fine affair.

It’s the songs from “….Fire” that continue to enthral most, however “Sin City” and a crowd participation heavy “Invading Hordes” sounding better than ever. If Primitai were Swedish or American then the magazines would fall over themselves to announce them as the “future of” something or other, but they aren’t, they are English, and as such, they survive on crumbs. However, their time could be now so let’s hope they can make it happen at long last.

Early sound problems notwithstanding this was always going to be a tricky sell for the Theart. I Am I’s debut album “Event Horizon” isn’t out yet (it isn’t even available here tonight) so essentially the only thing that anyone knows of the band are a couple of videos on Youtube and the singer’s career as the Dragonforce frontman.

Given that his acrimonious split from the ‘Force boys was apparently brought on by “musical differences” it is reasonable to assume that this was never going to be a Power Metal sword and sorcery romp. Even still, RTM wasn’t prepared for how mainstream this brand of hard rock was going to be. “Cross The Line” for example could have come straight of Bon Jovi’s 7800 Degrees Fahrenheit album from 1985.

As to re-enforce the 80s feel, the band are soon joined by a lady who plays piano on two real-lighters-in-the-air power ballad moments, which rather interrupts the flow of things, but a trio of more aggressive tracks “Wasted Wonders,” “Kiss of Judas” and “Dusk To Dusk”  brings the rock quota up again.

The encore sees Theart flounce his way through Queen’s “The Show Must Go On” before things end with the lead track from “…Horizon” “Silent Genocide,” which is definitely the bands stand out moment at this stage.

There is no doubt that the I Am I have potential, but equally that, right now, their trump card is Theart himself. He possesses a fine voice and the sort of effortlessly rude banter that marks him out as a sort of rock n roll Russell Brand.

What happened tonight, really, was that we all watched a band rehearse. It is a band with a future no doubt, but this was a promising rather than perfect debut. It will be interesting to see how they grow.

STUKA SQUADRON, Dark Forest, Agincourt @Scruffy Murphys 25/5/12

When you walk into Scruffy Murphy’s and there are more Manowar t-shirts than any other band you do realise that it’s a Trad Metal night. But at three bands for three quid there is no arguing with the value for money.

Agincourt are the first of the triumvirate and Brummie stalwarts hit all right notes. Kicking off with the song they are named after they are clearly influenced by Iron Maiden and are all twin guitar attack and songs about war. The song “Edge of Paradise” is a much slower piece of light to their shade complete with some fine soloing to boot.

Black Country Power Metallers Dark Forest are up next. Definitely not to be confused with the Canadian Melodic Death Metal band of the same name, these guys have listened to a lot of Manowar records. Like Agincourt they have been knocking around for quite a while and they are a tight little proposition.

Their 40-minute set is an excellent affair. The likes of “Light Years On,” “The Battle of Badden Hill” and “The Green Knight” are mini epics, full of power metal histrionics and pompousness, and are almost the perfect band for this type of bill.

When the headliners were setting their gear up they look like a normal metal band. Five fellas in jeans and t-shirts. RTM was sat thinking, “well this isn’t the band that I’d read about, prompting me to seek out the fine “Tales of The Ost album.” I’d been promised costumes and blood.

Then five minutes later the normal metal blokes have gone to be replaced by Vampires Duke Fang Begley , Gravedigger Cox, Lord Pyre. Baron von Hammerstein ,  and Doktor Suicide (he’s a new Squadroneer for this tour.) Yes, Squadron are one of those bands with a stupid back-story.

You can take that in two ways. One; you can roll your eyes and think its all ridiculous, or two; you can enjoy the nonsense of it. Neither of these approaches would matter if the songs were poor, but that is not the case here. In fact, as soon as they kick off with the title track from their debut record you can’t help but marvel at their quality.

Of course tracks like “On The Volga Bridge” and “We Drink Blood” are ludicrous. And of course there’s no need for Fang to bite the neck of Von Hammerstein and then bite the neck of a lady in the crowd, but these are fine musicians to go along with the bombast – and it never did Slipknot or Kiss any harm did it?

Squadron unveil s new song in the shape of “Desert Fox” which Fang tells us is going to appear on their next album and which hints at more of the same but what is wrong with that?

Even in a venue the size of this the accent on showmanship means they have to play an encore and take a full band bow to complete things. Here is a band with lofty ambitions and great songs, so who is to say they might not succeed?

Tremendous fun.

Elvis Costello And The Imposters @Birmingham Symphony Hall 15/5/12

If I had made a list of what I didn’t expect to see at an Elvis Costello gig then pretty near the top of the list would have been a lady dancing in a cage wearing a short purple dress and knee length boots.

But that is precisely the sight that greets us when Elvis and his band take to the stage. And if that confounds expectations then the format of the show is a real mind bender.

Stage right there sits something that looks like it came from the old Wheel of Fortune TV show, but instead of amounts in the segments there are song titles. The wheel will be spun by members of the audience and wherever it lands that song will played.

There is a circus type theme elsewhere – this explains the dancing girl in a cage and also the test of strength machine. It could be an interesting night.

Of course no amount of gimmicks in the world would make any difference if it wasn’t for the songs. This show is going to be three hours long give or take and you can only give a monkeys about a spinning wheel for so long.  Thankfully, Costello has built up a back catalogue over the years that is the equal of nearly every singer-songwriter type, and is far better than most.

The format for these shows is the same. Each night, the first four songs are replicated, so it starts with “I Hope Your Happy Now” moves into Nick Lowe’s “Heart of the City” and climaxes with a magnificent “Radio Radio” – its line about “being overwhelmed by indifference and the promise of early bed” still perhaps one of the best discussions of apathy in music.

With that, Costello removes his pork pie hat and replaces it with a great big Topper and a cane. You almost expect him to go all Alice Copper and start singing “School’s Out” but instead he is playing ringmaster and explaining what is going on tonight. And he’s as good as his word. He covers “She” and strolls round the crowd, a parade of people come up to spin the wheel and the band of Imposters plays superbly. A chap wins the strong man test and gets to pick any song he likes – he picks something obscure and Elvis looks delighted. Its that type of evening.

If anything though, the encore ups things still further. After playing two songs mentioning Josephine – one on a ukulele and a Chuck Berry cover (complete with very funny story) he delivers the evening’s coup-de-grace, a simply stunning rendition of the anti Tory “Tramp The Dirt Down.”

With that, the band joins him and it’s a run through some greatest hits, including “Oliver’s Army” and (I Don’t Want To) Go To Chelsea, before Elvis himself spins the wheels and gets “Watching The Detectives” before “(What’s So Funny About) Peace, Love And Understanding” closes things up.

Sometimes you go to a gig, expecting the gig of the year and it doesn’t deliver, it’s much better the other way around, when you aren’t expecting much and it absolutely marvellous. And that is exactly what happened tonight.

Just like the dancing girls I wasn’t expecting that either.

THIS IS HELL, Feed The Rhino, The Cartharsis, Romans, Aurora @Birmingham Institute

There must be something of an unwritten rule at these types of gigs that there needs to be a load of support bands. No complaints here though, as the average hardcore/metal gig is tremendous value for money because of that.

Tonight is a prime example, as four bands show up before headliners This Is Hell and the ticket price is just £7. The first of which of these bands is Aurora on what is a special occasion for the female fronted metalcore group, as this appearance is their debut gig. They show potential and play a tight set and might just be ones to watch.

Brummie band Romans are next up, and despite their youthful appearance they play the most “classic” rock set of the evening. “Conspiracy” is a bouncy tune and they have some fine solos in their songs. A young band with clear talent.

The Catharsis have toured with Feed The Rhino before and you can see why. They are the first of the evening’s three hardcore metal bands, and they soon get the evenings first moshpit going “Casual Violence” is perhaps the most representative of their songs, they slam in a very heavy manner and it feels like the gig has finally begun.

Feed The Rhino are always a pleasure to watch. The Kent group have a new album entitled “The Burning Sons” out in July and are eager to showcase some of it here. Happily it sounds just as good as debut opus “Mr. Red Eye” was. It is the songs from “..Red Eye” like “The Butchers” that go down best, obviously, but if you have not seen FTR yet make sure you do when the new record is out.

The delays in between each band (and the stage times always looked ambitious!) mean that by the time This Is Hell hit the stage things are about half an hour late, and the Long Island five piece are clearly agitated. However, they channel the pent up frustration in the right way – by crushing what is left of the audience.

This Is Hell’s most recent “Black Mass” album is a brilliant cross between Hatebreed and early Metallica and it is with a track from this, “Acid Rain,” that kicks things off – literally judging by the crowd at the front.

Guitarists Rick Jimenez and Chris Mazella are a fearsome duo and singer Travis Riley boasts an Impressive range, destined for much bigger things, you hope, than 150 people on a Monday in an attic in Birmingham, his band have a song called “Salt The Earth” which is a good a crossover song as there has been in years.

Whether This is Hell do manage to get as big as we are tipping them to be remains to be seen, but at 40 minutes their set was all too brief, they were, however, so good that Lucifer himself would be proud.

PRONG, October File, Spirytus @Nottingham Rescue Rooms 12/5/12

It’s Saturday night.

That means we gig goers are left to play second fiddle to a club night yet again for yet another early curfew show. However, this particular place deserves to be cut some slack.

Any football fan will tell you that they have a lucky ground, a place where their team often enjoys a good day, no matter what.  That is how RTM feels about The Rescue Rooms in Nottingham. It probably is possible to see a bad gig here but we never have so far.

So it is with a good feeling we get down there for the 7pm start to catch local band Spirytus, taking their name from a make of vodka (its amazing what you can learn via Google) they describe themselves as a bouncy funk metal band but that doesn’t really do them justice. By turns they rock like Sepultura, before chucking in a cover James Brown’s “I Feel Good.” Their songs are full of twists and turns and end track “Crucify” will strike a chord with anyone who likes Skindred.

Note to bands: If the audience is bored it’s your fault not ours. That fact does not appear to have resonated with October File singer Ben Hollyer. To be fair to the band they are on the wrong bill, but it seems they know it. By about the third song in Hollyer has begun insulting the audience “all of you standing with your arms folded looking like you want to be somewhere else,” he says.  “This is still fun for me.  They need an extra guitarist live, if they want to replicate the rather fine sound on the “Holy Armour From The Jaws of God” album, and would probably have been much better off supporting someone like Malefice for example.

Prong main man Tommy Victor might be the busiest man in rock right now. In between his session work, playing with Ministry and Danzig he has found the time to knock out a truly magnificent new Prong album called “Carved Into Stone.”

It is something of a minor irritation then, that this tour is an excuse to play the “Beg To Differ” album in full. Released in 1990 it was the bands breakthrough and is a fine record. It rocks and it rages and sounds more powerful live – “Steady Decline” in particular sounds viscous.

The instrumental track “Intermenstural DSB” gives the band a chance to cut loose, and three piece does just that, Victor playing a blistering solo and drummer Alexei Rodriguez a revelation behind the kit. There is something of a surprise on bass though, with Matt Brunson of Crowbar waving us goodbye after “…Differ” closer “3^rd From Sun” and being replaced by Dave Pybus who has played with Cradle of Filth amongst others.

Its not really an encore as time doesn’t allow – but the band race through three numbers from the excellent “Cleansing” record including a fine “Another Worldly Device” and the lead single from “…Stone” the classic-in-waiting “Revenge….Best Served Cold.”

After a run through perhaps their best known song “Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck” Pybus’ stint is over and Brunson is back (no, we don’t know why either) for “Carved In Stone” opener “Eternal Heat.”

Lets hope they are back soon for a proper new album tour, and thankfully the Rescue Rooms kept up its record. I am prepared to bet that the club night afterwards wasn’t as good as the quite brilliant hour and 20 minutes before it, but owners never seem to learn.

SYLOSIS, Fated Elegy @Slade Rooms 2/5/12

It has been both interesting and – for a fan – exciting to see the rise and rise of Sylosis. For the third time in 15 months they are out on a UK tour. First they topped the bill at the Metal Hammer Club tour last Feb, before bringing a really fine bill out with them last September (and becoming the first review on RTM in the process). And this constant touring has paid off for them.

From the promising thrash band they were with debut album Conclusion of an Age, they had to overcome line up problems before unleashing the astonishingly good “Edge of the Earth” album last year. A thumping, sprawling almost prog/thrash masterpiece it put them into the magazines and filled venues.

In this context this particular trek can almost be seen as a kind of victory lap. The gigs are bigger than before, and there is a vey decent crowd there for this, the last night, in Wolverhampton.

There is both good news and bad news pre show. The good news is that rhythm guitarist Alex Bailey is back stage right after his broken wrist caused him to miss the bands inaugural tour of the US late last year, while the bad sees the planned supports (Hang The Bastard, Xerath and Chapters) not performing despite being slated to. This is a shame as RTM had been looking forward to catching the Bastard’s (so to speak) and had wondered if Chapters had fulfilled the potential they had shown in September at the bottom of the Sylosis bill.

In their place were three local bands and we catch Metal merchants Fated Elegy. The Wolves mob are competing in Metal To The Masses at The Roadhouse on 13^th May to compete for a place at Bloodstock. The boys stand a chance as they are tight and know what they are doing – and evidently have a reasonable following. Their sound is built on fine riffing from Mike Pritchard and powerful drumming. They are an immediate cut above most modern metalcore.

Sylosis too, are another band who always had that little something extra. And since lead guitarist Josh Middleton added vocalist to his repertoire after the departure of Jamie Graham, they have got even better.

It is with their most recent song, digital only single “Snakes and Arrows” they begin before settling into playing much material from “….Age.” rather than its successor – although of the recent tracks “Sands of Time” crushes and “Dystopia” is a welcome addition for this tour.

The Reading band has managed to garner itself a fairly rabid fan base, and Middleton’s call for a circle pit during “Teras” is met with enthusiasm. The set concludes with a stunning rendition of “Empyreal.” They are back for an unusual – and apparently unplanned - encore of oldie “The Blackest Skyline.”

The band has since tweeted that it was “the best night of the tour” and whilst we haven’t seen the others we are not ones to disagree. Here is a band that just keeps getting and better. They apparently have another album in the works and you suspect it could just be a masterpiece.