2010年 Nov 14日 Sunday, 18:59

Sun 7 Nov – Ruination UK/Euro Tour 2010

The evening started off with Trigger The Bloodshed, a particularly uninteresting band. Their claims of presenting a performance of "DEATH FUCKING METAL" was pathetic, as their hardcore influenced set was littered with breakdowns, which pleased the earplug wearing teens, but were scoffed at by metal purists. The sound quality also suffered, as the levels seemed too high, which made it even harder to appreciate this wannabe "Death Metal" band. A poor performance. 2/10

However, TTB seemed to bare the instrumental prowess of DREAM THEATER compared to Norwich deathcore mob Annotations Of An Autopsy. It was apparent in the sound check that their drummer was sloppy on the bass drum, which did not give a good first impression. From the initial hi-hat count in, a 30 minute breakdown ensued, each painfully drab chug more bland than the last. The vocalist of this band even began to rap in a gutteral deathcore fashion, which was not too difficult to comprehend due to his gangster attire. They gained a good crowd reaction from some of the toughest and most baddest muthafuckas in the venue. However, the proud barers of Morbid Angel and Deicide shirts seemed extremely unimpressed with this unimaginative and repetitive tripe. 0/10

Third on the bill were the U.S crew Whitechapel , who immediately surprised crowd members who were not aware of the band containing 3 guitar players. However, it was apparent from the very first extended breakdown that Whitechapel did not require the services of more than one axeman, as they seldom left the mosh breakdown formula. It was apparent that one of the instrumentalists had some talent, as some impressive shredding guitar solos weaved their way into the otherwise exclusively br00tal setlist. Also, it was notable that a large sum of fans vacated the venue at the end of the Whitechapel show, which would indicate that they came purely for this band. 3/10

Finally, (after a soundcheck run through of Deliverance by Opeth on the drumkit) headliners Job For A Cowboy took to the stage. The sound quality and music quality immediately stepped up, as Job For A Cowboy were clearly a band on form. Although not strictly death metal, and on paper could be viewed as much of an abomination as the rest of the line-up, they are clearly a band on form and they ripped through their set with a tight performance. The sound was top-notch, as each instrument was audible and clear. After rapidly moving through tracks from their album Ruination , the band mixed things up with a punk/thrash metal number which was different from their usual grinding death metal stylings. With only a few songs left, the band unleashed crowd favourite Entombment Of A Machine, which was gained a pleasant reaction, with every fan in the pit engaging in the singalong section (AAAAAAAAAAAAH). Overall, the band impressed, and although they are not taking death metal in the most positive direction, at least they are not plagued by sub par deathcore cliches. 7.5/10