Band Review From The Gekko – Venxia

Band Name: Venxia

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/Venxia

Reviewer: The Gekko

Review:

Yo Peeps,

OK – so I was sticking my feet to the keyboard while peeling off skin & eating it (it’s OK, Gekko’s do this, completely natural, don’t weird out on me) when I happened upon this great website!

It had naked chicks on it & everything!

Anyway – then after that, I pressed the wrong button & ended up on myspace, at the page of this unsigned band called Venxia.

I dunno how to pronounce it – but then again I’m a Gekko, I can’t talk anyway so who cares.

So, I thought how difficult can this reviewing stuff be? Those numb nuts who think they run this site can do it, so can I!

So here we go:

Slightly rippled, with a flat underside.

Oh – no, sorry, that’s me!

So, this band, what are they like?

Well there are 5 of them so I guess that makes them a 5 piece – and they go RAAAAAAA a lot, which I guess means they’re metal, hardcore, progressive, whatever weird names exist to describe a style of music.

There are guitars, I can defo make that out – drums, yep they’re there, bass, and singing / screaming.

Hey, is the bassist a chick?  If not, sorry dude….

Aidan, screaming guy, on your myspace pic – did you wet your pants? It’s ok, we all do it sometimes. Well, I don’t – I don’t wear any.

Drummer, Pete,  DUDE , you don’t look the part, get with the program – get yourself tatooed from head to toe, grow your hair, get rid of those NHS specs, and try to look more METAL – ya look like buddy holly dude!

OK, I have no idea about music, I’m a Gekko – but I did get quite excited while listening to these tracks, I actually got a bit carried away, jumping around, stuck myself smack into the monitor, took me a while to peel myself off.

Venxia, if you want a “proper” review from a human (dunno why you would, cos I think my reviews are WAY better, but hey) request a review

Peace out

Unsigned Band Review – Horns Become Halos

Band Name: Horns Become Halos

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/screaminhbh

Reviewer: Keef

Review:

‘Kisses and Arrows’ – tuneful, melodic – really well constructed track – and when that (presumably female? Hey – you can never be too sure…..) backing singer kicks in, then hell, that’s me sold!! The only downside was that it sounded like the lead vocals was really struggling to pitch at these relatively quiet levels – not disastrously so, but it just seems a little out of his comfort zone. The difference when you get to the climax of the song is really marked – and the two vocals are pretty perfectly balanced….MORE PLEASE!!

And then we move into ‘Pulling me Down’ – fantastic riff, great drums – plenty of screaming – but there’s enough tuneful stuff in there to show off the lead vocals at a range and volume level that’s obviously FAR more in his comfort zone than the quieter parts of track one.

‘The Simplicity of Being Awake’ – errm – OK – catchy title….. Now – it’s not a BAD track by any stretch of the imagination (far from it) – tight, tuneful and pretty well constructed – if maybe a little too ‘complex’ for the sake of it – but it doesn’t have the same sort of instant appeal or focus as the first two tracks, especially when it wanders around so much – and sorry, but the ‘demonic voice’ interlude doesn’t do anything for me……

‘Third Time Isn’t Such a Charm’ – you kind of open yourself up with negative titles – but this isn’t the worst thing I’ve ever heard either – but I’d say that you need to perhaps diversify a little on the tracks, as (certainly at first listen) they can get a little blurred.

Overall – I think HBH are  a REALLY tight outfit, who play a really cool blend of rock that personally I found enjoyable from the first listen. Yeah, there’s some shouting in there, but that’s backed up by tuneful vocals that show the lead vocalist off as more than a ‘one trick pony’. The musicianship is good, the song construction is fine – if perhaps slightly more complicated than I personally think is needed (not a critisism as such guys – your songs are good enough to not need the time changes)  – but the deal clincher for me is ‘Kisses and Arrows’ – or at least, the last minute or so of it…… I’d pay to see that done live guys!! (Well – I would – but hey, I review stuff, so I’d expect to be on the guest list – but the thought is there)

My ‘top tip’ though (for what it’s worth) – whoever that female vocalist is, I’d run over broken glass to get her in full time and you can certainly have the same sucess as Evanescence did before Amy Lee got it into her head that she could write songs………

Keef

Unsigned Band Review – Adam Bennett

Band Name: Adam Bennett

Myspace: www.myspace.com/adambennettmusicuk

Reviewer: Keef

Review:

Cite’s his influences to include Green Day – well – from the opening bar of the opening track, that was pretty evident. The only thing is, there’s more to Green Day than ‘Good Riddance’ – but I can’t hear much more to Adam’s style than that one track.

I think there’s an obvious talent there – but sorry mate, it only extends as far as guitar playing and crafting tunes. The lyrics don’t actually do much – rather they just seem thrown together with no more of a link other than they occasionally rhyme – and the vocals? I think that was pushing things a little to far and you really needed to call in someone who could at least hold a note….

Harsh??

Well, not really, as I think there’s some real promise here – the guitar playing is obviously complex enough to show the talent that lies behind the notes. The songs are simple and pretty well arranged (hoorah for that – it’s a refreshing change to hear a song that only uses one time
signature!!!) and I’d be REALLY interested to hear how they pan out when there’s a full band playing them, with a vocalist who (let’s be honest) can sing……

They could stand to be a little more diverse – but that might happen just with the addition of some more instruments.

Overall – very much a ‘work in progress’ – but I’d be REALLY keen to see what happens in another 6 months or so – keep it up Adam – and keep submitting your stuff for review!

Keef

Unsigned Band Review – Severed Nerve

Band Name: Severed Nerve

Myspace: www.myspace.com/thenerve01

Reviewer: Keef

Review:

You know, I’m really stuck with this band – I just can’t make my mind up whether I like them or not.

There’s plenty of promise in the tracks – but there’s just enough technical bits that I can’t overlook enough to be really sold….

There’s some great musicianship, but (in true American rock band fashion) there’s just too many time signature changes and OTT playing – which, as I’ve said before, need to be PERFECT – otherwise they just show up any timekeeping errors and expose even the smallest of cracks…..

Sorry guys – there’s just too many cracks for me to really get into what you do!

The over-complicated nature of the drumming and arrangement just make you think ‘Oops’ – which is a shame, as there’s some obvious talent there and some otherwise decent potential. I guess I’m firmly in the land of ‘less is more’ – and this band illustrate perfectly why I think that.

If anyone has seen Dream Theatre, you’ll know where I’m coming from – no doubting their individual talent – but individual talent doesn’t always mean a great band…..

It’s decent enough as far as this genre goes, the vocals certainly more than holding their own in a genre where some think being able to shout loudly is the only worthwhile attribute - but I just can’t overlook the little flaws, as they really do detract from the overall package for me…..

Maybe that’s just a ‘muso’ view – certainly most of the ‘paying public’ could easily overlook the things I’ve highlighted – but you’ve come here to have an honest opinion, and that’s what I’m giving…

Overall, it’s prefectly listenable to – but I wouldn’t pay for it as it stands, as it simply doesn’t tick enough boxes for me……..

Keef

Unsigned Band Review – Outrageous Rhinoceros

Band Name: Outrageous Rhinoceros

Myspace: www.myspace.com/outrageousrhinoceros

Reviewer: Keef

Review:

I guess when the band’s ‘Sounds Like’ list doesn’t include anyone that you’ve ever heard of, it’s not the very best of places to start from.

They describe themselves as “Psychedelic / Rock / Grindcore”, but all I got was more Angle Grinder than ‘Grindcore’.

I guess it’s yet another one of those genre pidgeonholes that people make up when they’re trying desperatley not to get themselves put into any other pidgeonholes.

Anyway – what about the music?

The first track, ‘Peanut City’ comes right out of nowhere, shows immense promise and really rips along – but it sort of wanders around after the first few bars, not exactly going anywhere new.

The overall feel of the track is ‘confusing’ – I say that because it just becomes a bit of a hash of different time signatures which, unless done perfectly, just sound like poor timing and a desperate attempt to make the music more intersting than it actually is.   Don’t get me wrong, there’s some great riff ideas in there – but it seriously sounds like they picked about half a dozen of their favourite practice jam tunes and then just threw them together, with no real thought about how the overall track suffers as a result – which is quite badly, in all honesty…..

‘Pete Around the Bush’ is the other track sent for review.

Now, we’ve all played in bands where we’ve downtuned guitars for songs, whether that’s for a vocal pitching issue, to make a particular guitar part less difficult, or just because we wanted to – but I always got the idea that everyone tuned down to the same key?   Seems that the guys forgot this – and we’ve got a whole bunch of guitars all doing their individual thing as the start to this song.

It kind of settles down for the dominant riff, but there’s either some tuning issues or a lack of understanding of harmonies going on pretty much throughout the whole song, making what could have been a decent enough tune sound ‘wrong’.

Now – live, it might be a different matter, but when you’re listening to a recording, it’s easy to be more picky – and on the strength of two tracks, it’s hard to get a feel as to whether this tuning is a deliberate thing or not.   Again, we have the overly complicated time signature changes which don’t really add any relevance to anything and show up even the slightest timing issues.

OK – overall, this isn’t the worst thing I’ve ever heard – but neither is it the best example of this music I’ve ever listened to.

The vocals, whilst trying hard to emulate Joe Alselmo in the shouting stakes, don’t do anything other than that – and when the guitars are doing their weird ‘off-key’ thing in the background, it makes the shouting even less appealing. AT least with Pantera, there were some far more tuneful moments that made the contrast between the two forms hit off each other and ‘work’.

The musicianship from the rest of the band is OK – not the tightest, but a lot of that is only really highlighted by the mish-mash of time signatures in each song and will only improve with time.

My advice would be to rip that first song to shreds and take the dozen or so promising ideas and make them individual tracks.

Calm down with the 23/57 time signatures that change every couple of bars, as even headbanging needs a rhythm to go along to, try to mix up those vocals and make sure you REALLY listen to how the guitars interact with each other and with the vocals………

Keef