Blackhole, The Plight, And Ghost Of A Thousand at Camden Barfly
It always seems a bit strange when a support act draws in a more packed out crowd than the headliner. Is it down to industry hype? Local popularity? An amazing coincidence with happy hour at the bar? Who knows. But by the time I arrive just before the end of Blackhole’s set the place is absolutely rammed. Unfortunately I only saw two songs so can’t really give a full view, but what I heard seemed fairly competent, kind of similar to Gallows but with the vocals somewhere more in the region of both metal and ‘Oi!’ punk. The Gallows link might sound like lazy reviewing seeing as leadsinger Richard Carter is brother to Frank and Steph, but the musical link is definitely there, all clashing riffs in a crescendo of noise. It’s a shame that while Richard is frenetically leering from the front of the stage, running in to join the pit before snatching back the mic, the rest of the band literally look like they’re about to doze off. Seriously lads, give the crowd some energy to work off.
Next up are Leeds locals The Plight, and it’s a definite shame that almost half the crowd seem to filter downstairs to the relative calm of the bar. I’d never heard them or heard of them, but what a stunning debut they make. Watching the scene from a distance bands seem to come in waves. Ten metalcore bands will pop into the gig listings. Then seven spazzy technical bands, then eight hardcore punk bands. But every now and then one will come along which seems to plucks elements from each of the last few phases to actually make something more unique that stands out a few feet above the rest, and The Plight could just be the next of these. There’s elements of the current wave of British punk rock but also mixing in the ballsy Southern rock sound best shown in the riffs of Cancer Bats and a heavy emphasis on chunky bass lines in the vein of Rancid, and all fronted by good, strong metal-style vocals. The influences are definitely greater than the sum of their parts and the energy coming off stage hints at very good things to come.
Ghost Of A Thousand are a band for who it’s actually a positive compliment to say that they’ve not really improved since I first saw them supporting Will Haven sometime early in 2007 - they haven’t needed to, the tunes have simply gained strength and polish the more I’ve seen them perform. The screamed vocals and more melodic choruses overlay a furious bed of modern punk rock noise, tightly performed and only marred tonight by one or two slight mic fuckups. The tunes picked from album This Is Where The Fight Begins are also just starting to reach that anthemic level with certain opening chords provoking an immediate crowd response, especially Black Art Number One and As They Breed They Swarm. The crowd lap up the energy, swarming frontman Tom Lacey to the point where during set finisher ‘The Last Bastion of Heaven…’ he completely vanished under a sea of arms, bodies and guitars. He’s an effortless rable rouser. This is one of a group of bands leading the charge of new British music, and from the looks of things its going to be unstoppable this year.
Technorati Tags: Blackhole, The Plight, Ghost Of A Thousand, Camden Barfly
