Tuesday 13 December 2011

Earache Xmas Party 2011

When arriving at a party and being greeted with a free complementary shot of Jagermesiter, you know you’re in for a good night! The tickets for this event sold out within four hours, and Metal Junkie were privileged to be going.

When we first arrived, the DJing skills of Rebel L (from Terrorizer magazine) were heard filtering through the venue. I would just like to point out that Elektroworks in Islington is one of the weirdest venues I have ever been to, with what seems like lots of interconnecting warehouses being made into a venue. I digress, the DJing from Rebel L. which would play between each band started off the night, and her choice of music was extremely well picked for the night, with some metal versions of Christmas songs, and some absolute classics such as Poison’s Talk Dirty To Me and Iron Maiden’s Running Free blasting through.

At 9pm, the first band Savage Messiah, came on and having only heard their latest output I was pretty overwhelmed with what I heard. This was Power Metal at its finest. Vocalist Dave Silver can hit every note on the record with near perfection. They also provided a nice variance in their set list with some slower songs and some absolute belters. Put all off this alongside being extremely tight, then this is definitely a band to keep an eye on. I was just disappointed that the crowd was pretty small and didn’t seem that into it.








After Savage Messiah, it was back into the other room to get a drink and to listen to some DJing from Rebel L for an hour whilst waiting for Evile to begin.

When Evile came on, it was with a vengeance, as if they had something to prove, which after their latest offering Five Serpent’s Teeth, they don’t. Again this is a band at the top of their game, and although Matt made a few mistakes, they were extremely tight. They also aired a song they have never played live which was Long Live The New Flesh from Five Serpents Teeth, which went down an absolute storm. This is a band that were consistent and amazing. I can’t wait to see where they go from here


Again after Evile it was back into the other room for some more DJing from Rebel L before Rival Sons

When Rival Sons did come on stage, straight away there were technical difficulties with Scott’s guitar, which delayed the start of the show by a good quarter of an hour. When they did get going the music was absolutely top notch with everyone performing at their best. This confused me as when the band weren’t playing in between songs, it seemed like they were struggling a lot, especially vocalist Jay. It was as iff performing took all the energy out of him. After a quick look on the internet on my phone, I discovered the reason. The man had 2 cracked ribs and was still continuing on the show. This increased my respect for them tenfold, especially as his voice when singing was absolutely amazing.




After Rival Sons amazing headline performance it was to head back into the other room for a final DJ performance from Lady Starlight and a final drink before heading out. Lady Starlight focused on a lot of the 70’s and 80’s metal bands which after Rival Sons followed on perfectly.

The few remaining stragglers at the party were presented with the head of earache records getting a birthday cake, and a good old sing along of Happy Birthday. This was a nice climax to the evening before heading out to wait for the first tube back home. Definitely an amazing night and one I am proud to have been invited to!
Savage Messiah – 8/10
Evile – 9/10
Rival Sons- 8/10
Overall- 9/10

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