E – FORCE, CALATRILLOZ & SNAKE EYES –
LONDON PURPLE TURTLE 12/5/11
Tonight swings into action courtesy of Snake Eyes a band describing themselves as 101% metal. This UK act have hardly been prolific releasing just two albums, the first way back in 1999 and the second more recently in 2008. They are gnarly veterans and far from a young boy band but to give them their due as soon as they whip into ‘Changes’ which was unchanged by the years, it is obvious that they are in fact 102% metal. They have balls of steel and hearts of iron and a singer who was born to both lead and hit the high notes. They may only be playing in front of about 30 but they don’t hold back in the slightest and there is no denying the message behind a song such as ‘Leather And Metal.’ You could name drop many a band of stadium rocker here but there is no need as the group are more than happy to cover their mentors with a powerful rendition of ‘Breaking The Law.’ Needless to say it’s the sort of thing that makes metal itself a crime but even if this was clichéd and tongue in cheek it was all dished out with aplomb.
Clichéd is not a word anyone could use to describe CalatrilloZ a bizarre London troupe named after a circus family and led by eccentric Brazilian Mr Z. This was clown rather than corpse paint but thankfully any thoughts of ICP end there. Musically this lot were difficult to pigeonhole as there is a strong sense of operatic cabaret and theatricality about the show before you even got to try and decipher the songs. Opening to a well played Holst Mars they brought war of the oddest kind. The opera emphasis of the vocals at first had me thinking of System Of A Down and the music did have nu-metal trappings at times. By the second song ‘Long Winding Road’ they were throwing dub breaks and ska rhythms into things with unhinged zeal. The crowd seemed quite into things and as the band ploughed into helter-skelter frenzy they even had a few jigging away. Mr Z went into matador mindset that almost had me looking for a charging bull on ‘Origins’ and this one had us in a hot and heady place. Last song ‘Psycho’ actually was a bit of a ballad which was a brave move and at the time I thought it had a Spanish feel to it and it was like some tapas just before the squid launches itself off the plate and tries to throat fuck you. Right can we have normality restored please?
Thankfully it was for the headliner’s full thrash assault and I have to start this review with a moan, where the hell was everyone? E-Force is Eric Forrest ex Voivod band and he was present with them on the excellent Negatron and Phobos albums and was playing tracks from these and his own repertoire. He does not venture down these parts often and there should have been more here, moan over. Personally I only caught Voivod once during that era in the driving rain of a hellish Dynamo Open Air, at least it was nice and dry and lacking in mud here.
The set list had already garnered a bit of excitement and we were flung into a heady powerful sounding deluge for opener from the first E Force album ‘Satanic Rituals.’ Playing as a trio; drummer, guitarist with a big V shaped axe and Eric with chunky bass there was plenty of room on the stage and even if there was little movement the power behind the songs kept us all interested. Eric was keeping to his side and considering it is his band put on a bit of an understated performance, gruffly yelling into the microphone and strumming away, still the guitarist kept attention with a fair bit of posturing from his side. Songs came thick and fast and the gig flew by. For me the highlight was the pairing of ‘Project X’ and ‘Nanoman’ which were tres formidable! The sci-fi futuristic sounds came out well in the mix, the vocals indignantly howled and we were whipped off and shook up by these classic songs. As for E-Force material we got a brand new song so hopefully an album will be materialising at some point soon. ‘Lobotomised’ from ‘Modified Poison’ got us straight between the eyes too. With time ticking away I stayed to shout along to ‘Insect’ and legged it before the final song which according to the setlist was something called ‘In League.’ Great night and I hope E Force can be tempted back again despite the turn out.
Pete Woods
CALATRILLOZ
CALATRILLOZ
CALATRILLOZ
E FORCE
E FORCE
E FORCE
E FORCE
E FORCE
SNAKE EYES
SNAKE EYES
SNAKE EYES
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