Live Reviews : Knightmare EP Launch – 16/02/2008

Two words: technical difficulties.

Occasional sound problems can be expected at local gigs, especially those with fairly young bands. This particular venue is usually one of the better of the local metal venues for sound however the sound problems throughout most of this particular gig were absolutely terrible. I have been to many live nights at the Central Club and never have I heard it sound this bad.

It really is a shame because everything else went well.

The opening band, Vampora, brought in a good sized crowd early in the night which was a good change from the usual gigs that don’t pick up til 10pm. They put on a great performance including a very well done cover of a Final Fantasy theme. However, while the crowd seemed to enjoy the performance, the sound issues really did hinder their performance. Constant feedback issues were the main problem and took quite a while to get sorted out.

Up next was Knightmare, the main band of the night (even though they weren’t headliners). Once again there were a few unfortunate technical issues, even requiring a short “intermission” half way through the set. Despite that (and some moron purposely smashing glasses at the front of the stage!), the band got a fairly positive response from the crowd and hopefully picked up a few new fans. The set included a short excerpt of the hilarious theme song to the movie “Team America” and a fantastic medley which is always a good way to get people’s attention; a section of Slayer’s “Raining Blood” in particular really got the crowd going. The packets of Maltesers and the CDs being thrown into the crowd certainly helped as well!

By the time In Malices Wake came on stage, the crowd had died down. I believe sound problems were largely at fault there as several people had left mainly for that reason. Continuing with the theme of the night, In Malices Wake had trouble getting their sound right and a bad mix partnered with similar feedback issues to what Vampora had experienced turned was is usually an awesome live show into just a “good” one.

It really is disappointing that it happened to this gig in particular because there really weren’t any other negatives to the night. All three bands put on entertaining performances and the crowd response was fairly good for the most part (as far as local gigs go). Most importantly, Knightmare got to promote their new EP and pick up a few new fans so all in all, the event did it’s job.

It was a good night however the sound stopped it from being an amazing one.

Reviewed by Mean Machine