Thursday 4 April 2013

Cambion, Mind for Murder and Anal Bead at Tiverton Tomato Bar

When: Saturday 30th March
Where: Tomato Bar Tiverton
Who: Anal Bead, Mind for Murder and Cambion.

Who knew such a small venue in the midst of Tiverton high street could provide the backdrop of such a high energy evening? As soon as I arrived at the Tomato Bar there was already quite a lot of buzz and excitement with people everywhere, chilling out surprisingly to the sound of 'Sikth' blasting over the speakers.
Anal Bead
As the rest of the crowd started to ascend on the bar the first band took the stage. There's not a lot of words to describe Anal Bead. They really are a marmite band, you either love them or hate them, and fortunately Tiverton love them! As you can guess from their name, Anal Bead is a comedy metal band that take pride in not taking themselves seriously, so far so that they don't even play the instrument they originally learnt to play! The front man/guitarist is actually a drummer, the drummer is actually a guitarist...you get my point but all this aside they make for one hell of an evening of entertainment! Starting with their infamous song 'Any holes a goal' they had the whole crowd laughing and singing along (other songs include titles such as 'Mayonnaise salute' and the ever popular 'we like boobies'.) At one point the front man 'Frank Dennis performed a song on the shoulders of someone in the audience, although I don't think he was expecting that!
Anal Bead are a funny band that really get the show going with their simplistic sounds, likened to that of 'Lawnmower Deth'. The best way to sum up Anal Bead though was actually posted on the event page for the gig. "Anal Bead are without a doubt Tiverton's best shit band!"
Mind for Murder
Next to play were 'Mind for Murder.' Not a band I had ever heard of before but definitely one to watch out for now! One thing that strikes me about this band was their very effective old school style. Rather than playing fast, chaotic riffs and overly complicated beats they stuck with the once and always great style, reminiscent of bands such as 'Soil and Pantera' and to really drive the point home they even wowed us all with a cover of metal giants 'Crowbar - High Rate Extinction'. The vocals also caught everyone's attention with singer Lewis throwing some new and interesting techniques into the mix to liven things up! 
This band is very connected and work well together, they can listen to each other and respond well to create strong, blasting rhythms and catchy and memorable songs that get everyone moving.
This Bristol based band really deserves everyone's support and I would definitely suggest to everyone to go catch them live if you can!
After a short break with everyone running to the bar, the small room was quickly filled back up again with people desperate to get to the front, even lining the stairs awaiting the return of Cambion.
Cambion
Straight into the set, no messing around and they opened up with 'Death March' a song from their previous E.P 'Last Rites'. With a seamless flow they worked through the first E.P showing of their melodic and technical style that had anyone who could move head banging. A crowd favourite was definitely 'Salem' which had the whole crowd singing along with frontman Elliott. The thing that impresses me the most with this band is the stage presence each of them have. Unfortunately you do see some bands who have great music but let their performances down with lack of stage presence but not this band. Even the Drummer was head banging and wind milling in time with the rest of them whilst blasting out some amazingly technical beats. There sound definitely has a djent edge to it, you don't often see around these parts and you can see how bands such as 'Meshuggah and Animals as Leaders' influence their sound, yet they manage to pull off their own style. 
Finishing the set they played through their latest E.P 'Virus'. What I loved most about Virus was how atmospheric it is, you really get a sense of a story when they are playing. Just like their previous songs, Virus is technical and melodic but you can instantly hear the malevolence in all the songs, it's especially honed in 'Virus part 3' Death'. Although each song follows on from the last you really do get a variety of sounds and Levels from 'Part 1' throwing you in at the deep end to 'Part 5' almost restoring your faith in humanity (Listen to the song/words and you will understand) Clean vocals intermixed with the aggressive screaming and they have perfected the art of conveying emotions beautifully.
Brutal beats, face melting riffs, amazing live sound and all around metal, you can't really ask much more from this Devonshire band yet they strive to give you more.



3 comments:

  1. I was that person from the audience who had Frank on his shoulders,and no,he wasn't expecting it! ;-)

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    1. ha ha that was brilliant! have some wonderful photo's of it i will post on facebook and like to the band!

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  2. Awesome write up of an awesome night :)

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