The Academy, in all their wisdom, had the wrong door time on their website, so as I arrived the first band, Dials, were already playing. I only found out that this was their name after asking 3 people at the gig (and falsely accusing someone of being in the band I should add). They may have said their name, but the sound was so bad that you couldn’t hear a word the lead vocalist was saying. The 4 piece band from the Midlands have a nice simplistic sound yet not overly identifiable from a lot of other bands around at the moment. The guitars and drumming were simple but well structured and worked well and the band seemed confident. The set seemed to be a bit lacking, but that was probably down to the fact they were playing to a fairly empty room and an unreceptive crowd.
Twin Atlantic played with well rehearsed precision and despite questionable sound difficulties and a docile crowd they were well received. My favourite thing about Twin Atlantic is that they don’t cover their accents and to me this was the most outstanding aspect of the set, something I understand they get a lot of praise for. The Scots only played for 25 minutes, and I think this didn’t really give them time to do themselves justice. Vocalist Sam McTrusty first addressed the audience by claiming ‘birmingham hates us,’ which was charming. They made the most of their short stage time and played their catchy set with enthusiasm, treating us to songs off their new mini album Vivarium. I really look forward to seeing these boys and hope to catch them on their upcoming tour to see what they can really do.
I found that The Fall of Troy sounded really different live to recorded – I don’t mean this in a bad way and I appreciate that their sound is somewhat unusual but tonight the balance just didn’t sound right. Chances are this may have been down to the venue but the mix sounded far too bass orientated and the vocals were lost and I struggled to hear what was being sang and spoken. The set opened with a fairly epic introduction which didn’t really seem to match the feel I got from the band and seemed somewhat disjointed from their opening song. However I cannot fault this three piece from Washington who played with sheer determination and did not seem phased by the cold audience who were slowly warming up. Two songs into the set vocalist Thomas Erak got off the mic and spoke to the room about his passion for the band and encouraged us to dance. Unusually this plea seemed heartfelt and not at all like a rehearsed crowd pleasing spiel. With heavy bass and complex guitar riffs mixed with accompanying sweet harmonies and screaming the sound was confused and you could be forgiven for thinking that three or four bands were headlining tonight’s show such were the differences between the songs played which included tracks off all four of their albums. Mouthes like Sidewinder Missiles and I Just got This Symphony goin’ were both crowd pleasers butF.C.P.R.E.M.I.X was undoubtably the favourite. I feel The Fall Of Troy were like a piece of modern art that I didn’t really understand at first, but as the night went on I opened up to their progressive and technical sound and understood that it’s just that they’re pretty fucking crazy and ridiculously talented individuals. I know I will most definitely be giving these boys some more of my listening time.
Libby