Battle of the Bands @ TheEspy, Melbourne (5/04/09)

Mon 9th Mar, 2009 in Gig Reviews

Tonight’s final was a cultivation of sweat and rock and roll for the top five bands who competed in tonight’s showdown for the top prize in the Dragging the Lakes Battle of the Bands for the last couple of months these band’s have strutted their stuff week after week to hopefully get the prize of a record contract that would lead to bigger and better things to further their career.

First band up was classic Daddy’s Little Girl, these guys are classic rock and roll through and through. Lead singer Cynthia Gallie is one hell of singer her stage presence and on stage band camaraderie is fantastic, the band work together extremely well and they pull their on stage antics from the KISS band book with the set exploding when the lead guitarist’s blow’s a massive fireball into the crowd.

Degrees of Separation hit the stage next exhibiting commercial pop/rock at it’s best their harmonies are fantastic and their hooks should help them get airplay on commercial radio. The only piece of criticism I have is in my opinion is their sound is a little bit to polished a little of dirt and grit to their live performances would maybe help their performances in the future.

Degrees of Separation have been playing about town in acoustic mode I thought they were great then and tonight’s performance was a full band and added a whole new and different dimension to the band’s sound and performance.

Following Degrees of Separation were Hey Fever, these guys are great on so many different level’s the song’s are memorable their stage performance is electrifying, the thing that pulls them all together is lead singer Hayden Somers, he was born to be on stage, he has the moves he has a great rock voice and he works the crowd like he’s being doing it all his life. These guys have a big future if tonight’s performance is anything to go by.

Artinem are a rare breed of in the metal genre because its not all about thrash and noise with these guys, the lead singer Sam Tan has phenomenal voice he carries the band to new height’s with his tough but incredibly strong vocal’s , Artinem’s song’s are complex and expansive they have a massive sound and their future is incredibly bright. As soon as these guys hit the stage there presence is felt they make the Gershwin Room rumble and shake with their monstrous sound. These guys have the ability to crossover and hopefully get their killer songs played to a bigger audience.

The last band to play tonight is contemporary metal band Portrait of Silence. These guys are all about passion and noise, they do the metal/scream thing very well, and they rip through their set like it was their last. They have a lot of energy but they don’t really seem to be doing anything different that separates them from any other metal band, but to some people this doesn’t really matter, to some people it’s about the energy and the riffs and these guys have these in abundance.

These competitions are all about nurturing talent and but not in an Australian Idol way, these guys get to progress gradually there not thrown into the lime light straight away, they have time to focus on their song writing and gradually build them selves up to a standard that doesn’t seem contrived or forced. The winner of the competition was Hey Fever who thoroughly deserved it because they have the songs, they have the presence and the lead singer has a great voice.

Good luck to all bands that performed tonight they all have something to contribute to the ever growing Melbourne music scene.