The Dillinger Escape Plan,Maylene and the Sons ofDisaster, Peripery @ Fowler'sLive, (18/05/10)

Sat 22nd May, 2010 in Gig Reviews

CHECK OUT ALL THE PHOTOS HERE.

Kicking the night off was the Washington DC sextet Periphery, a band with skills far above and beyond the short life of the group. They play a style of progressive metal that has come to be known as ‘djent’, referring to the noise of the palm muted low tuned rhythm style. As predicted, the bottom end of their sound was immense, fat and lush bass and palm mutes coursing into the floor, and soaring over that were the clean vocals of Spencer Sotelo who hit a few difficult notes and justified his position in the band alongside all these guitar prodigies.

Speaking of guitars, there were three on stage, fattening up the sound of some of the rhythm parts but more importantly, playing three separate parts at opportune times giving a fresh sound and a treat to the senses. The lads were on the usual cramped corner stage but were also forced to dodge Dillinger Escape Plan’s ridiculous lighting rig, awkwardly avoiding the sharp corners of fixtures but coping well and still delivering a great performance. Some of the stuff they were pulling off was incredible, some getting lost in the speaker setup but it was not lost on the crowd, most hearing them for the first time and responding well. It was also good to see that they have some fans here already when Periphery’s debut album is only a month old.

A relatively minimalist drum kit was shared by the first two bands which cut down on the set up time, so it was not long before Maylene and the Sons of Disaster took to the stage. I had not heard of them before this show so I was relying on their performance to speak for itself. What I got was some heavier, but no less genuine, southern rock with minute metalcore influences, played with grit and vigour from some interesting musicians. There was a burly bearded drummer who would not be out of place in a dive bar with a shot of Jack in hand, there was a guitarist plucked straight out of the 80s LA glam scene with denim and aviators and another guitarist largely hid behind the other colourful characters. The hipster version of RHCP’s Anthony Kiedis was on bass with CLAP written in big letters in duct tape on the back of his instrument, raising it to the crowd to indicate the appropriate time to, well, clap, and rounding out the Sons of Disaster was the star of the show, a frenzied Dallas Taylor who at one point leapt into the crowd and interacted with punters as long as his mike lead would allow, and then went further still, leaving the mike to be fought over by some lucky fans. It was moves like this that lifted hazardously pedestrian riffing made the music just one part of the show.

Mixing up the hootenanny was the use of slide on the guitar for a few parts and one or two breakdowns but otherwise they weren’t musically strong. My interpretation of their performance will differ from a long time fan, of which there were a number at this concert, but in my ill-informed opinion, Maylene was definitely not up to par in terms of skill level with their peers on show tonight but gave a pretty good performance. By far the stand out track for me was an extended Memories Of The Grove, with the whispered line “I thought we’d make it to the end” building to a crescendo and the crowd belting the line out by the end of the track.

Returning after little more than a year since they were last here was the deserving headliner The Dillinger Escape Plan. Thankfully a roof was over their heads this time, and the band was more in their element than their shorter open air showing at Soundwave 2009. This time, as well as delivering buckets of atmosphere Dillinger would be able to play a full set. The over the top lighting rig came to life and managed to blind everyone for the first song. It was like staring at a strobe and I couldn’t even see the members from six feet away. Thankfully the technician seemed to hold back with the more intense bursts from then on and the band was backlit with cold white light that was awesome to behold and suited the music perfectly.

The majority of the band’s selection were their intense, technical mathcore numbers which were performed with staggering accuracy, but my favourite tracks of the evening were Milk Lizard, the Faith No More influenced experimental track with the most epic of choruses, and a brilliantly translated rendition of the slow burning Mouth of Ghosts, both tracks from 2007’s Ire Works. The new album Option Paralysis got a good showing as well but most in attendance seemed thankful they revisited their whole back catalogue.

The band is an impressive force, performing together as a well oiled machine, nailing the polyrythms and oddities in their repertoire, all while putting on a good show physically. Drummer Billy Rhymer found time to regale us with a short drum solo and later I managed to get body slammed by guitarist Jeff Tuttle when my attention momentarily lapsed, after he had decided to dive in to the crowd for a few riffs. The track Farewell, Mona Lisa would bring night to a close superbly.

CHECK OUT ALL THE PHOTOS HERE.