Venue: The Fiddler's Elbow, Kentish Town
Date: 09 January 2009
Website: havocsystem.co.uk
MySpace: myspace.com/havocsystem
Label: None
Featured on: Loucifer Speaks Exclusive!
Well, the time for eating and drinking excessive amounts is over and I have finally got my act together to start writing some more reviews. Finally!
I went to this gig as part of my birthday celebrations (even though my birthday was on the 6th... I am a strong believer in the idea that birthday celebrations should last for at least one week... In fact, any day ending in a 'y' is worth a celebration in my book) and I was joined by a group of friends who had absolutely no idea of what they were letting themselves in for... and, while for some parts they seemed a little confused, I think they enjoyed themselves!
The first band we saw was Aghast. We missed a majority of their set because we arrived late, which is a shame because the part I saw was really entertaining. At first I was a little bemused... I must admit that extreme metal combined with tight leopard print trousers did manage to raise my eyebrow, but once I got into the swing of it I really enjoyed it. I'll definitely be checking them out more in the future.
I didn't catch the name of the next band and I wasn't too bothered about finding out it was either. They weren't really my cup of tea and the vocals really grated on me after the first song. I'm not sure of the best way to describe the music... "extreme-metal-core" could suffice. However, the high point of their set was a re-working of "Baa Baa Black Sheep" (although I think it was called "Baa Baa White Sheep")... So, they certainly had a decent sense of humour.
Then it was the main event - Havoc System! As regular readers of Loucifer Speaks will know (and those who frequent the forum will also know), I really liked the band's EP/Demo/CD type thing and so I'd really been looking forward to seeing them. In fact, I had so much faith in their abilities that I brought along friends who had never heard of them before (well, before I'd invited them on Facebook) and was fairly certain that they'd enjoy the gig.
The band opened with "Restless Soul", which is also the track that opens the EP/Demo... incidently, it's also one of the tracks featured on the Loucifer Speaks promo for 2009 (I just thought I'd drop that in there) and it was an excellent way to kick things off. I would have been happily headbanging along, but I wanted to catch at least one song on video so that you folks can check it out (see below). Alex Coleman, from Beyond Exile, stepped in to take over vocal duties and - even though he kept making random excuses for himself and had strange urges to advertise the fact that the new Batman film is now available to buy on DVD and Blu-ray - did a fine job. I'm now more than a little tempted to check out his own band.
Havoc System combine decent songs and a fantastic stage show. The result is something that will make you green with envy, but will also make your neck hurt the next morning. While the band is still a member down (Alex Coleman isn't a permanent addition to the band) I have no doubt that it won't be too long before they have an army of fans.
This was an excellent gig to kick-start the year.
Havoc System @ The Fiddlers Elbow from Lou Yardley on Vimeo.