Oceansize

A wise man once said 'dont believe the hype', but what about the flipside of that? After arriving late to find a band who seem to be doing a good job of 'Mon-ing the Biffy', I brace myself for what I'm told would be the equivalent of 'Towers Of London listening to Tago Mago instead of Never Mind The Bollocks'. However whilst I'm not blown away, I am pleasantly suprised

It seems the main two criticisms of Pure Reason Revolution are that they are 'overblown and delve too far into muso territories' and 'shambolic'. To an extent both of these criticsms are true, but its the same muso exploration that gets Mars Volta compering festivals performing in the same shambolic nature that gets so many London-based bands their moment in the limelight.

True, some songs veer to far to the wrong side of the ten minute mark and are hindered by repetition, but with music so full to the brim with ideas like previous single 'The Million Bright Ambassadors Of Morning' and 'Intention Craft' its better to give the tracks room to breathe than to suffocate them with radio-friendly track lengths. You may feel shameful doing so, but give Pure Reason Revolution enough time to reveal their charms and you will be glad you did. Don't believe the hate

For Oceansize see 'blessing in disguise'. As opener The Charm Offensive draws to a close we are notified that due to a club-night in the venue their set will be cut short by half an hour.

This would normally be a bad thing, however the shorter time-slot actually improves their set, with disappointing previous singles 'Heaven Alive' and 'New Pin' being cut, leaving an hour of Oceansize's greatest moments.

Live favourites 'Catalyst', 'Women Who Love Men Who Love Drugs' and 'One Out Of None' are delivered with more force than usual, singer Mike Vennart's obvious displeasure coming through his rasping vocals. The riffs are as brutal as they are precisive, and new bassist Steve doesn't miss a note

The set is finished with 'Ornaments/The Last Wrongs', a track that combines the bands searing melodic structures with multi-tracked choral backings, and while it doesn't sound as impressive as on record its still a perfect close and a perfect summarisation of Oceansize's schizophrenic post-metal.