One Minute Silence

*One Minute Silence *have always been a notoriously crazy live act. This, of course, led to everyone looking forward to this show very, very much. With Sacramento mentalists *Will Haven *in support, the line-up was looking far from feeble, especially after the loud and youthful *SugarComa *were announced as the other support. This would have to be a killer gig.

It was indeed everything it was cracked up to be. If you omitted the poor, poor showing of SugarComa. Receiving acclaim from Mr. Llamacq seems to have mad everyone try and take notice but in reality there is only the one gem to be unearthed from this slurry pit – the drumming. The *drumming *held the entire band together tonight. Jess seemed less than confident while fronting the stage and the guitars were hardly what you might call technically proficient. On top of this they didn’t even sound good. The occasional singing was barely audible above the din but then the oh-so-predictable bellows that exit her mouth just sounded absurd. They sounded averagely bass-heavy tonight, along with some carefully prepared drumming, but more is required from the guitar for *SugarComa *to define a sound all to themselves. You can but wonder whose influence gained SugarComa so many high-profile supports.

Will Haven, on the other hand, barely paused for breath during a non-stop set of tunes built to mash your brain and qualify you for a neck brace. With less material taken from their ‘El Diablo’ and ‘WHVN’ albums, the focus was clearly on the recent release of their ‘Carpe Diem’ record. Their brand of often gently atmospheric background supplementation striding in toward full-on noisecore was well received tonight. Stage antics included synchronised head-banging from the axe-wielders and some individual dancing from that crazy, bearded goon - Mr. Grady Avenell. Will Haven could easily fill this room on their own yet have been chosen as support for One Minute Silence. They are, indeed, a fine choice as although their sound may be slightly heavier than OMS they are just as intense and the entertainment value lacks not a bit.

Tonight’s primary entertainers – *One Minute Silence *– enter stage left to an applause which may be described by many as rapturous. I prefer *euphoric *as the crowd seemed to erupt into a deafening cheer for these four young men. The reaction to the band does not go either unnoticed or unwarranted. From the offset the front rows are greeted by the band – a fantastic amount of *eye contact *is made and it is so rare to find a band who is so willing to please their fans in this way. OMS really are something special. They make the effort to make the people in the audience feel almost at home.

Brian ‘Yap’ Barry *is his usual self – jerking his body around the stage yelping brutally into the microphone; not caring about a thing but his own performance and the crowd’s happiness. *Glen Diani *begins his infamous routine of throwing himself around the stage – he never actually walks; always either standing or flying. These are the actions of a madman. Do not doubt this. Guitarist *Massimo *can neither be called diminutive nor reserved. He too loves giving it to the fans *100%. He achieves this with his deplorable talent as well as his thrusting body moves and a stage presence rivalled only by his own band mates. Drummer *Eddie Stratton *is always in the background. It is not his fault. It doesn’t stop the man. He is constantly singing along and just drums with the one hand occasionally. How many madmen is one band allowed, exactly? These four men combined makes for an intriguing show. Who does one watch exactly? All of them, is the answer. This is certainly one way of making somebody remember a show.

Their other special way of making you remember them for many, many moons is to play a blinder. Their talent is undoubted. Their sound is very loud. They are a* metal band, but not a nu-metal band. Indeed there was not a nu-metal band in the room tonight. This tends to please a few people. OMS start and stop their tunes with such accuracy and efficiency, it is a wonder why they aren’t all millionaire *receptionists. The bass is turned up to the point where Diani feels he must leap a good 20 feet DOWN *into the crowd. With his bass guitar. Well he is mad. Although OMS are a metal band the drumming is not reminiscent of a regular metal band as it is less thunderous and Massimo’s fingers move with such force and vigour to highlight the fact that the power chords really aren’t in use tonight. Equally the concepts behind the songs are most definitely *punk. Indeed it is laughed at in many circles to hear of an OMS show where Yap fails to mention anything even slightly political. He always goes the whole hog though but tonight had no problem in rousing the crowd into a veritable frenzy. I doubt a significant proportion went home dissatisfied.