REVIEWS
Final

This was the big one, the Battle Of The Titans, plus one dark horse, a minnow amongst men. From The Wreckage have never been touted as favourites for this competition and even going into last night's final were ranked by many as valiant outsiders that would not go down without a fight, and fight they did - all the way to victory. Taking the opening slot at this packed-out show was not billed as an easy task, but the melodic duo took it on the chin and bashed out a nervy yet emotive twenty minutes of romantic teen-angst pop which saw dancing drumbeats balance the singers' ability to swing from full throttle Americano-indie to soft lullaby in seconds.

The last four month's have seen Deadjim's singer go from sporting the tag of 'that guy who plays sax in Star 27' to the front man in one of the city's most important bands. Deadjim were simply excellent, giving the best they could and providing their most varied and energetic set yet. The band were dressed to impress, even by Deadjim standards, and seemed in high spirits, winning the adoration of many more audience rows than purely their fan club. They had the whole Mill jumping and, despite coming second, will not be forgotten in future.

'Seriously, I wouldn't stand around there love,' says For My Anger's singer as he separates the Mill's massive crowd into two halves, before instructing everyone to crash togther into the biggest moshpit The Mill has ever seen. For My Anger are the complete package, seriously heavy hardcore emo to which few sections of society can relate. This has to go down as one of the defining moments of The Mill's history, never mind the competition, and with no disrespect to any other band, they deserved much better than fourth.

Capulet made it to the final with no respect for musical convention, and seemingly no formula whatsoever. Last night they stood as one and effectively said 'this is what we are, take it or leave it,' as they refuse to change their style to suit the audience. Crowd interaction is nil and you almost feel rude clapping for fear of interrupting the atmosphere. The whole set is pretty much one continuous piece of music and, whilst the band are masters of the mood swing - capable of switching effortlessly between harmonic riffs and demonic guitar noise - they have yet to leave an audience entirely satisfied.

Written by Dan Jeoffroy

In proud association with Rough Sketch