| 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
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