Post by Admin on Jul 19, 2011 10:03:40 GMT -5
Motive Sounds presents -
OPIATE, SECOND TO LAST
By Mitch Thompson
The Brickyard, Carlisle. 24th January 2003
I think booking Second to Last and Opiate together was a good move on behalf of the promoter (Motive Sounds) of last Friday's gig. The thing that separates these two bands with a lot of others in this town is their relevance in music today. Second to Last, heavily influenced by the current “emo” trend, drawing references to bands like 'Glassjaw' and 'Thursday' as well as British bands like 'Hell is for Heroes'. Opiate of course, riding the nu-metal wave, sounding, to my mind, like 'Disturbed' and occasionally 'Creed'.
Second to Last kicked the night off, the two front-men (Lee Smith and Alex Macarte) thrashing their guitars and themselves around the stage like something possessed, through their usual rota. “V*I*S*A”, “D.C” and the closer “In Movies and Motel Rooms...” being the pick of the bunch. There were hints of confusion in between songs throughout the set, largely down to the fact that this was only their stand in drummer’s second gig with the band, having joined temporarily only a week or two ago, yet this didn’t hinder the performance of the tunes.
As a band there sound is improving all the time, Ste Ross did an amazing job considering the amount of time he had to practice, Greg Wynne was his legendary usual self. There is a large audience for their sound, they have the songs, they have the captivating live performance, I hope that they get their line up sorted out and really put everything they can into it. Catch them live a soon as you can.
Nu-metal was the order of the night from start to finish of Opiate’s set, reinforced by lead singer Justin Muir’s “lower than comfortable” pants. They played their crowd pleaser “Dysfunction” second song in, which set a pace. The momentum was disrupted soon after, however, with guitarist Iain Jamieson having to leave the stage to re-string his guitar.
The musicianship throughout was impression, particularly the drumming. Yet the songs a lot of the time seemed to lack something. They sounded too similar to each other and there was no real cutting edge to them, they all had a similar pace, with no real diversity. Still the crowd loved it and that’s what counts.
Opiate seem to me to be in a peculiar situation, signed two years ago, yet due to unfortunate circumstances made their first release, their debut album “Distinctive Smile” only a few months back and no tour to date. They have the fans, proved by the amount of people who came down to see them. Yet with the recent decline of the nu-metal scene I think only the best new bands from this genre will become successful, 2003 will make or break Opiate.
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OPIATE, SECOND TO LAST
By Mitch Thompson
The Brickyard, Carlisle. 24th January 2003
I think booking Second to Last and Opiate together was a good move on behalf of the promoter (Motive Sounds) of last Friday's gig. The thing that separates these two bands with a lot of others in this town is their relevance in music today. Second to Last, heavily influenced by the current “emo” trend, drawing references to bands like 'Glassjaw' and 'Thursday' as well as British bands like 'Hell is for Heroes'. Opiate of course, riding the nu-metal wave, sounding, to my mind, like 'Disturbed' and occasionally 'Creed'.
Second to Last kicked the night off, the two front-men (Lee Smith and Alex Macarte) thrashing their guitars and themselves around the stage like something possessed, through their usual rota. “V*I*S*A”, “D.C” and the closer “In Movies and Motel Rooms...” being the pick of the bunch. There were hints of confusion in between songs throughout the set, largely down to the fact that this was only their stand in drummer’s second gig with the band, having joined temporarily only a week or two ago, yet this didn’t hinder the performance of the tunes.
As a band there sound is improving all the time, Ste Ross did an amazing job considering the amount of time he had to practice, Greg Wynne was his legendary usual self. There is a large audience for their sound, they have the songs, they have the captivating live performance, I hope that they get their line up sorted out and really put everything they can into it. Catch them live a soon as you can.
Nu-metal was the order of the night from start to finish of Opiate’s set, reinforced by lead singer Justin Muir’s “lower than comfortable” pants. They played their crowd pleaser “Dysfunction” second song in, which set a pace. The momentum was disrupted soon after, however, with guitarist Iain Jamieson having to leave the stage to re-string his guitar.
The musicianship throughout was impression, particularly the drumming. Yet the songs a lot of the time seemed to lack something. They sounded too similar to each other and there was no real cutting edge to them, they all had a similar pace, with no real diversity. Still the crowd loved it and that’s what counts.
Opiate seem to me to be in a peculiar situation, signed two years ago, yet due to unfortunate circumstances made their first release, their debut album “Distinctive Smile” only a few months back and no tour to date. They have the fans, proved by the amount of people who came down to see them. Yet with the recent decline of the nu-metal scene I think only the best new bands from this genre will become successful, 2003 will make or break Opiate.