Music / Reviews
Review: Fury/The Luke Appleton Power Trio/Neuromatic, Exchange
Few rock bands tour this late in the year, so Birmingham’s Fury are owed a big debt of gratitude by those of us who prefer metal to carols. Their Bristol show is as headliners at Bristol Rock Centre‘s Christmas bash, on a bill that sees performances by a brace of the Centre’s tutors before a packed audience that includes many of their pupils
Billed as “Kate Bush meets The Texas chainsaw Massacre”, Bristol’s Neuromatic actually sound like neither of these things. What we have here is old school rock guitar, with many a languid solo, a bit of punky attitude in the rhythm section and prog/psych keyboards, topped with female vocals. Trouble is that it doesn’t really gel and they rarely sound like they’re playing in the same band.
is needed now More than ever
Fortunately, everything finally comes together in their newest, longest and best-titled song, Lying in Bed with Cats. The quintet leave us with an unexpected cover of late sixties psychedelic obscurity Magic Potion by The Open Mind.
Best known for his work with Blaze Bayley and (briefly) the disgraced Jon Schaffer in Iced Earth, bassist/vocalist Luke Appleton tells us he’s just finished his last day as a BRC tutor before becoming a full-time touring musician. It’s also the first time his Power Trio have ever performed before an actual audience. No pressure then. They proceed to rattle through an enjoyable set of muscular metal with three-part vocal harmonies and a strong Iron Maiden influence. Some of these songs are rocked-up versions of tracks recorded for his solo acoustic albums, and there’s even a detour into bluesy country hard rock (Snake Eyes).
Never a Good Day to Die provides a good singalong interlude, but the best song they play tonight is also their newest one, with the none-more-metal title of Forever Viking. It’s not exactly Amon Amarth (they’re need more guitars for that), but operates in the same neighbourhood, being packed with “sailing to distant shores” imagery.
They finish up with a cover of Maiden’s Wasted Years, with Theresa Smith of Metaprism brought on stage to tackle the Bruce Dickinson lung-busting vocals and Rishi Mehta comfortably doing the work of three guitarists.
It’s festive headgear a-go-go as veterans Fury take the stage. If you must squeeze them into a pigeonhole, it’s probably the one marked Proper British Heavy Metal Played by Hairy Gents (and Ladies) with Thunderous Drums and Squealing Guitar Solos. And who could resist that?
Burdened with a cold, frontman Julian Jenkins sounds a little gruffer than usual as they rattle through crowd-pleasing, Hades-fixated openers If You Get to Hell First and Hell of a Night.
Recently returned from a North American arena tour with Mercyful Fate (and still wearing the T-shirt to prove it), journeywoman Bristolian bassist Becky Baldwin, who generally has a myriad diverse projects on the go at any given time, is back in her element playing metal, while Jake Elwell excels in the furious guitar solo department and Tom Fenn proves his mettle as one of the fastest drummers around.
The only disappointment given her great singing voice is that newest recruit Nyah Ifill thus far has relatively little to do other than jigging about and contributing backing vocals. Hopefully that will be rectified when Fury get round to writing their next album.
Things take a brief turn for the serious when Jenkins introduces the splendid Rock Lives in My Soul by reminding us that “Sexism is endemic in the music industry. It’s our job to get rid of it. If you don’t agree, fuck off!” Nobody fucks off.
Guest pianist Robin Fox pitches up for the very first live performance of recent ballad Shadows and Dust, but it’s straight back to rockin’ with the title track from Born to Sin, which sounds like a lost classic from the era when NWOBHM and punk spawned thrash metal.
Road Warrior and Casino Soleil from the Grand Prize album wrap things up impressively, which means all that’s left are the Christmas songs: Fairytale of New York and a metallised I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday that would surely meet with the approval of fellow Brummie Roy Wood himself.
All pix by Mike Evans
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