Topman CTRL’s Birmingham debut was a hot one, so hot in fact that at
one stage the drums were on fire. More on that later, let’s begin at the
beginning. This month’s CTRL was all about metal, hardcore, thrash and all
things heavy in celebration of October’s controllers, Gallows. The reigning
kings of UK punk rock had handpicked a line-up of their favourite new bands for a
night of mayhem at The Flapper. Right in the heart of Birmingham, home to original metallers Black Sabbath and
generally considered the home of heavy metal, this cosy low-ceilinged venue had
all the ingredients for a perfect sweaty night.
First up were local
boys Soni-Quella, apparently there’s no logic behind the unusual name but the
tunes made perfect sense. Their high energy rock/metal crossover went down a
storm with an obviously loyal local following and their half an hour set went
all too quickly. The fabulously named Terrorike DJs kept the crowd warm in
preparation for Shapes. The band are Birmingham natives but increasingly a name on the
international scene; they can also proudly say they are literally big in Japan having recently toured out there. The Shapes
sound was even heavier than Soni-Quella, built around intricate riffs played
with razor sharp precision and boundless energy.
The scene was
perfectly set for headliners Invasion to do their thing, a different musical
proposition to the first two bands steering more towards classic metal riffs
topped with singer Chan’s almost Beth Ditto-like belting soul vocals. There are
only three of them but they create a huge sound worthy of a much bigger band.
Highlights included the 300mph riff in ‘Moongazer’ and the disco metal of
‘Spells of Deception’. The songs were short and there were plenty of them but
they timed the ending perfectly to leave the crowd on a cliffhanger, but not
before the drummer had set her cymbals on fire. The smell of lighter fluid and
a ringing in the ears accompanied us home but was it worth it? Oh yes.
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