The Fall Of Troy

support Tiny Moving Parts
author PP date 01/09/16 venue Lille Vega, Copenhagen, DEN

It's a late night start at Vega. The venue has just turned 20 years old, and the early evening has been occupied with a celebratory reception preventing concerts from starting before 22:00. It's a special one on paper: The Fall Of Troy, who released one of the best post-hardcore records in the genre's history back in 2005 ("Doppelgänger"), are playing in Denmark for the first time ever, accompanied by the snowballing Tiny Moving Parts who have endeared themselves to fans and critics alike with this year's excellent breakthrough record "Celebrate". It's a solid booking but perhaps a little too ambitious for the fine but too spacious confines of Lille Vega,resulting in a small crowd that probably would've been served better at BETA or Loppen instead.

Tiny Moving Parts - double tapping bliss

Tiny Moving Parts

With giant smiles on their faces, a cozy laughter, and oozing of infectious energy, Tiny Moving Parts captivate the crowd instantly with "Happy Birthday". With technical guitar wizardry approaching virtuoso status, the post-rock influenced melodies are as catchy as they are awe-inspiring in terms of the fretwork. That the band is simultaneously able to spin in circles, jump around the stage, and display high-energy movement doesn't cease to amaze throughout their set. Add to the mix the band's genuine enthusiasm for being here and their overjoyed in-between songs banter, the band are simply impossible to dislike or not to be inspired by. Two-hand finger-tapped leads, math-rock style riffage, and emotionally-charged expression that sees their vocalist practically shaking in seizure style from the emotional unleash, their performance is as passionate as it engaging, especially to those of us familiar with the past ten years of emo/pop punk history. Here, Tiny Moving Parts effectively funnel ideas from Taking Back Sunday, This Town Needs Guns, The World Is A Beautiful Place..., Such Gold, and Set Your Goals into an effective mix of intense buildups of emo/post-rock/pop-hardcore brilliance. They are playing with the kind of energy and confidence that goes far in suggesting that this band is simply happening right now. Get on board!

8

The Fall Of Troy

With a romanticized nostalgia-flavored memory of an epic The Fall Of Troy concert in Portsmouth back in 2005, I found myself looking forward to an almost front-to-back playthrough of "Doppelgänger" together with a number of other solid songs they've written over the years. With the release of "OK" earlier this year, it certainly appeared like The Fall Of Troy were toning down their progressive side and returning to their roots. That is, ridiculously technical post-hardcore that borders on spazz-core with its jolts and angular riffs.

The Fall Of Troy

Things start off on a different tone, however, where TFOT opts to open with the lengthy and progressive "Chapter 1: Introverting Dimensions" from the 2008 cult release "Phantom On The Horizon", with Thomas Erak theatrically showing off his guitars up above the front rows of the crowd. An introduction, if you will, because straight after we're finding ourselves in a mixture of "OK" and "Doppelgänger" material with Erak's eclectic guitar prodigy talent on prominent display. Despite the crazy technicals and double-tapped bliss fueling the spazzed out riffs of "I Just Got This Symphony Goin'", Erak's shaking on stage in seizure-like fashion, bouncing around like a madman, a feat that's all the more impressive considering how complicated the majority of TFTOT material is on record. "401k" off the new album continues the signature screamo/post-hardcore style of "Doppelgänger" nicely, while "A Ode To The Masochists" gives some Latin, The Mars Volta style flavor to the expression. "Mouths Like Sidewinder Missiles" is as sick live as it is on record, with its playful riffs circling up-and-down, twisting and turning in every direction nicely. If anything, this is the very definition of ADHD music with so much going on: uncontrollable screams, rapid time-signature changes, and clean/scream dynamics add flavor to a masterful soundscape.

The Fall Of Troy

All's good and well, then? At this point, yes, but the show quickly descends downhill after a random fan shouts "Play Ghostship!", to which the band awkwardly responds "We already did..." (the opening track is a reworked version of the Ghostship demos). "Auto Repeater" and "Quarter Past" are okay, but the intensity factor is diminishing and the show becomes more of a nostalgia affair than the chaotic experience we were expecting, despite the band's best attempts to move around like crazy. With a muted audience response, the band begin conversing amongst themselves in awkward pauses in between songs, with the atmosphere starting to feel like all energy is being sucked out of it progressive with each pause. It's a compounding effect of the venue being barely at 30% capacity, and the band playing mostly old material (incl the new album, which sounds like the old TFOT) with "In The Unlikely Event" and "Manipulator" material purposefully left out to focus on the classic mid-2000s sound instead. Guessing not many Danish fans expected that. So while the band started out very well and continues to play classics like "F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X" (tonight's finale), I can't help but compare this show to the good ol' days when the band were simply better. Tonight, it feels, is more of a nostalgia trip than a band in the middle of a revitalization. Sadly.

6

Photos by: Philip B. Hansen

Comments
comments powered by Disqus

Legal

© Copyright MMXXIV Rockfreaks.net.