The Perfect Unseen

support PMS + Syrereng
author TL date 08/05/10 venue Rust, Copenhagen, DEN

Eight days in the past, I'm dragging my girl hastily through town to get to Rust. We're late, because our reason for going there, my friend's band Syreregn who are opening tonight, are supposed to already have started. To emphasize our haste, I'll allow this rushed little thing to stand as an excuse for an introduction, and jump right into a description of our night, post-arrival.

Syreregn

When we do make it to Rust, Syreregn have indeed started playing. In fact, they're playing their second to last song. As quickly as I set my eyes on them, I see that if I had harbored any hopes of them reaching out in an effort to unite their retro blues-rock with the modern audience, such hopes would've been thwarted, because the trio have instead walked the plank, donning authentic indian.. man-dresses(??), and proceeded to treat the crowd to their acidic sound in a very casual manner. The relaxed feeling of the show seems mirrored in the as of yet shallow crowd, part of which have decided to sit on the floor and chill during Syreregn's show. Overall, seeing little under two songs seems too little to grade the band on, but let's just say that if you already dig retro approaches like theirs, you'll likely be fond of their running with it and you should check them out. If however, you heard Syreregn and hoped that they would take the sound of old to a show that could contend in the modern arena, you will, as me, be a bit short of satisfied. ??

PMS

Now the only band on tonight, which I haven't heard about, is the second one, PMS, yet based on their performance, I would ask you to check out their myspace straight away, had I not done so myself already, finding that their recorded material is slightly underwhelming compared to their live performance. As opposed to Syreregn, PMS show what it means to come forth with an appearance, sporting black suits over red shirts and pouring youthful energy into a show that is explosively rock'n'roll. Each axe-man handles his spade with an attitude that is unmistakably over-the-top, while the drummer delivers straigh forward, no-nonsense AC/DC-ish rock beats. This all combines into a great platform upon which their singer can deliver his vocals, which are what has my jaw dropped for several moments during the show. The dude not only performs like a Danish Jack Black, he also sings very much like the man, shifting with breath-taking haste between high pitch, low pitch, opera-style, screaming and rapping. Between him and his band, PMS pack attitude to boot, and they engage the crowd constantly, while whipping through their set with little time to notice what it is that's running you over. It's a great live performance, and while one wonders if it doesn't operate a little too much on full steam to work on record and if the drumming couldn't benefit from a little less simplicity, PMS leave only one dominant feeling, which is that a chance to see them again wouldn't be unwelcome at all.

7

The Perfect Unseen

When I discovered that The Perfect Unseen were also playing tonight, I was actually kind of intrigued, because I had a vague memory of checking out their myspace at some point, though I didn't remember what I thought of it. So when the Copenhagen five-piece comes on, I am amazed. Amazed because their show quickly gathers considerable response, which sticks around throughout, despite the fact that the performance is pretty much terrible. To be fair, the band's on stage attitude is somewhat charming and sympathetic, but it can't cover for the fact that the inexperience is plain for all to see, and the sound is below-average, even at its best. Whether it's due to poor equipment or some malfunction, I do not know, but the lead guitar is close to inaudible in the mix, and hence the band's metalcore is reduced to a rumbling mess of drums, bass and heavily distorded rhythm guitar. On top, frontman Samuel Kormind does a fair job initially, doing solid harsh vocals in both high and low departments, but as we all know, clean singing is an entirely different game than screaming, and despite aiming for some quite humble notes in these sections, both Kormind and guitarist Tobias Mohr's backing vox are so often out of tune it becomes impossible for someone new to the band to take them seriously. So I'm left to conclude that the response from the crowd can only means that TPU have brought a lot of their friends, and while this makes the sight of the show seem like a good time, a sound that is sorely missing one guitar and some singing that is crying to either get some schooling or be omitted from the soundscape, both force me to deduct that this band is still very far from where they want to be. Hopefully these are mere baby steps for them, and time will bring improvement, but for now, it would be disrespectful to other bands to give TPU more than:

3

Photos courtesy of Nicolai Levin via. Undergrund For Alle.

Comments
comments powered by Disqus

Legal

© Copyright MMXXIV Rockfreaks.net.