Trigger The Bloodshed

support The Dead Lay Waiting + Billy Boy In Poison
author PP date 25/09/10 venue BETA, Copenhagen, DEN

Originally AP had signed up to cover the second out of three Trigger The Bloodshed gigs in Copenhagen this fall (ambitious amount, one must admit), but due to unforeseen circumstances he wasn't able to attend, and I figured a triple metal show like this ought not to be missed in our live coverage. The venue is Beta, a refurbished version of the refurbished Amager Kino that opened as Beta last year, where the stage has taken yet another 180 degree turn and is now on the opposite side of the venue compared to last year. It's slightly wider, and the place seems smaller despite the almost complete absence of seating places, but at the same time more intimate and intense. Reminds me a little bit of The Peel in Kingston, UK, in terms of size and atmosphere, so my verdict is positive and I'll dare to guess lots of very good and special small shows will take place here throughout the year. Thumbs up.

Billy Boy In Poison

First up are local upstarts Billy Boy In Poison, who are starting to establish themselves as a solid live act in and around the Copenhagen area. Their brand of metalcore borrows heavily from the oh-so-typical 'Danish metal' sound, in that although the music is hook and riff driven for the most part, it also has large sections of the same live-dynamic that used to come out of CB Studios a few years ago on every recording. But what really separates these guys from the rest of the metal scene, in my opinion, is that they don't take themselves very seriously. Not only are they all funny dudes with witty humour and tongue-in-cheek attitude on stage, but they have small gimmicks like the rainbow-coloured "gay lights" (their words, not mine) flashing at opportune moments to highlight a joke or something semi-retarded that just took place on stage. Now, don't get me wrong, when they are engaged in a song, they play it seriously and in a convincing manner. The guys are using the two mini-plateaus on both sides of the stage to elevate themselves above the crowd, and vocalist Bjørn nearly gets stabbed in the face a couple of times by the bass guitar, thanks to an energetic stage performance despite limited space. But they seem to genuinely be having fun on stage - especially in between the songs. It's this light-hearted attitude to heavy music, combined with some slick riffs and melodic leads, that makes me think Billy Boy In Poison are heading in the right direction, as evident by the packed room by the end of their set, and a temperature that forces everyone outside the moment they stop and remove their instruments.

The Dead Lay Waiting

Next band is The Dead Lay Waiting, who received a thorough battering by our very own AP in his review of their latest album "We Rise", causing a shit-storm of an argument in the comments between factions of the band's fanbase and the rest of the world. Curious to find out whether he was just being unnecessarily harsh on the band because the few Myspace tracks I heard seemed not horrendous at least, I was looking forward to what this metalcore could offer to a distinctly metal Danish audience. Not an easy audience to please for a band playing anything remotely trendy, but it certainly doesn't help when the band's vocalist appears on stage wearing a NES controller as a belt bucket on top of his emo haircut. That the band then engages in some of the most predictable metalcore known to man - often dubbed as mallcore due to it's simplicity and dumbed down feel - seals the deal, and a few moments later only a handful of people remain in the venue. For every catchy melodic riff or a decent screamo part, the band seemingly ran out of ideas in the writing stage and descend into entirely unnatural and misplaced breakdowns or otherwise strange composition. It's all too easy to see through the debacle, especially when taken into consideration that the frontman seems to be more interested in fondling himself than putting on a noteworthy performance. It all seems awfully contrived and fake, as if the band itself didn't believe in their own material. But the worst and most irritating part about their set is how utterly and totally seriously these guys take themselves and their questionable music. Compared to the self-ironic manner that BBIP handled themselves only moments before, The Dead Lay Waiting seem like angsty emo-kids ready to slit their wrists. Hyperbole extends my argument, but the point is that The Dead Lay Waiting just aren't very good today, and especially not in front of an empty, hostile crowd where only two people (both girls, around the age of 17-18 it would seem) care even the slightest bit.

Trigger The Bloodshed

For the evening's main attraction, Britain's death metal bruisers Trigger The Bloodshed, the venue quickly filled up again nearly to its limits, despite a starting time close to 1am. Now, there was a time when these guys were considered to be a generic deathcore act, part of the wave of similar bands plaguing the UK soil four years ago. Their latest two albums, however, have displayed a slow but steady transformation into a very formidable and talented death metal band with an ear for technical melodies and brutal riffs. Nowadays they employ a take-no-prisoners approach to their death metal, which tonight sinks into the audience like titanic into the ocean a century ago. The crowd hair swings in unison as encouraged on several occasions by the vocalist's grating "HEADBANG WITH ME" chants, setting the example himself together with the rest of the band. Some necks will be sore later on tonight, I promise you that. There's something very Marduk-like about the his maniacal performance; he seems to be everywhere at once, and he constantly sports an evil, murderous facial expression, fitting to the style of the music as well. Trigger The Bloodshed are also very serious about what they're doing, but here, signs of fake attitude are nowhere to be found. The show is brutally energetic, and ends just at the right time to avoid overstaying its welcome. While it wasn't necessarily in the top of the league of death metal shows I've seen, it maintains a solid standard and keeps people entertained/headbanging for the whole set.

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