Scarred By Beauty

support None
author PP date 29/08/13 venue KB18, Copenhagen, DEN

Rumours had circulated the net that Scarred By Beauty were going to make the release show for their excellent sophomore album "Cape Zero" something special. They accomplished just that and then some, with an action packed evening free of charge filling up KB18 to its rims from metal fans from Denmark and beyond. To kick off the festivities, the band had organized a charity BBQ for SOS Children's Villages DK from 18:00 with free beer from Royal Unibrew to accompany the outdoor dinner. Inside, the stage area was closed off until show time to create an intimate DJ set, plus opportunities for Danish headphone manufacturer AIAIAI to provide listening stations where you could simultaneously test their headphones and get your first tastes on how "Cape Zero" sounds like on record. Unless you work in the media industry, of course, in which case you've had a copy of the album for a couple of weeks now. It kicks ass, as you can tell by my glowing review of it from the other day.

Bar area right when the curtains open to the stage area

Since tonight was to be all about Scarred By Beauty, the band opted for no support band and simply gardened off the show-area from curious eyes until showtime. This was good, because once clock turned 21:30, everyone was packed eagerly in the bar area waiting to be let in, where Scarred By Beauty were waiting for us with a surprise. As we walk in, we're treated to an intriguing sight: the stage has been largely removed from sight, leaving only a small spot for the drummer visible, while the remaining band members are standing right there on the dance floor with us. A new interpretation for an intimate show - which I believe The Psyke Project pioneered together with As We Fight a couple of years ago - and rest assured it created some awesomely chaotic moments as the band and crowd members clashed into each other on regular basis. SBB are playing "Cape Zero" from start to finish tonight, meaning most songs are new to people, yet the pit is menacing throughout the show, with people hanging from the rafters, crowd-surfing, and bouncing in ecstasy as the band deliver their polyrhythms and ambient melodic leads from songs like "Lighthouse", "Untitled", and "Cape Zero" among others.

Crowd going wild

The new record is far more two-step hardcore friendly than its predecessor, meaning there are plenty of moshable sequences where the crowd turns into a wild stomping pit right by the middle. In effect, the band are playing with the crowd surrounding them in a semi-circle, which allows them to easily hop on and crowd surf as their guitarist shows at one point of the show, or to even do backflips that turn into crowd surfing like singer Jonathan demonstrates, predictably igniting the pit and the crowd into a thunderous roar straight after.

Energy, in your face

Performance-wise, this is the kind of show that you expect to see from bands with international experience: all members are in constant movement, whether it is Jonathan pacing across the semi-circle crowd delivering his scream close-up, or the guitarists bouncing up-and-down like fucking yoyos near the crowd. This, of course, has the natural effect of rubbing into the crowd, meaning there's a great dynamic going on throughout the show. Once "Confession" finishes the album, the band opt to play three more songs, these from the old records, meaning the crowd goes even more mental than it was before, aspiring to grab the mic off Jonathan to sing the lyrics with him.

Hair flowing was not an unusual sight

Overall, it's a great evening and yet another power demonstration of SBB's prowess and growth as a unit. The sound at KB18 did them no favours tonight, leaving a lot of the finer details of the record out of the soundscape, and causing a few problems where the microphone blanked out mid-song (loose connection by the sounds of it), but the band made the best of the situation, and the strong connection between them and the crowd throughout the show means they've now got every opportunity to really grow the band based on two solid albums and significant backing from the scene.

8

Photos by: Philip B. Hansen

Comments
comments powered by Disqus

Legal

© Copyright MMXXIV Rockfreaks.net.