Twenty five years ago, in this venue, I witnessed probably the greatest gig I have ever seen. The band was a little known band from El Paso, Texas called At The Drive-In. I knew very little about them and only went because some friends put the show on and a band I liked were supporting. The band were incredible. A mixture of urgent, angular guitars, a manic frontman and a chaotic, high energy performance took my breath away and has remained ingrained in my memory. Six months after this show, they released the incredible 'Relationship Of Command' album and they briefly burned brightly before imploding. The singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala and guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López formed The Mars Volta who are probably much bigger than At The Drive-In ever were. The other guitarist Jim Ward formed Sparta and has come full circle by playing the same stage that I saw him on twenty five years ago.
Indifferent Engine start off playing emotive post-hardcore with a Thursday feel. The second track has angular guitar lines reminiscent of 'In/Casino/Out' era At The Drive-In. The singer is absolutely everywhere: on the floor, on the windowsill, flinging himself at walls and annoying his bandmates whilst they gamely battle on with playing. The music possesses power and has a good sense of dynamics. Each song builds and builds yet manages to retain my interest throughout. The bank of old TV sets stationed in front of the stage looks pretty cool too.
Sparta's opening track 'Sans Cosm' is their typical emotionally charged alt rock. 'Red Alibi' has a terrific groove during the chorus. 'While Oceana Speaks' follows the familiar alt rock quiet/loud pattern but the chorus is monstrous. Jim's voice is terrific: strong and full of character, and not dissimilar to Cedric's. 'The Most Vicious Crime' builds in intensity before ending with a raw, stripped back climax. 'Empty Houses' has an intimate feel during the verse before becoming more charged for the chorus. A punchy 'Hiss The Villain' picks the pace and energy back up. Every song comes armed with big, memorable choruses, meaning that even if the odd verse has a bit of a lull, a giant chorus is only a minute away. They come across as a very honest band who have been plugging away on the circuit for years, putting out consistently good albums and putting on good shows. This is one of them. It isn't at that same level as that first At The Drive-In show but to be honest, nothing is.
Sparta ****
Indifferent Engine ****
No comments:
Post a Comment