Four bands, and a reviewer who's a virgin when it comes to any of their respective live work. An open mind, expecting something of the order of heavy, but not exactly sure of the detail...

First on tonight were thebigsleep from Reading, a particularly fresh faced bunch who played a particularly cool echo ridden instrumental squall of ambient post rock, guitars providing soaring melodies and drones over some interesting beats. Can't wait to hear it on record. The chap who appeared to be the main man (it's always difficult to judge when there's no singer) reminded me of Johnny Borrell. He's probably going to hate me for saying that.

Twin Zero began with a cool little guitar mantra that soon burst into apparently standard issue shouty vocals over mushy low end riffs, which made me switch off for a while. It's a one dimensional musical cul de sac which deserved to pass away a long time ago, and it's a shame the metal fraternity can't seem to shake the habit. Karl Middleton should know better, because he's a great singer, as we find out in their second song, the epic 'Monolith', which was a far better indicator of the ambition and scope of the band. When the six members (drums/bass/twin guitars/keys/vocals) engaged in producing cleaner textures it sounded amazing, intricate and multi layered, and when they left behind the metal dirge and entered into epic Devin Townsend territory, the music got genuinely passionate. Their album is a bit mindblowing, but they need to take care to preserve enough of the detail when they do it live.

65daysofstatic were as intense as f**k, four musical marionettes dancing beneath an amphetamine fuelled drum computer, machine gunning them with rapid fire beats, hectic drum and bass, overlaid with furious live drums and carefully orchestrated intertwined guitars and bass, soaring along much like thebigsleep, but this time quite supercharged. Perhaps the downside with playing to loops and programmed beats is that the members of the band tended to operate as if each were in a bit of a bubble, but unlike nearly every other band I've seen with that kind of backing, this lot managed to keep their set adrenaline soaked and energetic. Superb.

After another instrumental band, headliners yourcodenameis :milo were bound to make an impact, in fact I think singer Paul Mullen was pretty much born to do that. Quite difficult to describe them, but I heard bits that reminded me of At The Drive In, Muse, Rage Against The Machine, Faith No More, The Mars Volta even. As with all the other bands tonight, arrangements were clever and intricate. Considerably tighter than anyone else tonight, and their rhythm section really drove the whole thing like a locomotive... perhaps a symptom of being able to give up their day jobs and rehearse full-time?? Certainly quite superior to the LostFuneralReasons bunch, and a much more forward looking angle for the British rock scene.

Despite my gripes about shoutyness (YCNI:M were guilty of this at times too....just say NO, kids!) I left the gig wanting to go out and buy a copy of YCNI:M's 'Ignoto', 65days''The Fall Of Math' and Twin Zero's 'Monolith', which must surely be a case of 'mission accomplished' for all concerned. In all cases, I'd love to see these bands on bigger stages... let's hope it all progresses that way!