9th September 2007: Man Must Die + Hellbound + Swordmaster + A Parting Shot. 7:30pm. Entry £3.50 - (Gig, Dundee, The Balcony Bar)

[xdavidx]

watched a parting shot and swordmaster before I got snided out of the place by loads of moshers. a parting shot were fucking great, easily the best band of that kind going about the area. swordmaster were well pro, I found this review of them on 2dead2careaboutdraggingthelake.com clothing/review/record label website.

When Dundee’s Swordmaster take the stage after a prolonged bout of assembling gear and setting up, you would be forgiven for assuming you are about to be subjected to a solid forty-five minutes of e4’s latest alternative boyband; test tube babies manufactured for generation X. Their hair begins and ends the set absolutely in place; there is even a hint of eyeliner present. I expect half of the room had battened down the hatches for some bland MTV-emo. But they would be painfully, embarrassingly wrong.

Bluntly put, what you are about to experience is some of the most technically proficient, anthemic, terrifying rock action ever conceived. Swordmaster have managed to perfectly capture all that is good, pure, and enthralling about heavy metal, and tune into the shape of a muscular boa constrictor, grappling the crowd with it’s mighty length and brutally suffocating them with a cacophonic racket the likes of which has never, and will never be seen in Dundee.

Swordmaster play an ebbing and flowing set of instrumental cock-rock with influences derived from a number of sources. However, they stand far apart from the usual stagnant, cringe-worthy posturing normally associated with heavy metal. Nowhere to be seen are the bloated guts, waist long hair, and chuggety-chug “I’m the alpha male” riffs that infect the genre 15 years after it stopped being cool. Swordmaster perform a masterful set of soaring, encapsulating music, leaving the crowd picking up their goatee-addled jaws off the floor. And once they get into the groove there’s no stopping them: Drummer Blaze Calahan commands the music with thunderous, confident strokes of the kit and neither drops a beat or breaks a sweat; Bassist Pat Fortune makes the earth move for the whole room with thundering and masterful low end; rhythm guitarist/lead guitarist Mike Justice brings up the rear with a sly grin and a rapturous wall of wild squeals and distorted chaos, each powerful note he hammers out nearly bringing down the walls; and lead guitarist Rod Thunder easily lays to bed any allegations that Swordmaster need a front man by demanding complete and utter attention from everyone present with a series of blistering solos hot enough to melt stone, and complimented by enough of a rock star demeanour to fill a hundred Motley Crue tribute acts. Truly, Swordmaster are a tight knit unit, all at harmony with each other’s instruments and ready to take the world by storm.

Right from the mystical piano introduction, to the moment where they take turns to each play their own miniature solo in a previously unheard song, to the last powerful note they leave ringing in the air there are 100% pure epic. Evoking a jaunty and medieval feel in places, then flinging you forward 6 centuries to the wild hedonism of the 80’s, each note is played with skill and panache, and leaves you begging for more. The criticisms levelled at them due to their lack of vocalist are left redundant: when you can write songs that tap into the psyche and provide such a strong, all-encompassing musical hit to the central nervous system, there’s no need to complicate it. This is music in its purest form. It rocks, it rolls, it is heavy, it is metal, and it is going to blow your fucking face off, like you’re frenziedly sucking off a shotgun with a big fucking nuclear missile down it. Swordmaster already own you, it’s just a case of coming to terms with the fact and selling all your Pantera records.

[SelfMadeVocals]

I really enjoyed this gig, all the bands were great and Swordmaster and Man Must Die were on fire. Swordmaster dazzled you with their proficient technical brilliance and Man Must Die raised hell, had you in the palm of their hand, and left your ears buzzing from their brutal assault \m/ Congratulations and thanks must go to Jazz and Claymore Promotions for putting on a great gig and doing a great job with the sound. Thats one of the best sounds i've heard from a set up in the balcony. well worth the £3.50

[stuartmaxwell]

aye mad as fuck props to darren for a well promoted, well organised, well busy and well hot gig

i hope darren keeps doing shows!!

[Brick Tamland]

Originally Posted by stuartmaxwell

aye mad as fuck props to darren for a well promoted, well organised, well busy and well hot gig

i hope darren keeps doing shows!!

i second this, sunday night made me very moist

[Keerin]

Was that the bands or the strippers?

[bobby]

who went to the flap club after the gig?

DIRTY FUCKS; I would've been right up for that!

[Keerin]

Originally Posted by bobby

who went to the flap club after the gig?

DIRTY FUCKS; I would've been right up for that!

not naming any names like but

Originally Posted by Brick Tamland

I love boobs

[Brick Tamland]

i would like to point out that it was because sunday was our guitarist keiths last gig with the band before he jets off for canada so we wanted to give him a proper good send off

[Keerin]

Originally Posted by Brick Tamland

i would like to point out that it was because sunday was our guitarist keiths last gig with the band before he jets off for canada so we wanted to give him a proper good send off

no need to defend yourself, we all need to refresh our spank banks on occasion.

[ArchFlameTera]

Originally Posted by Brick Tamland

i would like to point out that it was because sunday was our guitarist keiths last gig with the band before he jets off for canada so we wanted to give him a proper good send off

hahahaha! when did we deicide on this excuse? i thought we were going for the other excuse that included gophers and feather dusters.


anyway yea i also agree that Claymore should do gigs again! It was a great turnout for a Sunday and its always been clear that Darren actually knows how to put on a gig unlike a few "promoters" ive seen in the past.

Plus, we need more gigs! haha

[stuartmaxwell]

if im doing any metal line ups in the future a parting shot will def be a port of call

i really enjoyed the set