Band: Sign, Teenage Casket Company & Reminiscnce
Venue: Civic Hall, Mexborough
Date: 11 August 2007   

After catching Iceland’s Sign recently supporting The Wildhearts earlier this year I was pleased to see that someone had the balls to take them on the road as a headline act, so thanks goes out the Riot Promotions for that one.

This was my first visit to Mexborough’s Civic Hall for a show and I must say I was impressed with the layout of the venue even though it was only small you could see the bands on the reasonably sized stage from anywhere in the main hall, which is always a plus and the sound was really good for such a small venue something that cant always be said from more sizeable venues.

The night got underway with a band that I failed to catch their name but this is probably a good thing as these four young guys seemed determined to be a Trivium Metallica clone, with all their songs sounding the same and didn’t really do it for me song wise or musically.

Next up were Reminiscence, a band who were a different kettle of fish altogether, this band really blew me away with their own style of Melodic Metal.

The Chesterfield based quartet consisted of Eddie on vocals and rhythm guitar, the very capable James of guitar who cooked up a storm throughout the set, and the rhythm section of Chris on drums and Ryan on bass.

The band delivered a very high octane set of some of the finest Melodic Metal I’ve ever heard from such a young band, with the vocals of Eddie sounding crystal clear above the onslaught of guitarist James.

Highlights of the set for me had to be ‘Free’ and ‘Justified’ where James really showed what a talented guitar player he really is and the set closer ‘In The Long Run’, was a case of leave them wanting more.  This is a band that I will be looking out for in the not too distant future.

The third band on this four band assault are a band that I have had the pleasure of seeing on numerous occasions Teenage Casket Company, who tonight were playing as a trio as guitarist Jamie Delerict couldn’t make tonight’s show and I must say the bands sound suffered because of this, but give Rob, Mike and Rob their dues, they did give 110% as they carried on without Jamie.

They opened up with ‘Own Best Enemy’ and it was immediately apparent that the band had more than a few fans in the crowd as they sang along and danced, which is always a good sign in anybodies book.

The set continued with ‘Thank You For Nothing’, which kept the momentum going before a few old favourites from the bands 'Dial It Up' album, starting off with ‘Bad Girl’, ‘Down On Luck’ which didn’t have that burst of guitar that Jamie brings to these songs, although this didn’t stop the band being the consummate professionals as they carried on with 'Story Of My Life' and 'Ain't Got Nothin' On Me', both again off 'Dial It Up'. 

The set was brought to a close with ‘Don’t Look At Me Like That’ which rounded off a workman like performance by the band who managed to pull it off despite being a trio for tonight only. 

With the temperature inside the venue reaching new heights things were about to get a lot hotter as Iceland’s Sign really got the place jumping as they opened their account with ‘Lift Me Up’ and from here on in there was no turning back.

The band just rocked with frontman Zolberg dominating the centre stage with the bearded duet of guitarist A.D. and bassist Heimir mounting their own assault astride of Zolberg and thrashing out the back beat on the drums Eagle.

The band showed their heavier side early on with ‘What You Don’t Know’, a more thumping track that is massive on album, but live it’s a totally different animal heavy and riff laden.

With the majority of songs coming from their debut album ‘Thank God For Silence’ and very reminiscent of the set they did in support of The Wildhearts, I was still impressed and still am with these guys, who are a little shy off stage but put them in front of a crowd and they just ignite into a wild rock n' roll machine.

The band asked the crowd was it Friday, as Friday is beer day, which prompted the eruption of approval from the crowd, then it was time for ‘Thank God For Silence’ and the excellent ‘So Pretty’, then my own personal favourite of the night ‘Dancin In’.  The band did come up for breath by slowing things down just a touch with ‘Breathe’ then after a quick thank you to promoter James Riot for putting on the tour (thanks again James) and it was back to the full on rock with ‘Love To Be Loved’.

The bands cover version of Skid Row’s 'Youth Gone Wild' went down a storm before the band left the stage for a few moments, then as the Sign Army let their presence be felt by cheering for more and more we got with ‘So Small’ and finishing off in fine style with ‘ When Demons Win’, which rounded off another superb set by these hard rocking Icelanders and with Trashstock just around the corner I can't wait to catch then again in Nottingham.

 

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