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In
a recent interview with the legend that is Jon Oliva one subject
we touched upon was where are all the new guitar gods? Jon
was himself waiting for the next Iommi, the next Angus Young or
the next Eddie Van Halen, well Jon I’ve think you’ll find
the next guitar god is based right here in the UK and goes under
the name of Chris Appleton, who still in his twenties has all
the makings of a legend.
His
band FURY UK is the reason we're back at Newcastle’s only
remaining true rock pub Trillians Rock Bar. We along with
many others returned in sizeable numbers to see one of
Manchester’s finest Metal acts in years.
I
first caught the band at this very venue and even then a baby
faced Appleton blew me away with his fret burning guitar
playing. Now only a short time later, the band have
seen some line-up changes with in comings in the shape of
brother Luke on bass and Martin McNee on drums, and now this
power trio are complete. |
This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this line-up so I can honestly
say they’ve come on leaps and bounds, stage craft, musicianship and
professionalism have all been polished and now this band are the real
deal, a true METAL band.
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The
band open up in impressive style with the title track of their
latest album ‘VR’ and from here on in there was no reprise
as the band laid out a sheer smorgasbord of electrifying riff
filled metal.
The
band ripped up the rule book and re-wrote it tonight as this
trio of young guns showed you don’t have to have years under
your belt to produce great power driven metal, as they produced
it time and time again with great moments like ‘Salvation’
and the massive ‘Kruger’. The band even had time to
give us taste of what to come from their new album with the very
impressive ‘I See Red’.
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By
the time the band got on to the likes of 'Brotherhood' and 'Call To
Arms', the crowd were just hypnotized by Chris A as he really made that
guitar sing. But this isn’t a one man band with brother Luke and
McNee more than doing their parts. Luke pushed those bass lines
out like a young Marco Mendoza while McNee pounded the skins like a Bill
Ward in overdrive. This band are a unit and were as tight as a
fishes arse tonight.
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The
set was brought to a fantastic close by first the excellent
‘Death By Lightning’, every band should have their 'Stairway
To Heaven' or a 'Paranoid', or even a 'Master Of Puppets' and
FURY UK’s have this one. It's a real metal monster with
Chris A showing such fret dexterity I wondered if he’d had
extra fingers on his left hand, as they seemed to be in two
places at once at times. I never seen such flamboyant
guitar playing for quite some time, even Luke was throwing out
the shapes now and again so it’s obviously a family trait.
The
final song was something special, as the band asked if there
were any Iron Maiden fans in tonight and after the cheers had
yielded they then gave a wondrous version of ‘Fear Of The
Dark’, which capped off another great set. |
I’ve
must say that if there is any justice in this world the band will take
to the larger stages this year and show the world that Britain has a
metal force to be reckoned with and its name is FURY UK. |