Artists: Sarah Jezebel Deva, The Dead Lay Waiting, Convolution

Venue: Trillians Rock Bar

Date: 26 July 2010   

The name of Sarah Jezebel Deva is synonymous with not only as a backing singer for Cradle of Filth but also lead singer with her own band Angtoria.

But her career started at the age of eleven at the Queen's theatre.  'Summertime' was her first performance, ever in a band or to an audience, performing one more time at the age of thirteen.  She then took a big leap from jazz into punk, where she secured a position as a co-vocalist.  It took one show with "Mad Dog" and a lot of punks spitting to realise that punk was not for her.  She went on to write her own lyrics and later recorded a demo.  At the age of sixteen her singing career took another leap, this time into metal, so now to 2010  where Sara has broken away with her own self-titled solo project and subsequent album A Sign of Sublime and tour.

We caught up with the tour at Newcastle’s Trillians Rock Bar, the venue wasn’t exactly buzzing but there are a number of people around to see the first two bands Convolution, a local band that really weren't my bag at all, and The Dead Lay Waiting, a young band with a lot of energy and potential who definitely seemed to have found their own identity musically if tonight's performance was anything to go by.  Although when they first hit the stage they looked very much like they were an emo band, once the lead singer opened his mouth this was very quickly clarified as being so far in the opposite direction it made you blink twice.  Oozing metalcore from every pore their lead singer set out to take no prisoners and went on a musical rampage from start to finish with an angelic face but a growling vocal that would wake Beelzebub himself from his slumber.  Although the whole band were very capable musicians it was the drummer in particular who caught our ear as standing out from the others.

I should perhaps admit that neither of the first two bands really floated my boat, this type of music sends the wrong type of shivers down my spine and tends to leave me cold.  A person once described this kind of metal the first two bands played tonight as "Cookie Monster Metal", a growling vocal frontman which sometimes undermines the musicians behind them, but each to their own and with tonight's crowd I was in the minority and not the majority for feeling this way.

After sitting through the support acts I was pleased when the headliner hit the stage as this was much more what I was expecting to hear at tonight’s show.  Sara was accompanied on stage by Gian Pyred (ex-Cradle of Filth) on guitar, AblaZ (Gods Army) on bass and Tom (The Dead Lay Waiting) on drums, much to our delight.  

Now here was the band I was interested in seeing.  The band kicked off the set with the title track from Sarah's debut solo album, 'A Sign Of Sublime', at which point the crowd suddenly seemed to come out of the woodwork and the darkened corners of the venue.

Sara opened up with her siren like vocals and suddenly I forgot what had went on before, this is what I had come to hear, a towering melodic vocal full of power and grace and Sarah has it in spades.  It's all too easy to compare her to the likes of Tarja Turunen and other female fronted metal bands, but what we have in Sarah is an hauntingly beautiful vocal that has the kind of a depth and warmth the others sadly often loose along the way.   

With great songs like ‘I’m Calling’, ’God Has A Plan For Us All’ and the harder edged ‘They call her Lady Tyranny’, it was clear that Sara should be playing bigger venues because the PA in Trillians sadly just wasn't able to do her mighty vocals full justice.

Another highlight of the set was the tremendous Meredith Brookes cover ‘Bitch’, a song which Sarah gave her own spin on with more than an ounce of angst.  This song has never sounded more darker and moodier than it did tonight and rounded off what was an outstanding set by this little lady with a big beautiful voice.  

I would definitely go out of my way to see Sarah and the band perform again live, however, unless the support bands were more tailored to the music she is currently releasing, I doubt I would turn up too early to catch them in action.  

I also dare say anyone who may have passed by Trillians doors earlier and who weren't "Cookie Monster Metal" fans may have been slightly discouraged from coming down the stairs to see her perform, perhaps fearing the night would indeed be all growl and snarls and not the wickedly beautiful and haunting melodies we thoroughly enjoyed.  

 

 

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