JOB FOR A COWBOY

ANNOTATIONS OF AN AUTOPSY

A dreary night in Glasgow and the skies have opened; outside the tiny King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut is a gathering unlike any other. Every type of musical genre is getting some rep here tonight, from Slipknot to Enter Shikari, Slayer to Johnny Cash (courtesy of my good self), but they have all been brought together for one event and the urge to kick out to some heavy music. Tonight’s show has been downgraded from the Garage to King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, ultimately I believe this was an unwise decision as the venue was absolutely rammed - great for the band, but rather uncomfortable for the fans crammed in due to the awkward layout of the venue. An attempt at a pit breaks free during Annotations Of An Autopsy’s noise fest, but with the lack of space, it’s not successful. Much matching the sound quality tonight, the vocals can hardly be heard at points and the drums are ridiculously high in the mix. I don’t find AOAA’s brand of ‘death-core’, or what it is now being labelled as innovative in any way, but I fear I may have enjoyed it more had the sound quality been improved. Disappointing for any fans in the audience.

DATE:

VENUE:

Thursday 4th November 2010

King Tut's Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow, UK

Reviews by Siobhan Hogarty

WHITECHAPEL; ANNOTATIONS OF AN AUTOPSY

WHITECHAPEL

The venue seems to get smaller and smaller as more fans pack in to get a good space for the main support tonight, Whitechapel, a band whose fan base is simply soaring at the moment. The roof is dripping sweat as Whitechapel take to the stage to their intro of ‘Of Legions‘. Phil Bozeman steps up to the front, with his typical stage game: furrowed face, furious eyes & a somehow far out jaw, you know he means business. Whitechapel can get low grooves going on, I mean so heavy that it’s dirty & grinding. In a venue this size it sounds incredible as it seems the previous sound issues have evaporated. As ‘Possession’ kicks in there are bodies & arms flying around everywhere as the 6 piece struggle to move freely around the stage. Bozeman’s vocals are on absolute top form tonight, his guttural screams feel as if they are shaking the floor I’m stood on. He commands the crowd incredibly well; they are eating out of his hand as they fire through more of their hits. There is a true test of their popularity going on tonight as they push songs from all 3 albums, however it seems the crowd is mainly Whitechapel loyal, as songs such as ‘Vicer Exicer’ gain as much of an insane reaction from the swaying mass as ‘This Is Exile’ does. The riffs are crunching & the drums crushing (whilst perhaps too high in the mix, take note sound man!), as the singer & guitarist Alex command the crowd into performing a wall of death…in a venue this size, it is quite an achievement that they received such a rabid response, but then again, Whitechapel have utterly laid waste to King Tut’s & it’s now sweaty & beaten inhabitants. This will be hard for JFAC to beat as many of the crowd tonight have just left the venue having had their fill of destruction for the night.

JOB FOR A COWBOY

Due to earlier timing issues on the venue’s part, JFAC take to the stage slightly later and to a crowd which has slightly decreased in size. Regardless, the band hit the stage with all the energy they have; unfortunately, the sound problems are plaguing JFAC in a serious way. Songs like ‘Bearing The Serpents Lamb’ are just missing that heavy crunch often associated with Job For A Cowboy’s live performances. Whilst it is still loud & still heavy as they pound out hits like ‘Embedded’ and ‘Knee Deep’, it just isn’t 100% ‘there’. Whilst playing these old fan favourites clearly delight the fans in the crowd, a large portion of the have decided to turn on their heels and leave. The sound quality tonight has really played havoc with JFAC’s set. Also, I think it might be fair to say that Whitechapel’s filthy & grinding sound had pretty much set them up for a test which they weren’t going to match, upstaged almost. It’s a real shame for the fans who paid their money to hear Johnny Davy scream his lungs out to ‘Entombment Of A Machine’, but vocal issues left the song muddy & marred. A sad ending to a promising night for some, I think Whitechapel are moving up in the musical world and some bands need to up their game to keep in line.