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MESCINA
Mescina opened the proceedings at Rebellion Bar. This young 4 piece took me on a nostalgia trip back to when I was in school and Nu-Metal/Alt-Metal was the in sound. I loved the attention to detail of their guitarist, who was wearing a t-shirt over a long sleeve shirt, cargo pants and van shoes combo, reminding me exactly how I used to dress 15 years ago! Mescina make absolutely no excuses that they are influenced by this sound, as they did two excellent covers. The first was a fast and furious rendition of System of a Down's "Multiply", which got the crowd screaming along. They closed their set with a fantastic version of Deftones' "Around the Fur". Not an easy band to take on considering Chino's expert vocal delivery, but they did it great justice. If anything vocalist Luke tried too hard to sound like Chino!
Of course, Mescina played their own material too. They kicked straight into their set with a Hardcore influenced song. Luke's vocals reminded me of Chaos A.D. era Max Cavalera, with a real venom and rage in his voice. Their guitarist and bassist made use of dense downtuned riffs that would make way into eerie discordant verses, reminiscent of Korn's early sound. The bass was fuzzy and strong and the drummer kept a solid groove with hard hitting snares. One of the songs even reminded me of Tool's "Sober". A song later in the set successfully pulled off a Rap Metal verse without sounding corny, reminding me of "SCIENCE" era Incubus.
Mescina wear their influences very much on their sleeve, but it is cool to find a band who seem to enjoy the exact same music that I did as a teenager. They've also managed to absorb the better parts of that era, leaving out the corniness and dated sound of acts like Disturbed and Limp Bizkit. Whilst Mescina are solid performers, they also need to develop their own sound and style, as they will continue to be compared to the aforementioned bands, but I was grateful the nostalgia trip! 8/10.
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Salford based trio Lester Verde are quickly becoming a talked about band in the Manchester Metal scene. This is the second time they have played Rebellion this month, and the group are in the midst of recording a full length album. Lester Verde helped to warm up this particularly cold evening, with their Stoner/Desert Rock sound. They sounded like they had come straight from Palm Desert USA rather than the industrial high rises of Salford!
Lester Verde brought some brilliant chuggy and fuzzy riffs to Rebellion. Guitarist and vocalist Chris Taylor uses an array of different pedals to bring a full bodied, dense sound that often explores reverb and delay. One of the band's signatures is their ability to compose lengthy songs that string together a mixture of fast and slow riffs, often punctuated with Psychedelic jams inbetween. Lester Verde aren't afraid to let a song meander, giving way to guitar soloing and noodling. The Kyuss influence is definitely strong with this trio. Chris Taylor is a confident frontman with so much passion and you can see he works hard during the gig, but makes it look very natural. His vocal tone definitely has a similar gravelly feel to John Garcia. The band got better as they went along, with their 3rd song being a big highlight, delivering a massive Stoner groove that got the crowd banging their heads. The Doom and Stoner sound is a very popular one amongst Manchester's Metal scene, but Lester Verde's dedication to Psyched out jamming makes them stand out, adding a pinch of Hendrix and early The Doors to their repertoire. 8/10.
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THE ROCKET DOLLS
Brighton based trio The Rocket Dolls were somewhat the odd one out on the bill, but they brought a hard and energetic set full of riffs! Dressed in leather and denim, their high energy never let up and you could see the sweat flying off their Punk inspired haircuts. The Rocket Dolls bring simplistic and catchy songs that are full of dirty bass grooves and mid tempo-riffs that show a US Alternative/Punk influence to them. They reminded me slightly of band's like AFI, Eagles of Death Metal and Alkaline Trio, not just in their sound but in their look.
I think this was their last date on a short UK tour, and it must have been a success as they had sold out of merchandise before they even arrived at Rebellion! Although The Rocket Dolls weren't quite as heavy as some of the other bands on the bill, they matched the energy of the other bands and had some big riffs to their name. A standout was "Dead Head" which had a dark, Grungey lead riff. Their big enthusiasm and positivity was something to be admired. 7/10.
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SOMA DARK
Manchester based 5 piece Soma Dark really amped up the evening, with an incredibly loud and heavy set. Their drummer pounded the shit out of the kit so hard that I thought my ears were going to explode! Soma Dark have a Metalcore and Groove Metal influenced sound, with plenty of chugging riffs and subtle lead guitar licks. Both guitarists were using 7 string guitars to deliver some downtuned mayhem. They brought to mind acts such as Lamb of God and Dry Kill Logic. New song "Tempus Deum" stood out, but I think the song that captured them best was "Freight Train". By far the heaviest song in their set, it kicked in with a real face punching riff and had a huge energy throughout.
I think the biggest talking point of tonight's performance was vocalist Daniel, who delivers a versatile vocal that switches between full on screaming and growling vocals, as well as clean singing parts too. For me the Screaming parts were absolutely spot on, he had a great evil tone in his voice and the projected power of his vocals matched those detuned riffs. But I couldn't help but feel the clean vocals felt more strained and sometimes off key. It could just have been an off day, which every vocalist is entitled to, or perhaps some more work is required to being the clean vocals up to the great standards of the screaming parts. It was good to see Daniel get lost in the performances though, moving all over the stage. This isn't particularly my favourite style of Metal, but I can't deny is was a full on, entertaining performance and LOUD!!! 7/10.
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RIGGOTS
By the time Riggots hit the stage, Rebellion was practically a full house, with supportive regulars as well as a big clan of Stiff Little Fingers fans who had just poured in from the Ritz down the road! There was even a bizarre police invasion, but nothing that was required to interrupt the proceedings! Riggots have only 2 band members, a drummer and a guitarist/vocalist, and yet they managed to make as much racket as Soma Dark before them! They kicked right in with a powerful slamming riff. Riggots play so incredibly fast that their songs are almost a blur! The vocals are drenched in reverb and come at you like a lightning strike! Imagine putting on a White Stripes vinyl at 45RPM speed and taking away the "chipmunk" vocals, that is how fast Riggots played!
The energy that Riggots emitted was absolutely monstrous! At one point the vocalist even came off the stage and plonked his mic stand right in the middle of the crowd. Their frontman delivers frenetic and noisy laced riffs, playing a mixture of Punk, Hardcore and Bluesy riffs, but with a Garage Rock punch. Their transitions between riffs are incredibly well calculated. The loose guitar playing style is expertly controlled. The drummer put in a real shift and didn't even bring any cymbals along. Not that it mattered because the whole thing had this Lo-fi purity to it that worked wonders. Riggots are quite simply one of those bands that you just have to see in the flesh. Nothing I can say here can really describe accurately just how intense and fun the experience was! 9/10.
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Tonight was yet another fantastic evening at Rebellion Bar, proving there is just too much talent coming out of Manchester (oh and Brighton too). The sound was spot on throughout and there was a great turnout at this very well organised gig. Props to the Rebellion staff, the bands, the sound crew and Up From Under promotions for making it a great evening!
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March 19th 2016 @ Rebellion Manchester. Photos by Paul Nash of Rebel Rock Photography
Lester Verde brought some brilliant chuggy and fuzzy riffs to Rebellion. Guitarist and vocalist Chris Taylor uses an array of different pedals to bring a full bodied, dense sound that often explores reverb and delay. One of the band's signatures is their ability to compose lengthy songs that string together a mixture of fast and slow riffs, often punctuated with Psychedelic jams inbetween. Lester Verde aren't afraid to let a song meander, giving way to guitar soloing and noodling. The Kyuss influence is definitely strong with this trio. Chris Taylor is a confident frontman with so much passion and you can see he works hard during the gig, but makes it look very natural. His vocal tone definitely has a similar gravelly feel to John Garcia. The band got better as they went along, with their 3rd song being a big highlight, delivering a massive Stoner groove that got the crowd banging their heads. The Doom and Stoner sound is a very popular one amongst Manchester's Metal scene, but Lester Verde's dedication to Psyched out jamming makes them stand out, adding a pinch of Hendrix and early The Doors to their repertoire. 8/10. 
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