Room Thirteen live review, September 2005
Live at Electrowerkz, Islington, London, Sunday 18th September 2005 with Leaves' Eyes and Atrocity
[View the article on Room Thirteen's website here]
[Room Thirteen]
"Awkward manners and bad mixing blight Season's End"
When Season's End first take to the stage, it's pretty much unnoticeable - they come on without much announcement and could simply be doing a sound check. People only realise they're actually playing when the first note sounds.
The first song, 'Into The Flames', starts off well, and singer Becki's angelic vocals work nicely against the bombastic metal of the music. Unfortunately, the mixing lets everything down, with Becki's vocals being drowned out and it's a shame. However, it's good to see the band getting into it, as well as some of the crowd. About ten minutes long, it's quite something of an opener, and the band seem to have attracted quite a lot of attention as the room fills up quite a lot by the end - it almost comes as a bit of a shock.
But where 'Into The Flames' sounded good, 'Nothing After All' comes across as more Evanescence like, but a bit heavier and more atmospheric. Whether that's because of the dodgy mixing or the band themselves, it's hard to tell but the Evanescence parallel is more apparent when guitarist David starts singing, though, and it makes the verse moody and sinister. The only thing that really saves this song (that feels like it goes on forever) is the awesome drumming. But, even the quiet bit in the middle doesn't stop some people at the front showing their appreciation.
Although the band has got into the set when they're playing, there's been virtually no between-song banter, until now. Becki says a little bit about the new album being out the next day, but they appear really awkward and ill at ease with their surroundings. It's shame then, that 'One Sadness' carries on where 'Nothing' leaves off, and by now it's all starting to sound the same
So it's a relief that the last song, 'A Ghost In My Emotion', is an improvement on the previous two, where there's a bit of a mix of shredded guitars, lovely melodies, Becki's and Dave's vocals. The whole crowd know this one, and cheer for it loud and clear. But still, Dave's gruffer vocals just don't work as well as Becki's more fragile ones - I can see the idea behind it, but I wish they wouldn't do it.
Parts of the crowd may have loved the set, but Season's End fell victim to a combination of a sometimes lacklustre performance and bad mixing.
6 out of 13
Natasha Perry of Room Thirteen
http://www.roomthirteen.com
