Poison The Well - The Barfly Camden - 10/04/09

April 15, 2009, 12:42 PM

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Main support tonight were a young group of lads from Sunderland who collectively go by the name of The Casino Brawl. To start with, their sound wasn’t very good, with a lack of clarity and definition between the instruments, but this was slowly resolved. Their style was a mixture of screamo with elements of metalcore but never venturing in to anything too daring. When the vocal mix was finally levelled out, the vocals were pleasant and the screams well delivered. The songs were quite well rounded with a good range of riffs, singing and shouting. Although their abilities were good enough I did feel that the lead guitarist wasn’t quite up to par with some of the parts he was trying to play, especially some squeaky sweep picking that cropped up. What they lacked in experience they made up for in enthusiasm, jumping round the stage like a bunch of pilled up monkeys, making them adequately entertaining.

The problem I find with the Barfly, is that the sound isn’t great. Get too near the front and you find yourself only being treated to either the left or right speakers worth of sound. Stand back however, and it just isn’t loud enough for my liking. Never the less I have an ample view from my spot, perched at the end of the bar.

Poison The Well are veterans of the scene, with over a decades worth of presence. It shows quite clearly with the level of composure and comfort that they show on stage. They power through song after song, never losing focus, treating the fans to an array of material from their back catalogue, as well as a couple of new ensembles. The style range is very pleasing, giving you time to really take in the maturity of the band. They play pounding hardcore through to more chilled out alt rock style stuff.

The only disappointment tonight was that they didn’t play Ghost Chant, my favourite song and arguably their best. But this was due to set rotation over the tour, so I don’t mind so much. It’s nice when bands make the effort to change their set every night so that fans that come to every show have something to look forward to. Poison The well’s new album The Tropic Rot is out early June and should hopefully be another example of why these guys have managed to keep going for so lo

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