Million Dead - West End Centre, Aldershot, 31/7/2004

  by Philip Vincent

published: 20 / 7 / 2004

intro

Million Dead have added new life to the rapidly fading hard core/femo formula pupularised by the likes of Funeral for a Friend and Finch. Philip Vincent finds himself in the mosh at the Aldershot West End Centre for the first time in half a decade

Well what can I say ? This was the first gig in probably half a decade in which I ended up in the mosh pit and much fun it was too, if a little hot! I had already stood through a pretty dire Emo by numbers band and was truly hoping that Million Dead would rise above cliché and provide another twist to the rapidly fading post hard-core/Emo form popularised by the likes of Funeral for a Friend and Finch. To this end they did with a style which had a few Emo tinges , but they bought this up a notch or two, and never managed to sound contrived or overblown. They had a much more mature sound than some of their predecessors and were akin to a less bloated Hundred Reasons or Biffy Clyro with the odd time signatures replaced with strong melody. Strangely enough they also managed to combine S.O.A.D into this mix in what can only be described as a truly British way. All in all, this was excellent ! Frontman, Jake Robinson, was possibly the most personable rock singers I have seen on stage for a long while, totally engaging his audience and never once becoing arrogant. The kids that surrounded me loved what they were hearing. Nearly every fist was raised in the air punching the beat . The pure energy this band gave off was blinding, making my wait worth while and once again proving that Aldershot does indeed have a very strong rock heart being within its chest.

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