Music Scene Night Friday 13th June

Metal Night Friday 13th  June at the Masons Arms

By Bungle Oh

On the weekend of the Download Festival  you may think  that the local music venue would have been drained of people going to the festival, however the Masons Arms Llanelli was filled with brethren, both old and new. An amazing sight for myself as a long time visitor to the establishment. By 9pm the place was more than ready for the bands to play.

First up was the four piece female fronted Hunters Grace – with their Within Temptation style vocals and a heavy Evanescence and Lacuna Coil influence.

The band consisted of a guitarist who played flawlessly throughout  his solos; a bassist who was fantastic; a drummer who played every cymbol clash and snare beat timed to perfection – and, of course, a female vocalist who could give any vocalist a run for their money. Hunters Grace played original stuff and  covers  including System of a Down’s – Toxicity and even Killswitch Engage’s – End of Heartache, in which the crowd joined in and Cozy Deverill of headline band Fall of Cronus joined in, to do the guttural vocals that he performs formidably. Hunters Grace went down really well with the people in the  venue and  the person standing next to me couldn’t stop talking about them.

A fantastic set that definately helped expand the band’s fan base in the Llanelli area.  It was easy to see why this band have a place  in the finals to win a  stage slot at the Bloodstock festival and i wish them the best of luck in that competition.

Next up  was headline band Fall of Cronus –  this 5 piece band played an extreme cross between death / black metal, with a bit of Mudvayne and a bit of later style Slipknot put in the mix. Very fast paced playing, with just as much energy in the lead singer as the entire band combined. The bands two guitarists complimented each other brilliantly in their sound,with a  bassist who you could both hear and feel the intention pulsing through each note of his playing. The drummer never lost track of the longest bass drum beat, let alone the complexity of his arm based playing. And again, a singer that broke ground in the continuous range of  the guttural vocals he could produce.

Fall of Cronus played original music, including a new song called Dollhouse, which they dedicated to the late great Rik Mayall (RIP), and even covers like Soil’s- Halo, that even got this reviewer into the crowd, to head bang too.

The band invited the whole crowd on stage for the last song, a cover of Drowning Pool’s – Bodies  which was amazing, and allowed the crowd to sing along with both the band which was a treat to hear. The last song, which alludes me now, in which even more of the crowd, including myself, joined the gang of people for a mosh pit on the stage.  A first in the Masons Arms, at least for a long time.

We were forewarned about the psycho singer,  a self penned  lunatic, ahead of the night and Fall of Cronus certainly delivered what they said they would on all fronts. The night was  topped with  shenanigans including singer Cozy lighting a tea candle in the hands of Hunters Grace singer Jasmine and Music Scene’s Trudi   then wrapping his microphone cable round Trudi during another song then going down into the crowd and singing in peoples faces. A phenomenal set and a great night.

Overall I would have called this  Music Scene event one of my favourites for a long time, well worth checking out both of these bands in the future. Best of luck to both in their future endeavors.

For Photos of the Night check out the Llanelli Music Scene Facebook page