Without Thought @ The Boileroom, Guildford (Live Review)
Wednesday, 09 June 2010
Written by Adam Brown
Hailing from Guildford, Without Thought have flirted with smashing their local punk/metal scene in a big way since the release of 2004 EP, ‘The Canvas Will Burn Your Eyes’. Several singles later, productivity was halted after one band member suffered a fairly serious injury, which rendered them unable to play.
Having since recovered, the band was back on track to getting on with recording and 2009 saw the release of debut LP ‘Get Down And Give Me Infinity’. Blending melody and hardcore with insanely tight musicianship, Without Thought’s sound could be compared to Ghost of a Thousand or Every Time I Die in places but they also draw melodic influence from somewhere in the realm of Jimmy Eat World or Brand New. It’s all about balance when a band meddles with these two sorts of styles, often together in the same song, and Without Thought pull it off in impressive style. With a reputation for intense, fairly brutal live shows along with sing-along choruses and big hooks, playing in their hometown was inevitably an exciting prospect for local followers and band alike.
This was a very local affair with many of the fans present being friends of the five members. To anyone who had turned up to watch this gig on a whim would probably have been aware of this a few songs into the set as the largely ‘merry’ audience sang along and bounced around maybe a bit more than a normal crowd would have. However, the band no doubt benefited from this and was seemingly spurred on to pull out all the stops. Breakdowns, sludgy sections with rapid double bass blasts and massive choruses were all thumped out relentlessly and to a “stop-on-a-dime” degree of precision.
Without Thought are undoubtedly very good at what they do. Having demonstrated their ability to successfully merge punk melody and metal, cutting it live seems to be one of their fortes and it would be nice to see them on a bigger stage although the cramped and sweaty nature of The Boileroom along with the loyalty of their fans only made their performance more memorable. Triumphant home gig done, it’s well worth any potential fan’s while to keep an eye out for their name frequently appearing on gig posters a lot further away from familiar Surrey territory. Judging by this show, it’ll only be a matter of time before that happens.
Stereoboard Rating - 3/5.
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