Once again 8ball club turned into a house of mosh-pit hosting two Bulgarian bands O.H. , URBAN GREY and two Greek PSYCHO CHOKE and FUNKY MONKEY. This musical exchange between the two countries is more frequent lately and this pleases us since the bands' opportunities grow bigger.
Unfortunately, a misunderstood concerning the beginning time was the cause to miss FUNKY MONKEY and that was a real bummer because their good reputation immediately gained after a small number of shows mainly due to their music originality.
So, if we couldn't get a taste of those monkeys at least we have to mention a few things about them, as the release of their first EP Intertheory which you can find and order by visiting their myspace profile by clicking here.
Second band on stage were O.H. who were their first time in Greece. Pure Hardcore with propulsive aggression and intense beat down rhythms gave the five Bulgarians the response they totally deserved from the crowd. Their music was definitely not for those who were looking for something new or tuneful but as the ANTI-COPS said This is Hardcore; but it did leave them in a satisfied mood especially those in search for the worthy successors of BARCODE, TERROR etc. They remained on-stage for about 45 minutes honoring a big part of their existed play-list and offering us a farewell duet song with the singer of the following band URBAN GREY.
Being the time to pass on the next band's impressions I have to say that if O.H. left us satisfied, URBAN GREY left us speechless; mostly because this was not the first time we saw them perform in Greece and their musical progress is more than obvious. Especially in the vocal section which at that time was far away from the classical brutal Hardcore style and approached more a cracked version, reminding me bands such as BACKFIRE or ONLY ATTITUDE COUNTS. They all transferred their good vibes and a 45 minute set which reminded me the classic foreign hardcore venues where nothing more than breaking everything up should be in mind.
The last band was PSYCHO CHOKE for whom it is impossible for me to speak in a non personal way and not to mention that they are my favorite underground band. Not only for our national aspects but worldwide judging them for this show; I'm sure that this is not only my personal preference.
This nine year old band is a big influence to the locals and a great contribution to the Greek music scene. PSYCHO CHOKE is a five member band with live show experts in the genre of Nu-Metal. They entered with the song Punk It, whose potentials are moving away from the track of the Confessions Of A Dying Man era and come across the point of the Metalcore scene. Their stage set was a real kickass while the choice of the set-list covered all their albums with songs like Spam, Get Myself Alone, Darwin Breed, Freedom In A Bottle Of Scotch (!), Death By Words and Sic. Of course the latter was a well-played SLIPKNOT cover. Finally -and this is my favorite part of the report- the encore song of PSYCHO CHOKE; this was the self-titled track Psycho Choke that made 8ball Club look like a death-pit! The band's performance made the crowd, from the 15 year old girl to the 35 years guy go nuts and jump on stage where they hugged the members, took their microphone and sang the song leaving the best memories. The same did the previous singer of PSYCHO CHOKE, who co-sang the song in a very friendly way with Alkis.
In a few words the 11th of October was one of the most pleasant days for the Greek underground and with no hesitation I recommend you to go and check those bands in their studio works and especially in their live shows.
