A matter of Lethe and death

After the Battle of the Bands final, I heard someone paraphrasing Tenacious D. ‘Funk tried to kill the metal, but they were smite to the ground,’ he said. It remains the most succinct review of the final that you or I will ever hear. This one is much longer.

The first set of the night came from the Black Dogs. It was blues rock that covered subjects like living south in Leamington and I thoroughly enjoyed their music. The judges agreed that the group were “great musicians” (even playing on broken strings) but as a band I felt they did not meet the sum of their parts. Both the bassist and drums seemed to be doing their own thing at times, which clashed not only with the rest of the group but also with the genre. Blues rock tends to be less frantic but the bassist appeared not to realise – his energetic rocking was irritatingly at odds with the rest of the band.

Lethe played second, with their doom laden grunge metal blasting through the speakers. It created an instant schism. A small mosh pit opened in the crowd, filling a space left by people who had run to the bar, hands over ears. I was one of them – it’s not my favourite genre. However, the judges liked it – calling them “one of the most professional acts’ that it is possible to imagine from a student band. They managed to create an atmosphere that transformed the stage, even with the front man in the crowd. The intensity of the music worked to their advantage, encircling the audience like a primal scarf. The music aside, they were impressive.

Ackbar’s funk fuelled set came third. I’ve never seen Star Wars. I wouldn’t listen to funk instead of Springsteen. I shouldn’t have like it – but I did. This was a band that had come to have fun, and had energy to spare. Their set was one of the most crowd pleasing of the night and it was to their advantage that Ackbar’s vocalist delivered some solos off stage. The rest of the band was also impressive in what one judge called “a fantastic stage performance.” Unfortunately they were less sympathetic towards the music, criticising the fact that “no barriers were broken” as the band played “a lot of funk” – which is surprising from a funk band.

Next up were Lead Resonance, who had recruited a string quartet for the final. What a waste. The strings began out of tune and clearly suffered from a lack of practise with the band. I wouldn’t usually have noticed, but Lead Resonance were insufferably dull. They needed a quartet to inject some life into their otherwise clinical set. Lead Resonance sounded like a fourth rate Muse tribute act. One judge noted that one song borrowed “the Stockholm Syndrome riff.” Directly copying Matt Bellamy will not help matters if they are trying to shed their schoolboy Muse image. They might show a lot of promise once they try to do something original with their instruments.

Another band, another genre. 3=Car came on stage to deliver an indie rock set. For a new band theirs were some of the catchier and more sophisticated tracks of the night and they performed well. The judges agreed. They had ‘the best songs of the night so far’ wrote one. This is another band with a huge amount of potential. They were also very polite (a bonus with me) and seemed to relish performing to a large crowd. That they won third place is a testament to the character of such a young band and their poppy but exciting music. Next time though, lose the Ramones t-shirt. It might give some punters the wrong impression.

Finally we had Fly By Night. Pop Punk this time, delivered with enthusiasm and featuring the best drummer of the evening. Again, it’s not my favourite genre (probably folk rock, since you are asking) but they surprised me. Fly By Night had an incredible energy to their set which captured that post- Blink 182 feel. Their hysterical groupies loved it, and the rest of the crowd had fun. Some even liked the banter between songs, but I found it pretty excruciating. If they sack their script writer, the set would flow better and they would sound as professional as their songs. ‘Dedication’ was definitely my song of the night, and also went down well with the judges.

The big question was whether or not the crowd pleasing Ackbar would get the title. They came second. Lethe won – according to the judges they were “the most distinctive band to grace this competition for years”. This news divided the crowd as effectively as their set had, and it will be interesting to see how their sludgy fare will go down with the crowds this summer. Ackbar could have been a wiser choice for these gigs. Still, appealing to the crowd is what X Factor is for – this competition was designed to show just how much quality and diversity Warwick’s (all male) bands offer, and Lethe epitomise that ideal. Congrats.