Killing Me Softly
The Quiet Kill feature ex Million Dead members Tom and Julia alongside Richie Harwood on drums and newly added John MacKenzie on vocals.
It starts badly as the most ridiculously crap compere I've ever seen keeps them waiting for a good few minutes after they've come on stage. People are flooding into the tent all the time as they arrive on site and there's already a pretty good crowd in the comedy tent, which for tonight at least is given over to live bands. If you were expecting a rehashed Million Dead you're going to be disappointed but it's not a million miles away, the tunes are still very loud and raucous. For the main part it's discordant, often off beat, hardcore. The only other similarities with Million Dead being that Julia, now sporting a Rickenbacker for the muso's amongst you, still gives it 100% throughout and Tom is still not moving very much.
MacKenzie's vocals work OK in the more aggressive, shouting parts but when he actually tries to sing they are pretty awful. The songs aren't exactly catchy; infact they are often quite hard work but they do have something of a hypnotic effect as the set moves on. Tom might be fairly immobile but his guitar parts lead the songs expertly and with lots of overlaying effects he creates a big and full sound although there are a couple of places where it descends into something of a drone. 'Cold Caller' is faster and more urgent but the vocals really aren't working and although he tries, MacKenzie just doesn't have the stage presence or the voice to really pull it off. Part of the problem seems to be that he can't scream and his voice just doesn't suit the often dark nature of the songs.
Their half hour set fails to create the impact I'd hoped for and it seems the crowd are split as well, as the band receive an average reaction. If you check out the tunes on their myspace page you'll know that The Quiet Kill have real promise but alas not with this vocalist.