Cephalopod @ The Royal, Palmerston North 09/06/2012

After some minor technical difficulties Cephalopod came out with force (I would liken it to being smashed in the face with Thor’s brutal metal hammer). And right off the bat Elise dominated with her energetic performance while still managing to retain some of the best vocal control and vocal projection I’ve seen from somebody in an unsigned band.

Elise’s energy was only rivaled by Liam’s bass playing, and I’ll be honest here, this guy is quite possibly THE best bassist I have ever seen live, and you can tell that the band use this strength within their song writing.

The clarity and mix of tones and volume between the guitar and bass was immaculate and you can tell straight away that these guys know their gear inside and out and have spent time refining their sound to get it exactly how they want it, and as both a reviewer and a fan I’m grateful and I must say it makes a nice change.

I would say by far that Cephalopod were the best band of the night, with their unique style of technical metal that doesn’t go so far into the musical enigma of the genre that it loses its ability to contain catchy riffs as so many others do, but once again I find myself saying the most heinous of things… The drums needed to be louder. It was a little disappointing that one of the few drummers I actually enjoy listening to was not as loud as he could have been. Other than that it was an amazing performance as always!