Jettblack @ The Underworld Camden

I ended up being a bit later than I wanted to be for this one, so I missed the support, but Grapevinelive liked this review enough to post it on their site.

Friday 26th October 2012
Written by Ryan Whitwell


First things first, due to whatever reason, I managed to miss the first support act of the evening (Sondura) and only saw a smidgen of the second band's set (The Mercy House), so I can't really go into detail about them or their music. But seeing as they were supporting the brilliant Jettblack, they must be good.

High Wycombe's heavy metalers, Jettblack, played Camden's Underworld as part of their first headline tour (not including the co-headline gigs they did with Heaven's Basement a couple of years ago). The main support were a band called Night by Night, whom I had never heard of until tonight but they did intrigue me.

Night by Night had a bit of a following with a fair number of the crowd singing along and raising hands, but I had my 'gig review' hat on and as soon as they began to play I tried to sum them up in a way that would describe them well to somebody that hasn't heard of them... I failed at that, coming up with the idea that they are musically a little bit like Fallout Boy or maybe Avenged Sevenfold but with the vocals of Backstreet Boys, which sounds like a terrible band description but Night by Night are actually quite impressive. I have only seen them live this one time and am yet to listen to any recorded stuff, but I'd say they are very much vocally led. Some great guitar solos and the lead singer was brilliant but what impressed me more was the harmonies from both the bassist and one of the guitarists (Night by Night are a 5 piece), harmonies that were so pitch perfect I almost wondered if they had pre-recorded it because that level of perfection is rare even for some of the bigger names.


Onto the headliners. I think the last time I saw Jettblack was at the same venue about two years ago with Heaven's Basement and Earth Prayer and I saw them at Ozzfest 2010, so it's fair to say I have faith in this band and I'd call myself a fan of theirs. Since I last saw them they have released their second album and are definitely progressing. A quick word about their second album (Raining Rock), in short I was a bit unsure of some of the tracks because lyrically a couple of the songs were a bit off putting, but the majority of the album was as good as (and sometimes better than) their excellent debut album. Fortunately, Jettblack's set was well thought out, they did the best possible thing and played the best tracks off of their latest offering and switched it up with the best their first album has to offer. Opening with the instrumental first track of their latest album and immediately setting the venue alight with the hard hitting 'Slip it on', one of the tracks that got me hooked on this band in the first place. The great tracks just kept on coming and with the venue jumping to the powerful 'Less Torque More Thrust' and 'Get Your Hands Dirty'. Even the slower ballads like 'Not Even Love' were greeted with a chorus of fans singing every word at full volume.

And the band seemed to be enjoying every second, the bassist especially had the cheesiest grin for most of the set as the crowd continued to make themselves known with plenty of movement and vocal encouragement, a sure sign that this band are worth investing your interest in. In my opinion, what makes or breaks a gig is the connection the band has with the crowd. When I saw Turbowolf a couple of weeks ago, they were on fire and the lead singer made sure we were all having a damn good time. Rival Sons, however, failed to connect, mostly because of their bizarre choice to play their entire new album note for note in the same order as the record but also because there wasn't much talking to the crowd. Jettblack were excellent entertainers, playing the best songs off of both albums and encouraging everybody to join in gave the whole gig a real collaborative vibe, as if we, the crowd, were being acknowledged as part of the band, because (as I've said before) a band without fans isn't a band at all and I think Jettblack displayed just how much they appreciate their fan base and I can't wait to hear more from them.