Enemo- J, Blank Parody + Crime and Punishment 2011 Live at Subside 31/3/16

You may notice I've been blogging about 'Crime and Punishment 2011' about a bit lately. You can see me awkwardly dancing/taking photographs in their new video for 'clones' (off the 'Extra Hour' EP). Seeing that it was 7:30 pm at Subside on a Thursday night people were mostly sitting down. Yet I could tell that people were enjoying Crime and Punishment's mix of grime bars, squelchy beats, loud screaming, jumping around and getting right into people's faces. The bands beardy screamer, Joey jumped on the bar, and screamed at the punters, D.A.N Carter threw himself on the floor and rapped while curled up in a ball. One guy even danced. They announced their new upcoming EP and played a blinding 'Paralysed', which with its trap style beats is my favourite song of theirs yet. All this weirdness is pretty normal for a Crime and Punishment 2011, and as usual their antics seem to either confuse, amuse or thrill people. 7.2/10

Next up was local lads Blank Parody. Apparently they used to be something of an indie band, but they've recently changed line up and gone in a whole new post hardcore style direction. they were let down a bit by Subside's awful sound quality but this couldn't hide their talent. They've got big riffs, cool little twiddly guitar bits which reminded onlookers of early Biffy Clyro, but a bit more polished and clean than Biffy's early sound. They played on the tables and all looked very rockstarish through out. Its a shame that their drums seemed to drown everything out, but that's not really their fault. 6.8/10

Not long after the stage saw a change from super skinny jeans, to long black t shirts, baggy denim jeans and black dreadlocks. From what I gather Enemo-J, (Pronunciation: ee-nee-mo-jay), are Midlands based, have been going since the dawn of the millennium and once supported Korn. There is no hiding that Enemo-J are Nu Metal. And despite the genre's ridicule and infamy deserve some credit for keeping the flag up during these trying times. While I may have loved this sort of thing as a teenager, I am a very different person now*. So at first I wasn't impressed by their downtuned riffs and heavy grooves. Yet they've got the sound of a band who've clearly spent a lot of time on the road and honed their craft. A small yet appreciative gathering of fans watched the show. The watching (and one couple grinding) gave way to furious moshing. Their singer got us to stop moshing for a few seconds, threw a CD right into the middle and watched as fans scrambled to pick it up. He also repeatedly urged Kanye West to suck his dick (which irked me a bit, I love Kanye**). For the finale Crime and Punishment 2011 joined them on stage for a Limp Bizkit cover, cue more moshing. I left Subside with a sore nose and huge headache. Enemo-J are not a band I'd ever normally listen to or go to see, but for a cold grey Thursday evening it'll do. 5.6/10

*As I write this I am listening to Miles Davis, Kind of Blue on Vinyl. Something I'd never have done 10 years ago.   
** Though he's pissed me off a bit lately. Just put the stupid album on CD already!

 Links
crimepunishment2011.bandcamp.com/
www.blankparody.com/
www.facebook.com/enemoj