Ryan's Gig Guide - July 2018

www.ryansgigguide.com rgg July 2018 13 Eight track album from Tamworth based heavy metal band Icefire. Highlights are the runaway up- tempo opener 'Icefire'; the string skipping palm friendly and delightful 'Dead Of Night' with it's classic razor guitar friendly intro and finally 'Pho- tograph' which is the acoustic renegade of the bunch that indubitably demonstrates their diver- sity and strong song writing. For those unaware; the majority of the members hail from bands dat- ing back to the 1980's and it's noticeable because you can't fake something this genuine sounding. First we had the new wave of British heavy metal, then another wave followed by whatever wave we're currently in right now but if you yearn to apprehend an album that retains all the sentiment and passion of those classic heavy metal times then I highly recommend you put on your near- est spandex leather vest and download this album today. It's fronted by Deborah Ruth Woodward who delivers a stalwart performance; the entire band are major league and this is excellent work. www.facebook.com/Icefiretheband ALBUM of the month The Torment Of The Damned by Icefire Imagine David Bowie's corpse was dug up and used as the middle section of a human centipede conjoined with Daft Punk and Bjork. Do that and you can probably picture how seriously screwed up and thoroughly enjoyable this EP release is by avant-pop surrealist pop artist Francis Astle from Stourbridge. This is more art than commercial and probably more pop friendly than you'd ex- pect. 'Ghosts Around' sounds like hearing an amalgamation of the best bits of Blade Runner 2049 fused with Ashes To Ashes whilst taking colossal amounts of amphetamines; it's actually pretty addictive and whilst I don't endorse hard drugs I imagine that this music is pretty darn close to the experience. There's uppers and downers here but it's all an incredible inventive insane piece of art executed with an adroitness that borders on the cunning. Highlights are 'Daisy Boman' and 'Mind'. I'm pretty con- vinced that the live show will be visual and performance based; possibly like watching a scene from Requiem For A Dream backwards with kaleidoscope glasses.Very artistic; frenzied and yet simultaneously soothing to listen to; perhaps I've gone completely batty but I reckon this deserves an Oscar. www.facebook.com/francisastlemusic EP of the month Exorcism by Francis Astle