- Apr 5, 2003
- 2,668
- 2
- 38
Engine Room of the Apocalypse - Live at the Rock Garden, London
Self-Released - 2005
By Brandon Strader
Engine Room of the Apocalypse is a trio of rockers trying to make a place for themselves in the United Kingdom hard rock scene with their first self-release - which happens to be a DVD - Live At The Rock Garden, London. They boast of "millions of notes" amongst "dubious / risky" lyrics that are quite easy to be heard, and of a loudness that is supposedly quite loud. What they claim of themselves is a lot different than how things really are, though the guitarist is able to play some fast licks. When Engine Room of the Apocalypse actually begin to play, after some shredding from the guitarist, the horror begins!
Their music is very similar to that of The Matadors, as it contains very simple guitar riffs, a bass line that stays pretty much the same as does the drum beat. The song structure is extremely weak, yet half way through a song the guitarist whips up his axe and begins shredding the wood off his instrument, evoking huge cheers from the audience at this small club. This guy can definitely shred up a storm, but his shredding doesn't fit the feel of the music at all! It's like listening to The Beach Boys playing one of their songs and half way through, Steve Vai kicks over a few tables and begins to rip out a wah-pedal soaked solo of outstanding proportions.
We understand this is a self-released bootleg, and with such things come the implied amateur features. The video quality is average bootleg quality, similar to that of video taken with a handheld camera with 8mm tapes, in fact, thats what it may be. All of the video is being taken by one audience member standing in the back center of this small room, but the cameraperson is able to get the whole 3-peice group in the shot. There are no close-ups, and the person never takes the adventure closer to the stage to take some better video. You can see the guitarist's hand moving along the fretboard but you have no idea what he is playing.
For a bootleg, the sound quality is actually pretty decent. The drums can be heard quite well, which is usually the case with bootlegs, and the bass guitar can also be heard fairly well. The guitars, however, are a bit harder to make out even with headphones on. The bass guitar also seems to be a bit out of tune, but not to a devastating level. There are only two songs featured from this live show, so it's not exactly enough to get a really good sense of their music. There also seem to be some video errors, as the first video has a "skip" in it, and the second on has some odd video editting near the beginning and a blue screen at the end. The video featured on the DVD is not continuous at all, and the only way one can tell these videos are from just this one show is the environment and the way the members are standing, which is consistent throughout both videos. I'm sure the live experience is a lot better than what you may see on this DVD, so try to see a show if you're in their area. They're currently trying to work out the details of a Gothenburg, Sweden show on October 14th. Keep an eye on their MySpace page for updates.
6/10
UM's Review Rating Scale
Official Engine Room Of The Apocalypse MySpace
Self-Released - 2005
By Brandon Strader
Engine Room of the Apocalypse is a trio of rockers trying to make a place for themselves in the United Kingdom hard rock scene with their first self-release - which happens to be a DVD - Live At The Rock Garden, London. They boast of "millions of notes" amongst "dubious / risky" lyrics that are quite easy to be heard, and of a loudness that is supposedly quite loud. What they claim of themselves is a lot different than how things really are, though the guitarist is able to play some fast licks. When Engine Room of the Apocalypse actually begin to play, after some shredding from the guitarist, the horror begins!
Their music is very similar to that of The Matadors, as it contains very simple guitar riffs, a bass line that stays pretty much the same as does the drum beat. The song structure is extremely weak, yet half way through a song the guitarist whips up his axe and begins shredding the wood off his instrument, evoking huge cheers from the audience at this small club. This guy can definitely shred up a storm, but his shredding doesn't fit the feel of the music at all! It's like listening to The Beach Boys playing one of their songs and half way through, Steve Vai kicks over a few tables and begins to rip out a wah-pedal soaked solo of outstanding proportions.
We understand this is a self-released bootleg, and with such things come the implied amateur features. The video quality is average bootleg quality, similar to that of video taken with a handheld camera with 8mm tapes, in fact, thats what it may be. All of the video is being taken by one audience member standing in the back center of this small room, but the cameraperson is able to get the whole 3-peice group in the shot. There are no close-ups, and the person never takes the adventure closer to the stage to take some better video. You can see the guitarist's hand moving along the fretboard but you have no idea what he is playing.
For a bootleg, the sound quality is actually pretty decent. The drums can be heard quite well, which is usually the case with bootlegs, and the bass guitar can also be heard fairly well. The guitars, however, are a bit harder to make out even with headphones on. The bass guitar also seems to be a bit out of tune, but not to a devastating level. There are only two songs featured from this live show, so it's not exactly enough to get a really good sense of their music. There also seem to be some video errors, as the first video has a "skip" in it, and the second on has some odd video editting near the beginning and a blue screen at the end. The video featured on the DVD is not continuous at all, and the only way one can tell these videos are from just this one show is the environment and the way the members are standing, which is consistent throughout both videos. I'm sure the live experience is a lot better than what you may see on this DVD, so try to see a show if you're in their area. They're currently trying to work out the details of a Gothenburg, Sweden show on October 14th. Keep an eye on their MySpace page for updates.
6/10
UM's Review Rating Scale
Official Engine Room Of The Apocalypse MySpace
