Since Justin Hawkins left THE DARKNESS a couple of years ago, the band tried to stagger on with new bassist Richie Edwards carrying on as new lead singer. Maybe the band finally realised that this was not a good idea as Richie’s voice is certainly not quite on that ridiculous falsetto level as Justins, but it seems they have made the right choice as his voice suits this band down to the ground. A very powerful and aggressive approach is the best way to sum up his voice, and from start to finish he didn’t botch a note.

A classic Rock, meets metal approach to the songs at times, the band was tight and the set flowed well. Dan Hawkins seems to have a different guitar for each song in the set, but after the money he must have earned from THE DARKNESS royalties it comes as no surprise! A good performance from him on lead guitar, and a very satisfied crowd (that Edwards remarked how impressed he and the band was that this was a Monday night crowd, it seemed like a Saturday night crowd) Edwards even made a trip into the crowd ala Hawkins, albeit on his own and not on someone’s shoulders!

The debut album was played pretty much in its entirety along with a new track that the band was road testing, which went down as well as the rest of the set, the only strange inclusion in the set was a cover of a GIRLS ALOUD song, which kind of had me baffled!

‘Burn the Witch’ was a typical encore song, and went down well. Overall a very solid performance and a good reaction, it will be interesting to see how much further STONE GODS can go.

Rating:

Review and Photography by Alexander Shaw(Photo Gallery)