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THE ORDEAL/KNOCK OUT KAINE
Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh 21 October 2012

Times are hard for up and coming bands at the moment and tonight was a prime example of how bad things can get. I had trouble finding out in advance where the gig was being held, but finally worked it out with a lot of searching on the net.

The venue itself is off the beaten track in Edinburgh, not somewhere you would stumble in to, couple this with very little promotion by the venue and you are faced with a fairly empty room, which is what I was faced with on arrival just before show-time.

However the show must go on and first up we had Knock Out Kaine. Having released their fantastic new album 'House Of Sins' recently to critical acclaim, including a five star review from yours truly, the guys proved to be on top form.

Given the circumstances they played a shortened set which was totally understandable, but the four tracks aired were enough to convince me that the guys are as good live as they are on record.

The highlights for me were 'Set The Night On Fire' and an excellent cover version of Steve Earle's 'Copperhead Road'.

The band are all great musicians with stage presence by the bucketload, especially frontman Dean who has the Vince Neil / Dave Lee Roth swagger off pat.

The guys will be back out on the road soon and I will definitely get along to one of their gigs for the full live experience which should be something to behold.

After a quick change the stage was set for The Ordeal. Again with a small crowd no one would have blamed them had they played a short set, but the guys proved to be real troopers and not only played a full set but also went through their full stage production with video projections and the odd on-stage prop.

Again all the guys in the band are consummate musicians and live they were a joy to behold. Frontman Oliver is the focal point of the band and he has a strong vocal delivery well suited to the band's power metal with prog overtones, whilst virtuoso guitarist Kai Reuter is amazing to watch.

The set was culled from the band's two albums 2004's 'Kings Of Pain' and their latest 'Descent From Hell', which again received a five star review recently and has been highly praised in the press across Europe.

There were many highlights spread throughout the set including the ballad 'Dragon Tears', a fast and furious version of 'The Innocent' and 'The Lion' which was the feature track from the 'Kings Of Pain' album.

The guys also played a couple of choice cover versions in the shape of Gary Moore's 'Rockin and Rollin' and Peter Gabriel's 'Here Comes The Flood' which is featured on the new album and sounds amazing given the heavier treatment.

This was a great night with both bands playing excellent sets, it was just a real pity that there were so few there to witness the spectacle and both deserve a much bigger audience.

I for one appreciated their efforts, it would have been easy to cancel the show and walk away and I think it measure of both band's professionalism that the show went ahead and that they both put in maximum effort.

There may have only been a few of us but the noisy reception at the end of both sets was truly heartfelt and I hope to catch both bands in the packed hall they richly deserve very soon.


Review, interview and photos by David Wilson

Knock Out Kaine album review

The Ordeal album reviewview