Festival season is well and truly with us again and Saturday saw Birmingham’s ‘The Asylum’ host something of its own international mini-fest of live music from female fronted bands. The entertainment provided, showcased seven aspiring young bands from across the UK and Europe and with a featured line-up that included leather clad vampires with guitars, it helped bridge the divide between goth and metal. The venue soon filled with a discerning audience of beer swigging gothic looking hairy biker-types, metallers and a strange looking goth in a black hat as ‘Cult of Whores and Dogs’ started things off with a blistering mix of punk and metal style anarchistic mayhem. Jess Hardy is a formidable presence both on and off stage, and songs like ‘Brass Knuckle Bondage’ and ‘Pretty Possessed Burlesque’ offered their insight into the crazy world of sex and drugs and all things rock n roll.

Bournemouth’s Vampyre Heart, overcame initial communication problems with a seemingly dysfunctional sound engineer exhibiting either post traumatic stress following the opening act or just total deafness. The simplest instruction like ‘turn the mic on’ and ‘more monitors please’ proved somewhat evasive as he continued to look for an on/off switch labelled ‘noise out’. Eventually, however, the goth metal trio’s ‘Hell Asked Why’ provided a rasping introduction to their music. Summer’s gritty vocals were still barely noticeable over the raging guitars, as the young engineer continued to faff with the knobs and dials at his mixing desk. By their third song, ‘Life of Solitude’ and the sound now right, or as right as it was ever going to be, Vampyre Heart dominated on stage with Summer enjoying the moments as she engaged with the audience throughout ‘Devils Mercy’ and ‘Lost Within the Shadows’ before finishing with two potential darkwave dance floor numbers ‘Crypt’ and ‘Evil Eyes’.

Vampyre Heart

Germany’s ‘A Million Miles’ were up next, and in complete contrast to the two preceeding acts. Their fast paced, thrashy ‘Pantera-influenced’ blend of Stoner metal was raw with violence and anger. Mona’s sultry combination of screams, growls and occasional melodies fought hard alongside a crescendo of racing guitars and heavy, pounding drums. Their drummer certainly knew how to beat his skins to maximum effect and with offerings like ‘Death and Beyond’, ‘The Living Death’ and the more rocky ‘Hold’ they finished with ‘A Million Miles’. Written about their life and experiences as a band on the road, a life that seems like a million miles from home.

Flying the flag for Italy, and the second of three European bands, The Shiver's atmospheric intro, aptly named ‘Intro’, calmed things down and set the scene for a musical feast that embraces a more gothic, rhythmic blend of guitars and sweeping soundscapes of electrionica. Faith’s beautiful harmonies interspersed with the occasional, perhaps even unnecessary scream, certainly had the audience fully engaged throughout their set. With their debut album already out, they were an interesting trio on the night and one to watch for.

Winter Storm, from the West Midlands with their dark melodic goth-metal are another interesting concept. Having previously supported the likes of Delain, Die So Fluid, Sirenia and Theatre des Vampires amongst others, they also opened their account with ‘Intro’. Hannah’s dulcet tones combined so well with haunting guitars and ambient, atmospheric soundscapes to give them a more gothic feel, and yet at times, they exploited the full force of their metal influences. An intriguing five piece that includes a rhythm section and an acrobatic masked keyboard player who, at one point, doubled as a one-man mosh pit, diving off the stage  landing  face down on the floor, then swiftly recovering with something loosely resembling a penguin on spee, before returning to his rightful position in the corner.

Winter In Eden

Winter in Eden are making waves in all the right places within the goth/metal scenes at the moment and seeing them perform here, I understand why. With their simple ethos of creating music they feel compelled to create, their set consisted of some choice pieces of melodic gothic metal from their debut album. Vicky’s presence on stage, as with all the frontwomen, is dominant. She's beautiful as well as having distinctive harmonies adding power to each song, being reminiscent of Tarja with less operatics. Treated to an exclusive from their forthcoming second album, we were it seems, something of a guinea-pig audience, and although somewhat unrewarding of this apparent accolade, the band played on regardless. The mediaeval folk rock-like instrumental "Windelfell' added an interesting dimension to an already outstanding set before finishing with a tribute to their drummer, for who, this was his final show.

Austria’s Cornerstone brought the evening to a light-hearted climax with their fun-loving stage antics and blend of catchy rock tunes from a set that saw not one but two interesting covers; ‘Black Velvet’ (Alana Myles) and ‘Burning Heart’ (from Rocky). Something of an oddity to be included in the line up, they were obviously enjoying themselves, seemingly undeterred by the somewhat dwindling crowd. Those who stayed were rewarded with a single song encore that rounded the event off nicely.

Although this was never going to be a huge occasion with a massive audience, the quite unassuming pale blue venue hosted an incredible evening of live music from seven relatively new bands, each with their own distinctive style. As with many smaller venues, sound engineering was always looming as the great undoer of all things, and for Vampyre Heart in particular it almost became a reality. Fortunately, DSoul, Summer and Taff exuded total professionalism to deliver not only a totally rockin' set but perhaps a lesson too for the budding young sound engineer, we shall see.

www.whoresanddogs.com

www.vampyreheart.com

www.amillionmiles.de

www.theshiver.net

www.winter-storm.com

www.winterineden.com

www.cornerstone.co.at

www.ravenheartmusic.com