Simon Rushworth
@ Newcastle Trillians, June 4 2013
Flood Of Red have played in Newcastle as a support band before. Back in the late 2000s, they supported Twin Atlantic. Fast forward four or five years and the group has undergone a significant change. One thing that hasn’t, is their lack of commercial success.
Playing at such a small venue as Trillians has its challenges and one of them is space. With six band members, lead singer Jordan Spiers was forced to sing from the floor – creating a health risk to any audience members who dared to get too close to him as he swung and whirled the microphone stand around his head, inches away from the faces of the gathered crowd.
Unfortunately, that singing wasn’t very clear or easy to understand as it was drowned out by the power of five other instruments. But that shouldn’t take away from what was a powerful performance – just one in a venue that didn’t suit Flood Of Red’s needs. With a few alterations, it could be a memorable one, too.
Newcastle gig goers have seen an influx of Scandinavian rockers coming over to their shores to entertain them, from slick Swedes Royal Republic to Kvelertak – who look more like Viking raiders than rock stars. And Blood Command do not let their brethren down.
Inside the body of Silje Tombre, lead singer of Blood Command, is dynamite. And, proving that the explosive stuff does, indeed, come in small packages, she provided the energy and spark needed to deliver an excellent performance. She screamed out her lyrics, prowled the floor and got right up in the faces of crowd.
Kicking things off with Pissed off And Slightly Offended, they mainly played songs from their latest release, Funeral Beach. Blood Command sound much better when they allow Tombre to sing, instead of scream, and when she did just that the music came through clear and crisp.
Yngve Andersen provided excellent back up for his lead singer, as he high kicked and stormed his way around the stage and through the short set, delivering his lines with clinical accuracy despite his on-stage antics.
If leaving out one of the best efforts from their previous work, Hand Us The Alpha Male, was one of the only disappointments of the night, you couldn’t tell. The borderline disinterested crowd barely raised a note in support of the Norwegians.
Despite the excellent efforts of Tombre and co, only a dozen or so people stayed to the end of the gig. It was Blood Command’s first time in Newcastle. It was a show worthy of so much more, and hopefully, just like the Vikings, they’ll be back.
Russell Hughes