Stuart Lloyd reviews Spear Of Destiny, Splinters and Bent Echo at the White Horse, High Wycombe

A GOOD night at High Wycombe's White horse will always be one with a bit of variety. Saturday saw just that with a good mix of local talent, an up and coming West Country band and to top it off a headliner, once big enough to headline the Hammersmith Odeon.

First up were Bent Echo. This lot recently won a West Country battle of the bands competition. The raucous three piece looked young but sounded like they had been playing together for years. Tighter than a very tight thing they blasted out a powerful set which was only marred by the similarity of several numbers.

Next it was the turn of Chesham and Prestwood-based band called Splinters. Their sound really is different, and live it soon became clear they are very keen to avoid any sort of pigeon-holing. Occasionally their songs display echoes of 80s indie but this is soon lost in the overall sound to something more powerful and menacing.

Finally, the band most people had come to see: Spear Of Destiny (pictured). It's interesting that frontman, Kirk Brandon, has had a varied musical career. Fifteen years have past since his bands Theatre Of Hate and Spear Of Destiny could boast a large following and sadly judging by Saturday's crowd there is now only the hardcore fans left.

I was waiting for his chart topping hits including Never Take Me Alive; a song, which demonstrates Kirk's strength as a powerful songwriter. Unfortunately, for me, Kirk decided to leave the well-known song out of what was a strong set but could have done with a bit more variation.

However, it was enjoyable to watch as every song played had the very last bit of energy wrung from it. I only needed to watch Kirk's trademark blond locks being given a good shaking as he beat the living daylights out of a beautiful Gretsch guitar to understand he's happy.

December 20, 2001 15:30