Rock Regeneration

The Joiners, Southampton

The Joiners once again plays host to “William Control” the dark ego of Aiden’s Wil Francis. A man who’s intriguing lyrical content and full on live shows brings fans back again and again. Tonight is the last night of the UK Leg of “The Punishment Tour” which features Bristol’s highly energetic “Ashestoangels” and two local support acts.

The first of these is Southampton’s “Pallallaxis”; a five piece Metalcore band who start the night by giving the audience’s ears a severe workout with their twin rhythmic guitars, coupled with synths and extreme screamo vocals. Frontman Leigh does his best to create some early movement from the crowd, but his pleas are largely ignored. A none too shabby start to the night but this band need to work a lot harder to please their audiences.

Parallaxis 1

Portsmouthís “Networks” are up next, and from the start seem to have a much better connection with the audience. With tracks like the crushing “Darker Truth” and “Deceptions Walk among Us” they really impress. “Connect Rebuild”, dedicated to a friend who has recently passed; is a really passionately delivered piece with a deep rooting infectious guitar riff. The set ends with frontman Sean climbing down off the stage and singing the remainder of the set facing the audience.

Networks 1

Ashestoangels hit the stage with a whirlwind of energy, drawing their adoring fans ever closer to the stage. Kicking off with “The Wake”, their horror-tinged lyrics are sung right back at them as front man Adam Crilly covers every inch of the stage; encouraging everybody to get involved. The band mix Punk influences with Metal to create big guitar/synth-based sounds on tracks like “Six Six Six” and the epic “Most Beautiful Things”. Crilly keeps the momentum high throughout the set by crowd surfing and joining the audience by singing amongst the crowd. Visually this band are fantastic and they are really exciting to watch with 100% effort given by each member.

Ashestoangels 1–2–3–4

William Control 1–2–3

Dressed as a gent from the Victorian age William Control takes to the stage with the usual air of arrogance, and once again flouting the UK’s no smoking rule. He grabs the microphone, spinning and whipping it around just like one of his heroes Morrissey. The first two cuts are taken from the latest album “The Neuromancer” which was influenced by the Cyber Punk book of the same name by William Gibson. “Revelator” is sounding really good live, a sort of 80’s Goth combined with Techno. The four piece, proficient band between them create masses of energy to whip the crowd up into a frenzy. Older tracks like “Beautiful Loser”, “Strangers” and the epic “London Town” make the evening complete. The ego that is William Control has created something that draws people back again and again with shows that have an infectious quality to them.

Set-Lists
William Control
Intro: (Cupid – Sam Cooke Song)
Adore (Fall In Love Forever)
Revelator
New World Order (A New Kind Of Faith)
All Due Restraint
My Lady Dominate
The Velvet Warms and Binds
Beautiful Loser
Strangers
Price We Pay
London Town
Razor’s Edge
I’m Only Human Sometimes