Live Review: Dream State w/Parting Gift & Veridian @ The Face Bar, Reading

Veridian [7/10] entertain with some glorious vocal harmonies and a trio of new songs in their set tonight “Halo”, the impressive and bass heavy “Curtains” and “Lies”. It’s been a while since we saw the Reading Alternative Rock quintet and they’ve enjoyed a sold out run in support of InMe in the meantime. The band come alive when bassist Jonny Slevin and guitarist Robbie Everett add their vocals to the mix and the new songs are a treat.

A band whose name is on many people’s lips of late has been Parting Gift [5/10]. The audience is bathed in synths that aren’t live while the band strut around the stage like they’re in Lotus Eater or God Complex. It’s a strange sight because the programmed synths drown the guitars out completely and only the drums, bass and melloncholic clean sung vocals are auditable over them. The drum sound is impressive and there is the distinct impression that there is a heavier band underneath the synths that we end up being completely drowned in. Indeed listening to their Fearless Records EP “Ensom”, where the guitars are far bolder in the mix, it is true.

Another band of the moment are Dream State [8/10] who absolutely smash it out of the park with a live set full of high energy that sees moshing, crowd surfing and even a surprise wall of death during proceedings. The South Wales Alternative Rock meets Post Hardcore 5 piece have been working on their debut full length and introduce a slightly heavier new song tonight. Frontwoman CJ is a ball if energy that can not be controlled or contained as she appears behind speaker stacks, on tables, in the crowd and even hangs upside down from the lighting rig around the venue disco ball! She has an incredible set of pipes and when the band perform their version of “Crawling” by Linkin Park, there is a huge sing-a-long. Transposing the keys of the original into guitar work and making the song their own it a masterstroke.