Live Review: Krysthla @ Reading Face Bar

Tonight is our first visit to The Face Bar in Reading, a smaller venue with a growing reputation, two rooms, and a pair of stages. Tonight Krysthla are in town with a half dayer sized bill of bands in tow on a night that promises to get progressively heavier as it goes on…

Weaponry [7/10] open tonight with a set of “Adrenaline” era Deftones guitar work (or grunge inspired post-hardcore as they put it!) and some impressive unclean vocals. The five piece batter through a set that includes recent single “Hard Place” which has a bit more edge with the raw quality of the live vocals.

Winters Edge [7/10] are fronted by Charlotte Jones who gives the symphonic progressive power Metal band an impressive vocal range as well as a solid larger than life stage presence. A loan in bassist and new guitarist round out the band tonight and they play a set that includes “Unleash the Dragon” from their 2015 EP “The Deceivers” in a career spanning set.

No Worth Of Man [9/10] crush The Face Bar like a spider under their boots from the opening roar of “I Defy” through “Kill to Gold” and all the rest. The trio are a powerhouse of pummelling kit work, slab after mortuary slab of technical groove metal guitars and vicious vocals. If you haven’t already had the pleasure, their three track EP “The Middle Farm Experiment” is worthy of serious note and tonight they more than do those tracks justice with a raw energy that gives everything that extra punch.

End of Salvation [8/10] have been away from the live arena for six months but show no sign of any cobwebs with a collection of new songs including “Sloth” on show tonight. The technical death metal five piece get the audience going with plenty of neck snappingly headbangable material and a guest appearance from the aforementioned Charlotte Jones adds an operatic backdrop to one of the more blistering cuts.

Krysthla [10/10] maybe a band made-up of older and wiser dudes but they aren’t shy about delivering some crushingly good heavy metal! Third album “Worldwide Negative” is in the works so tonight is a chance for the band to let their hair down outside of the studio. The Wellingborough quintet smash through cuts like “Make Disciples of the Nations” and leave the audience in a sweaty mess by the end. On a night of impressive kit work from all the bands that take the stage, drummer Liam Turland puts in a stand out performance.