Merciless Fail, Trash Monroe, The Mariana Hollow

Date: 10th November 2012
Venue: The Twist
Location: Colchester, Essex
Promoter: Alien Nation Live

Such a line-up that spoke a thousand words even when this is the rebirth of one of Colchester's most known music venues besides its main venue the Colchester Arts Centre.

This line-up saw the likes of Southend Heavy Thrashers Merciless Fail, fresh from their successful mission at the Bloodstock Open Air Festival and was one of the last gigs that featured Mr. Rob Chapman on guitar duties. Joining them was the alternative rockers Trash Monroe who put together a solid sound of pop rock and pop punk with emo and gothic tinges here and there and also come from Southend. The third and final act of the night was The Mariana Hollow, who come from Greater London and put together a lavish mix of modern rock and alternative metal, somewhat similar to Evanescence, with this eclectic line-up, expectations ran high.

In order of performance: Trash Monroe, The Mariana Hollow and Merciless Fail

< Melany could not resist feeding Brad some Belgian chocolates she bought before the gig.






















This was to be a night that spewed out a host of rock and metal genres that appealed to everyone, but as soon as the night drew in and Trash Monroe got onto the stage, The Twist was about to be blown apart by the savage sinners known as Trash Monroe, the Southend female-fronted leviathan summoned out their best sounds through a slick yet sick explosion of pop rock and pop punk tracks that quite simply made the bands of yesteryear fall on their knees. Here was a band that simply sparked off fireworks and laid the path for the following acts to follow down, but what made Trash Monroe the all more impressive was the stage interaction between Melany and her fellow musicians, that sort of affectionate approach, not as much as  erotic, but erotic in her dictionary was teasing the band members, let alone leaving the crowd begging for more as her vocals simply redefined divinity. On par with the vocals the guitars, bass and drums all acted as a solid wall of sound and through the mastermind geniuses that stood before us, Trash Monroe were inspirational and yet had proven their worth of why they are the next Essex rock band that deserve to grace the covers of Kerrang! magazine, even we thought this lot would be apt on BBC Radio 2, their performance was solid, full of rock and most importantly got this party pit open and so came to their time where stage exit was due, and the cleaning up of blood stains was to begin, blood from the bleeding ears of the crowd that is.

[8] RHYS STEVENSON

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< Rebecca was sure that her vocals weren't powerful enough to blow up the mic.




Following up from the delights of Trash Monroe was London's very answer to Evanescence, the rock mob known as The Mariana Hollow, however expectations were short lived as as soon as the band got onto the stage, the crowd interaction went from full on to full off, there was minimal stage interaction and the atmosphere was bleak, but what made up for the downfalls was the music, an iceberg consisting of darkened lyrics, Gothic feeling and sombre lust, just the final touches were nowhere to be found. Sure this is a band with utmost promise and enough passion to make passion fruit seem almost inundated and somewhat questionable of its existence, yet as the mood brood and the atmosphere forever hung in total bleakness, The Mariana Hollow were at times spectators on stage, but in all due course the band performed well, just not at their very best and so the next time they grace this stage, all eyes will be on them.

[6.5] RHYS STEVENSON

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< Apparently the bible states that three wise man also gave Jesus guitars.









What was to come next was a band that is considered the beacon of light for the Southend Metal scene, fresh from their duties at Bloodstock, Merciless Fail took no prisoners as they slayed into the crowd with Stoz delivering a vocal range that would make any opera singer look as if they were training to sing, unleashing absolute hell through the slashing guitars were three young chaps, one of which is no longer with Merciless Fail, perhaps this was a testament to Rob's services, none the less the lads finished off what was left of the crowd, leaving nothing but the echoing sound of a night's worth of epic music and sensational talent. As Merciless Fail weaved through their catalogue of songs, they took their chances and livened up their playing, this is a band that has gone from newcomer to rookie and now stand proud and tall as professional musicians and as the boys closed up tonights gig, many were wanting to rewind the clock, watching all of tonights guitar virtuoso's, right to the very first note unleashed through the speakers, but as the saying goes, you can have too much of a good thing, yeah right!

[8] RHYS STEVENSON

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