Engine Rooms, 29th November 2009
Panic Cell’s Black Juice Tour exploded into the Engine Rooms with their brand of upbeat hard-edged metal. Formed of lead singer Luke Bell, Rob Hicks on drums, Harjeet Virdee and Nathan Wood on guitar and Bobby Town on bass, it is surprising this band is not better known.
They seem to be picking up converts on their tour across the UK. They have an energy on stage that’s infectious and the gig moves along at a break neck pace. At one of Brightons few dedicated rock venues, it is a tight squeeze, which was great for fans who wanted to get up close and personal with front man Luke as he moshed his way through the crowd.
They played a selection of songs from their old albums but also previewed the album being released in February 2010. It gave fans a good mix of promoting new material and playing old favorites such as the supremely successful ‘Save Me’ and ‘Black Juice’, as well as covering Seal’s ‘Crazy’ with the singer from support band Forever Never. Panic Cell have struck the difficult balance between brutal heavy metal and a more melodic rock sound without resorting to following current fads. The sound is very much their own and has set the scene for other up and coming metal bands to aspire to. Drawing comparisons with Metallica, Machinehead and Pantera, fans should aim to see them now whilst they are still playing intimate venues.
One of the most down to earth bands on the planet Panic Cell always seem to be happy to meet and booze with their fans, which might be a bigger undertaking on an arena tour! The band were very generous in sharing their Jagermeister – you can see why the band are sponsored by the black juice, they must get through gallons of the stuff!
This was a really interactive gig and Panic Cell upheld their reputation as a great live act.
If you want to see the gig from the band’s point of view, they were filming the audience with a handheld camcorder which can be seen on their Facebook page.
Words by Emma O’Brennan Pizer
Photoraphy by James Brown
myspace.com/paniccell
