DEAF ON THE ROCK

Dragonfly + Megara + Adarzu, Honky Tonk Express, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Friday May 21 2010

by JAMES TWEEDIE

This small venue, with its volcanic rock-cladding décor, looks a little like a medieval dungeon – quite a common theme here on 'The Rock'.

By the time the doors open at half part ten (the Spanish like to go out late) there is already a small crowd of kids on the pavement of the seafront Avenida Anaga, tinning and skinning in readiness for the proceedings.

The Honky Tonk Express is respectably full by the time the first band comes on, despite the British indie music being piped through the PA. The €3 price of a jarra or pint of lager completes the incongruous Anglo ambiance in this north-west African colony of Spain.

A Sabbath-esque doom-laden intro tape gives way to local band Adarzu's Gothic metal.

The band members look the part, especially Nosferatu-like keyboardist Ricardo. Female vocalist Patricia has a great pair of lungs and ballsy delivery, and frankly this is all way too polished and professional for a sweatbox gig on an island of just 900,000 lost souls.

Megara are made up of musicians from all over Spain, including former Warcry and Trilogy lead guitarist Jose Rubio from Andalusia and singer Pacho Brea (pictured) of Tenrife's own Hybris, for whom this is a side-project. Their debut album Oübeos was recorded in Galicia, where they brew cider and play the bagpipes.

Their stoner rock image belies their joyous, beer-swilling, fist-punching power metal style. They have plenty of fun, jamming, joking, horsing around and having the crowd sin along – but ultimately they are as tight as a gnat's nuts on pay day.

This is as metal as it gets. The line between stage and floor is blurred – as it should be. Megara are fans made band.

Valencia's Dragonfly come on in a swirl of techno-goth keyboards. Lofty vocalist Pablo Solano looks like a cross between the late Peter Steel of Type O Negative and Orlando Bloom in Lord of the Rings.

Diminutive guitarist Alberto Alba is something of a child prodigy, and keyboard player Isauro Aljaro adds flowery piano touches to their straightforward metal style.

In addition to their material from album Alma Irae, we are treated to a cover of Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer with the Terminator theme as intro, a faithful reproduction of Iron Maiden's Wasted Years and some vocal acrobatics at the end in tribute to Ronnie James Dio.

As boring as New York rapper 50 Cent at Santa Cruz' cavernous Recinto Ferial was, this egalitarian three-bands-in-a-shoebox bill was vital and electric. The eruption of metal bands from these volcanic islands rumbles on.

On the web: http://www.myspace.com/honkytonktenerife
http://webdragonfly.com
http://www.myspace.com/megarametal
http://www.myspace.com/adarzu

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