[Live Report] The Atomic Bitchwax, Madleaf @ Athens, 29/04/11

The Atomic Bitchwax, Madleaf @ Athens, 29/04/11
Madleaf: I got in the club 9:30 sharp! Right on time, (for a change) only to see a totally empty club! After about 1 hour of delay (and with many doubts about the course of this show from my side) the band decided to finally boot the gig! Something like <100 people on the club but with a good percentage of women!

First time I watched this band and boy they took me by surprise! Their album "Sinners" was a blast, and I totally recommend it, but in the show the band brought an even better sound.
Personally, what I didn't like in the studio version of the songs was the strong grunge feeling! In this show, Madleaf revealed their Sabbath influences a little bit more and the result sounds way better! 

Tight band, unbelievably nice sound, great guitar work, catchy riffs but most of all a great singer! I don't like rankings but what I saw last night make me place Madleaf as number 2 in the Greek stoner scene (behind Planet of Zeus). They played a couple (I think) of new songs yesterday and hopefully the rest of their stuff will sound just as good!

TAB: By the time they got on stage the crowd was doubled or even more. KosniK, Ryan, Pantella seemed happy an in the right mood for solid live. From the first notes you could tell! These guys are talented! One hundred riffs back to back! Some played with the speed of light (or close). Damn! 
I am not a guitarist but watching Ryan playing like that -right in front of me- I kept thinking that this is what a guitar player paradise must look like! Kosnik sounded technical as hell and Pantella although on really heavy duty seemed happier than the last time I watched him with Monster Magnet! Finn Ryan kept drinking a weird beer and Jack combination after every song. Wow! 
Although I tend to like early stuff of the band more I believe that this is the tightest band synthesis ever! My only complain is from the setlist which was small (something less than 60 minutes) and in that way left out many hits of the band (If I Had A Gun etc.)! They also played a striped down version of the 40+ minutes of their newest material "The Local Fuzz". Although it sounded good I believe that it might be too much for the always cocky Athenian crowd! All and all a solid live which could have been if the promotion of the event was stronger!
P.S.: Merch (although limited to the new release) was cool and cheap! I got The Local Fuzz t-shirt for 10 euros and the rest of the staff (Vinyl, CD) were at the same price!

Review and videos by Dr.Doom


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