Astral Bitch transmitting from the Limelight....

WHEN it comes to Saturday evenings it is always a pleasant sojourn along to Ormeau Avenue to see what offerings James Loveday is presenting with The Distortion Project's weekly offering.

Perfectly timed to enjoy some early evening quaffing and riffage we made the long journey to the Limelight2 (well 30 minute journey...) as our owner/editor and death/black metal correspondent to sample the liquid and aural wares on offer for a paltry £5 door tax.

And it was a pleasantly heavy as the gates of hell evening, with a trio of bands playing as if they were Odyssey Arena headliners.

With an all-day, all ages gig underway at the T13 skate park it took a while for the audience to build to respectable levels, but many missed openers Midnight Transmission lay down a heavy, punk edged take on the hard rock genre. Plenty of stagecraft, nice moves and good songs to boot. At times the vocals were a bit lot in the mix, but otherwise a sound opener.

Rabid Bitch of the North kicked off their set with Your Misery. They then ploughed their way through seven tracks with Joe's beard and Rickenbacker bass leading the charge.  With God Of Punishment and Help I'm Trapped in 1999 stand-out tracks: both of which saw Gerry laying down riffs and tight solos.

This was a real improvement on previous RBOTN sets we've seen. Whatever they're taking and whatever they are doing keep at it!

Technical issues saw a truncated Astralnaut set, but their heavy stoner, southern flavoured space groove saw the airing of three new songs, one of which has as yet not title.

The other new songs Ego Eccentric and Mac Fire blended with existing tracks such as Emerald Lord of Pleasure; the bottom end groove tighter than a shark's arse and free-flowing riffs weaving their way around the room like lizards of doom cruising for a victim...

So, The Distortion Project scores another gig for the team; three bands impress and improve their chops...what better way to spend a Saturday evening? Answers on a postcard....