### Four To Nothing, Sprawl, Syndicate, Final Obsession, Erase The Enemy, 2007-12-28

#### 18/01/08 || Global Domination

This review was written by ex-staffer/cocksmoker Jotun.

Venue: The Norva, Norfolk Where: Virginia When: December 28th, 2007 Country: America

Intro: I arrived to the show late and missed most of the opening band, and this was honestly (and shamefully for being a Virginia resident for 23 years) my first time at the Norva. The venue was incredibly impressive, held massive sound, and the bouncers weren’t complete dicks. Although they did not allow moshing, they were kind enough to let me off the hook, twice, for my thrashing about. On the flipside, they kicked out Syndicate’s drummer’s brother for the same reason. I guess since I can drink I am more of a dollar tag than a liability or some other double-standard bullshit. Other than that bit of sheer stupidity, and my dislike for most of the music that night (sorry folks, it will be a cold day in Hel before I like metalcore), I still had a blast. Good people and good times.

Erase the Enemy: Like I had mentioned earlier, I missed most of this band, but from what I heard… well… they’re… yeah… how do I say this… bad. Pretty bad metalcore at that. Nothing new. Nothing exciting. Completely predictable. I heard a bunch of the annoying “NGH! NGH” guitar twinges with hardcore vocals over-top and they lost me. At that point I was searching for the nearest beer… 3/10

Final Obsession: Now these guys! These guys were! They were! Well, they were metalcore, again. Break downs, hardcore vocals, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. They still had a solid groove to them and some decent thrash riffing. I stopped and gave a few head nods in between meeting people and taking seven dollar shots of tequila. 5/10

Syndicate: These guys were the reason for the journey. The meat and potatoes of the meal. The bologna of the sandwich. The second girl to a threesome. Full of energy, stage presence and metal thrashing goodness guaranteed to make you headbang your head off. Syndicate was the reason I was almost kicked out the first time for moshing, but trying to contain myself at that point was like like trying to contain myself when being offered sex from Winona Ryder. Want a taste for yourself? Check out these guys spewing flames of shreds from their various weapons. My only, and I must stress only, complaint is with the clean vocals. The clean vocals really kill the speed and excitement held within the thrashitude. I have two fears for this young band if they continue with this route: they will not be taken seriously as the thrash band they deserve to be, and/or they will be undeservingly lumped into the already saturated metalcore scene. Lose the clean vocals, keep the heart of thrash, and these guys will go far. 8.5/10

Sprawl: I was too busy outside smoking and meeting Syndicate to hear these guys. I have no idea. N/A/10

Four to Nothing: Holy moist Mother Mary these guys were fun to watch. The lead singer had a stage presence that you couldn’t help to get into. Some sweet riffing and shreds coupled with some great interludes to get a pit going (cue the second time I almost got kicked out). Overall, musically, these guys are not my cup o’ tea but what they’re doing, they’re doing damn well. What else can I say other than they made the music fun and I had an abso-fuckin’-lute blast! 7.5/10

A great show to burst my Norva cherry, and I had a blast meeting the members from Syndicate. Best of luck to them in the studio and I look forward to the debut album release party!