Well, both Ian and i took a trip the 20 odd miles to matlock last night. Met Martin and Lyall on the door, taking the money (yes we did pay, and no, we weren't the only ones paying

). The first band were a local band also called 12 gauge justice, and they opened with a machine haed cover (dont ask me which one!!). They were not thrash at all, but did occasionally hit a few thrash vibes with the riffing, but i have to say, they didn't impress me very much at all. Okay so they could play a bit, but the original material they played was boring. They even did a 3 guitar syncronised hammer-on session at on point which lasted about 3 minutes and was totally pointless. They need to find a bit of focus and improve the songewriting and maybe, just maybe, they will get some sort of fanbase. They sounded sort of like Will Haven, and this type of stuff was being favoured a lot by labels such as Victory and Slap a ham 10 years ago.
The second band i think was given a gig by the venues owner (certainly not Heretic!!!) and they wern't even valid for this gig. Folk has NEVER been done so out of tune, out of time and with such lacklustre attitude. SHIT!!!! I do agree with Martin though that the blonde girl who played the guitar was quite shaggable, but that was all i can say positive about them.
Heretic...... self acclaimed uk metal heros, or over inflated egotistical nobheads???? To be honest .......neither! I found both Lyall and Martin to be very sensible and good fun to talk to face to face, and yes, i'll say, both nice blokes!! Musically i had only heard the myspace tracks, and even from those i was impressed enough to want to come to this gig. It has been also said here that Heretic are not thrash, well i can tell you now, that Heretic are VERY thrash. They don't subscribe to the school of bay area influenced genuflection to the 80s which a lot of thrashers feel is necerssary, but rather they seem to have absorbed a lot of the more european thrash influence from the 90s. They have a very teutonic sound, especially Kreator in the vocal department. The music was solid, more than reasonably tight, and very well played. The sound was an issue, and i do know that this was actually beyong Lyalls control, and he was especially unhappy with it, but it was good enough to show the bands capabilities. Martin has the makings of a great frontman, and i think that the ND gig will be a massive dose of experience for him, and even if the gig last night did have a lot of his mates in attendance, he did have a rapport with the crowd, and seemed very confident onstage without the need to be quite as outlandish as he occasionally has been on here. Talking frankly in the car on the way home, Ian and i agreed that we both relly enjoyed them, and can't wait to see them in derby at the ND gig.