THIS was a special all day event in support of the British Heart Foundation.

Unfortunately I could not get there until the evening when the heavier music was on, which suited me fine in fact. The first band I caught was Cute Cute Death from Kingston and a fantastic start that was for me. They had a really tight, clear sound, post-hard-core in nature and blending the harsh with the more melodic vocals. I will have to get myself some of their recorded material for more in depth study.

Basingstoke favourites, Honour the Tides next, breaking in Andy their new bass-player. Again we were treated to excellent sound quality so that the band were able to show their quality to a supportive home crowd. In fact the crowd had grown considerably and that all helped make the atmosphere more positive. This band has evolved beyond all recognition to something pretty damn special.

Another Basingstoke band followed on, but with a change of style to metal from Fires of Tartarus and these scary-looking lads did a great job of emptying pockets and purses into the collection buckets. They also did a great job in blasting the crowd with some seriously heavy riffs and savage vocals. They are one of the most powerful bands you could hope to see on the local scene and I take every chance to see them that I can.

The third Basingstoke band marked another change of style. Artemis brought to the venue some really hard, hard-core and plenty of on stage animation, which is no mean feat, cos they did not have a lot of room to move. Their experience and talent is plain for all to see and with their recently released EP and loads of shows under their belts, I am actually fairly familiar with a lot of their material.

The headline band were The Valiant from Southampton and I haven't seen these guys for a while now. I saw them quite a lot when they first came into being, but that was years ago. They are a superb contemporary metal band, heavy, but with plenty of fancy bits too for those more interested in the technical stuff. They put on an excellent show, really engaging with the crowd and supporting the good cause. It was the perfect end to a fine evening.

So thanks to all the bands, to the management and staff of the White Hart and to promoter Sophie who can be very proud of the £263 she helped raise for the British Heart Foundation.

Neil Duncan, ISSUEPUNKZINE