Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

As the temperature rises in Liverpool and fully announces that Britain is going to at least have some sort of summer in 2013 and the heat increases at Wimbledon to fever pitch levels, those two elements feel like a cold winters day compared to the music that has been generated by the bands in Zanzibar which has been slowly going off the scale.

Chief amongst these was Arkham Karvers whose polished and wild set was not only a joy to take in but as they hit the ground running with the blistering opener Heisenberg, the stage was set for a new set of hero’s to burn themselves into the hearts of those attending the evening’s Hunger Games session at Zanzibar.

With the foursome becoming five for the evening with the addition of Mark Lane on keys joining in the revelry, Dave Gash, Greg Smith, Josh Ready and Elliot Smith stormed their way through their time on stage with passion and verve. This is not a band to be taken lightly and dismissed out of hand, for a start they are genuinely fiery and musically obsessive, an almost zealot like approach to getting the message of the lyrics across. Like Path Unknown who were to follow them on stage, Arkham Karvers didn’t play to the gallery, they demanded and received attention as one would expect the righteous condemned man putting his side of the tale across before his peers.

Arkham Karvers though are not destined to be forgotten, the music annals will be praiseworthy of them if they keep up the type of energetic approach that they displayed for songs such as This Notion, Money, Take Me To The Pictures and the priceless Ocean.

If the heat outside on the street of Liverpool was enough to melt the odd bit of road then inside Arkham Karvers went one better and melted a few hearts. A great introduction to a fine band.

Ian D. Hall