So, hype now dropped and people claiming to be their biggest fans gone, this perhaps suggests a fresh start. It should seem admirable at least that Lead Guitarist Ben Weinman still has it in him; given all the bad luck that been dealt to him concerning the people around him, LET ALONE all the harsh criticisms on how he's "Sold out" or "lost his way". There's a lot of responsibility weighted on your shoulders when you're considered a man who 'changed music in a revolutionary way' and then take a side-step considered undesirable; Poison the Well discovered this a couple years ago and now it seems to be their turn, judging on the odd crowd tonight. For a start, it's not very full, only about 300 people in a nearing thousand people venue (if you include the seating) and the crowd themselves are a mix of metal-heads, hardcore fans and the odd indie kid; nearly all of them intrigued and only few of them seeming to be aware of this band's importance, something that seems to be played down and down these days.

Even Between the Buried and Me are lost on this crowd; a total far cry from the last time I saw them in London with a crowd hanging on every riff. The metal heads head bang happily enough, but everyone else seem a bit lost at this band's fantastically skewed view of metalcore (although not as bad as Rolo Tomassi playing to I Was a Cub Scout fans moments earlier upstairs). Still they play 'Sun of Nothing' - from their fantastic latest 4th album - competently enough and finish on a huge medley of 'Alaska' and 'Modecai' which are two of their best earlier songs.

And when Dillinger come on, every thing is a bit subdued. Gone are the infamous stories of vocalist Greg Puciato running on the crowds heads; and so when they open with 'Panasonic Youth' no one's really too sure on how to react. It's not until abominable classic '43% Burnt' that this gig starts moving. It's played with all the ferocity we've come to expect from Dillinger and could be mistaken as the original line-up. The band jitter around violently as they are renowned for, and remain tight; it's just not always totally convincing. The last-minute replacement drummer and guitarist do fine however; filling Chris Pennie and Brian Benoit's shoes is no easy thing.

After that though the show takes odd turns. There's a distinct lack of cohesiveness and atmosphere tonight (the sound is a tiny bit muddy too); it's literally song-stop-song-stop with no particular link between the songs played. 'Milk Lizard' and 'Baby's First Coffin' are great of the newer songs, but then there's a lot that come and go ('Lurch', 'Black Bubblegum'). It's undeniably the classics that make this gig exciting; the last few songs is devoted to some favourites including 'When Good Dogs do Bad Things', 'Sugar Coated Sour', and climaxed with the utterly HUGE 'Sunshine the Werewolf' (which involved some theatrics, including Weinman climbing his stack and then looking a little sheepish once up there, and Puciato doing a firebreathing act over the crowd) let alone being an amazing song... although perhaps a strange set-closer.

And so that's it. Dillinger come and go and at times are good but not life-changing, and then at other times by just being so mind-bendingly heavy potentially one of the greatest live acts ever. There is no doubt this is a band in transistion, and for now, may have passed their peak, but definitely deserve way more respect and attention than they are being given.

Adam Turner-Heffer