Max Raptor - Get ready for attack in Oxford!

****1/2 
Showing they can stand out from the crowd!

Max Raptor ****1/2 are a Punk Rock / Hardcore band from Burton Upon Trent in the Midlands and tonight they have really impressed me with the way they handled their performance at the Oxford o2 Academy 2. They put on a full blown performance even though their was only about thirty people in the venue tonight, which shows this band have a great deal of integrity. Max Raptor are a full force explosion of pure Punk that goes at you like it's going to be wiped off the surface of the Earth tomorrow.

Their new album 'Mother's Ruin' that emulates bands like Billy Talent and Rise Against has got good reviews but it's in the bands live existence that they really come into their own. You can read a review of the album on Music Trespass, so you can see what we thought of it. They open up with the frantic 'Obey the Whips' off their mini album 'Portraits' and this chanting piece of Post-Punk meets Hardcore really get's them lifted off in the right way. The song verges on bands like At the Drive-In and Rise Against but adding the Max Raptor full on flavour.

Single 'Breakers' is an instant crowd pleaser and what the fans really wanted, this song has been played on Scuzz and Kerrang TV and is lifting the profile of the band. It has a Grunge feel to it and even sounds like Oxfordshire band Crackout so this is a good song to play in Oxford. 'Patron saint of Nothing' starts mini mosh pits formed by the bands die hard fans which have come down tonight and they seem like they know every word to every song, so I don't know many how many shows they have already done on this tour but I guess a lot.

Opening song of the new album the Billy Talent Esq. 'Back of a barrel Wave' is crazy and brilliant at the same time. This song would be a huge hit if the band they look up to recorded it, but who knows maybe Max Raptor will hit it big with this song it has a lot to offer to fans of Pop Punk. The songs from 'Mother's Ruin' go down really well, like 'Must work Harder' and 'Grace and Favours' which are steady slogging a long songs with include shouting and intensity rammed down your throat like a gob stopper.

If you think these are too much for you then stand back because 'Evangeline' rips your head off like you have been hit with a baseball bat and keeps up with the sound of the last two tracks, except for the cool spoken word part half way through which is really different but at the same time still fits in. They play a new incarnation of their single ' 'The Great and the Good' to the delight of the die hards who just go absolutely crazy and this mixed into new song 'England Breathes' really got the small audience to just not care and let loose.

So when they get to closer 'The King is Dead' you realise their set has just gone by too quickly and you could easier deal with some more. I quite like the fact their set is short and intense because Max Raptor are that kind of band, if you have not seen them then give them a chance and see if they are a band for you. Because Max Raptor are a real acquired taste that you either like or hate, but strangely saying that I can't make my mind up of what I think of them but I did keep the CD and got it signed so I must like them. They do though get on my nerves at times and I like to deal with them in small doses.

Max Raptor - Setlist
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Obey the Whips 
Breakers
The Alarm
Patron saint of Nothing
Back of a barrel Wave
Must work Harder
Grace and Favours
Evangeline
The Great and the Good
England Breathes
The King is Dead

Review and Photo's by Dan Devour

Check Out! the Video for 'England Breathes' Below...