My ears will be ringing for a week after seeing Public Animal at the Slice on Jan. 2. Already the best show of the year, every other act coming to town had better up their game.
They played massive, meaty ’70s guitar riffs at an excruciating level of volume guaranteed to either put hair on your chest or burn it off. They played plenty of wicked Deep Purple style organ coupled with rock solid bass and drums, the sum result was like an earthquake rocking my eardrums. 
They were 100 per cent awesome. With Ian Blurton involved, a veteran of the Toronto music scene who has fronted a variety of bands including C’Mon and Blurtonia, how could it be otherwise?
They were definitely one of the loudest bands I’ve ever heard at the Slice. And that's saying something. The guitar sound was massive and in your face, but you could hear every part perfectly including some intricate bass grooves and whining organ that took the intimate audience back in time to a Deep Purple concert circa 1974. They added a touch of Govt. Mule and more modern ’70s rock revivalists like Monster Truck.
The vocals were an interesting contrast of keyboardist Caitlin Dacey's more punk mid-range (a la Meisha and the Spanks) melody and Blurton’s hard rock upper range which complemented each other perfectly.
Eric Larock’s bass groove and Ryan Gassi’s drums were locked in tightly.
There were a lot of highlights including ‘Vault Doors’ from their self titled EP which ended the show as well as One Way Ticket which began the show.
They also added a huge Deep Purple cover of ‘Lay Down, Stay Down’ sung most excellently by Caitlin Dacey.
The band had about 10 people in the audience on a nice Thursday night, including opening act the Void, but deserved 10 times as many people.
To open the late starting show just before 10:30 p.m. the Void put on their usual solid set of ’90s style rock including several new songs which were more screamo than the Smashing Pumpkins they usually channel.
