It’s been a few months since I attended a sweaty pub
gig and by Satan’s horns I’ve missed ‘em. Especially when they’re as ear
shreddingly, bone crushingly, eye ball gougingly good as this one, set in the
delightfully shabby chic...well, shabby anyway...room above the Actress &
Bishop.
First up Sexwolf. Never had sex with a wolf myself,
or any wild animal for that matter (not that I can remember anyway) but if you
were inclined towards a little mild bestiality the music of the ‘wolf would
pretty much make the perfect soundtrack. Readying himself for the onslaught the
band’s lead singer removed his trousers revealing a rather fetching pair of Hawaiian
shorts mismatched with a well worn Bad Brains t-shirt. Hell, this ain’t a
fashion show though, right? From the very first note the ‘wolf slayed it,
mashing up rock, punk, metal and screamcore into one huge great slab of noise.
Pick of the set was the boiling nihilistic rage against the machine of We Were
Bought Up To Fuck Up, an anthem for the misshapen, lost and lonely amongst us.
Awesome. Kudos to Mr Hawaiian Shorts who repeatedly risked tearing his nut sack
in half thanks to some particularly vigorous scissor kicks too.
Next up Black Shapes, all the way from that there
London. As black and doom laden as their name suggests they frankly they
terrified some of the audience thanks in no small part to the lead singer’s
primal, wounded animal vocals and the band’s attempts to summon up Beelzebub himself.
Hard, heavy and veering wildly from full on 200mph rock outs to slowwwwwwwww,
skull grinding breaks it was the musical equivalent of being violently blended (hmmm...can
you be unviolently blended?) in a liquidiser...and all the better for it. The
drummer’s well worth watching too, how that dude avoids serious brain damage
each night’s beyond me. There’s head banging and then there’s seriously
attempting to separate your skull from your spinal column. Good work there my
friend...neat drumming too.
Finally headliners The Catharsis. Look up catharsis
in the dictionary (oh alright...online...if you must) and it’s defined as being
an act of ‘purgation, purification and clarification’. Certainly The Catharsis
tick the first two boxes with the band’s vocalist ripping his throat to shreds
in an effort to get whatever’s possessing him out of his body. Of all tonight’s
bands they were the only ones who really strayed from the stage and got up
close and personal with the audience which, let’s face it, is an important part
of this kind of gig. Adding a second guitarist to the mix really beefed up the
sound too (not that the sound needing beefing up tonight...ears were well and
truly beaten into bloody submission early on), most evident perhaps on arguably their best song
to date and pick of an incendiary set, Empty Lungs, the kind of track Gallows (the new or old version) would happily sacrifice a kidney or two for. A crowd pleasing Pantera cover (sadly
my knowledge of Pantera would fit onto a plectrum) also clearly hit the spot giving
the band the chance to really show off their musical chops. Impressive. Full
on, throttle heavy metal/hardcore heaven from Sabbath Town. Be afraid World...be very afraid.
PS: Big up to the lovely Rhi Lee and Distorted Tapes for putting on a cracking show.
No comments:
Post a Comment