After the boys had been back in town last Friday 13th it was time for the crooks to come pay us visit.
Straight form the London sludge scene, the guys simply made their hallmark by making a scene on their double-neck guitar duo. That and of course, the rasputinean reincarnation w/ a voice straight-out-of-hell, Stu.
The reason of such a visit was bad guy-neacology, the quartet’s 3rd flight. And a short visit it came to be, nonetheless, a relatively pleasant one, despite their short stay.
Even though the guitar might be the central scene in any metal genre, especially sludge, the key missing fact to such an arrangement was the one of a lack of a bass guitar, which could actually give the sound some profoundness.
Other than that, all sound revolves around the contrasting tempos of the drummer PJ and heavily distorted guitar chords of Tamas and Dave. With this last album, the guys wanted to besides promoting the greatness of decay, they want to create their thing, their cult. Still they have a long way to go.
The place was scarcely crowded and not many rows to fit into. Rarely conversing with the audience, the Londoner Rasputine Stu made his growls, with a voice rarely perceptive. Criminals was the motto entrance, to the immense wall of sound that was coming.
Even so the sound is everything but clear, the room’s acoustic didn’t help to get a clear perception of what the vocalist was saying. The bukowskian lyrics, that are a main feature of the band, didn’t have a straight chance to made his thoughts through to the public. So to say of the ideas of human debauchery – Prostitutes – couldn’t come through. It was a pity, since the voyage into this dark world is one of the main features of the band. I was only able to appreciate truly the dooming world when I heard the World Murderer afterwards. And only then you really began to understand the lyricist potential, as a dark Jim Morrison
On the more instrumental side, what was visible to me is that there wasn’t need for two guitars. The sound is basic, and a key effort is put on guitars distorting tune, heavy and dark, as sludgish as it can be, instead of a more complex riffing. Halfway through the shows I was asking for a different approach, because the setlist pretty much looked the same. Which it’s odd, since the album has its contrast ups and downs, despite its constant loose rhino pace.
Once again, for me, a bass sound was missing the whole time, and more complex riffing from the duo guitarists.
Every now and then the band permitted themselves a bit of jamming, even though that meant rumpling noise and distortion looping from the amplifiers, directly into the guitar pick-up’s, where the drumming comes in as true tour-de-force. High on the snare and cymbals, with a strong bass drumming, PJ overcomes the bass guitar gap that it is sensible at a 1st approach.
When at least we began to be accustomed to our guest’s stay, it was time to part ways, with their strongest track from their latest album, the apocalyptical No Tomorrow. The track has a strong intro, with vibrating guitar coordination, and grasping riffs. The mind-drifting instrumental section set the stage to guitarists’ bêtises, to approach the audience and have a drink whilst playing.
With a slight sense of dissatisfaction, there was no room for a small encore. There’s always tomorrow, so Why did you have to chase all that money?
Words and Photos by: Refugee
Special thanks to: SATAN MADE ME DO IT
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