A review from the gig in London by by Pete
Doomination Of Europe - London The Underworld 9/2/3 review by Pete.
The weekend
had left me drained. I spent too long in London, a city of scuttling cockroaches
who seem intent on self-destruction. I was in need of an injection, a
musical pickup. An arduous journey on public transport and a big mistake
in picking up Yakuza to listen to on the journey left me in a near catatonic
state before getting to the venue. Would a doom gig finish me off or would
I survive the night?
First up were Ataraxie a French band that I had not known
were playing. The first chords ebbed out in a manner that was slower than
it takes a lump of Camembert to rot. Jonathon Thery had some strong vocals
and interspersed things with what I at first thought were very out of
place screams. It all made sense as the band suddenly launched into an
unexpected salvo of blast beats. It wasn’t long before they chugged
back into the previous barren pace but they had succeeded in giving us
an impromptu wake up call. They also got a huge round of applause that
seemed louder than the somewhat sparse crowd should have been able to
decry. Ataraxie continued in this manner and went from brain numbing slow
slabs to almost death metal velocity with a consummate ease.One second
you were entranced and the next literally bowled over. It was a bit like
giving an OAP a sudden burst of caffeine and then watching them sink back
into Valium induced dribbling. They ended up getting me headbanging by
the end and went down a storm with everyone in attendance. With that in
mind new album The Other Path seems like a wise investment.
Next up were The Prophecy, a UK band from “way up North”. They say the London gig gave them loads of energy and they returned the favour admirably. The first track had them blazing away like an out of control roller coaster and next second going for the mature acoustic maudlin atmospheric approach. They built everything up with some momentous drum rolls and massive vocal bellows. They were also giving us tracks from their new album Ashes and the occasional schizophrenic flourishes that punctuated their molten doom aesthetic again kept things very interesting. It all had a very British flavour and comparisons to Solstice were bandied about. With some annoying feedback problems dealt with (the sound was generally brilliant tonight) the implicit instrumentation shone through. There was an Albion vibe in the air and the sons and daughters of the kingdom bowed down. Welcome To The Killing Fields thrashed in with waves of synth, heavy in the mix. The melody on this particular number settled down and was actually far too mellow to support the violent song title.
The next violent barrage however did and this is a band that would certainly be ones for Bloodstock in my opinion. It was definitely time for lamentations and Irish band Mourning Beloveth had the scope to bring tears to the eyes. We were indeed captivated by sorrow. At first I was put off by the backing vocals, as they didn’t quite seem to gel with Darren’s lead. It has to be said that this was very much a My Dying Bride style of doom and with some traditional Irish instruments and perhaps violins it would have been devastating. They let the guitars do the talking and I was intoxicated as though I had consumed one too many shots of poteen. Like the flower, I was in danger of withering and sinking to the floor. Despite the fact that this is the sort of thing I would normally listen to with a bottle of red wine, clouds of dope smoke and burning candles I quickly became entranced in the brooding mesmerism of it all. Full marks must go out to one very metal chap who spent time on his knees headbanging along. Another band with an album on the way and The Words That Crawl was the sort of track that you could probably have cooked a 3-course meal to. I found myself drinking away and nodding along and before I realised it both the band and ¾ of an hour of my life had vanished.
Former Relapsers Morgion turned out to be the well deserving headliners. I had never heard them before and was shocked by how damn good they were. They built up walls of sound that were incendiary and apocalyptic but accentuated things with mournful stirring acoustics. I was reminded of Neurosis at times and the fracturing guitar chords rained out like departing souls desperately attempting to flee The Underworld. I noticed some odd 80s influences. The bass sound at times reminded me of the dismal strains of Joy Division and some of the guitar riffs were very Fields Of The Nephilim orientated. With this in mind it was no surprise that I really enjoyed them. Slow Succumbing was a very apt song title. I fully expected the track to explode and when it finally did after about 5 minutes I was almost breathing a sigh of relief. They also had hardcore elements and at full speed were a bit like Pro Pain on very odd drugs. A track from the work in progress new album was played. It may have been called Kind and built up with drumming that sounded akin to an approaching army. A swooning emotional melody washed over and then it turned round on its head with a death rock-sounding romp. The band stood stock-still and then launched into a nasty rhythmic passage that reminded me of Pink Floyd, circa The Wall. Morgion proved to be a deep dark enigma of a band. A band that never let on what paths they were going to take you down and one that left you feeling elated when they did. This was a very enjoyable evening and one that certainly showed me that the doom scene is very enlightening and far from one-dimensional.