Bless tonight’s promoter; it must have been hard booking an opener. Not out of a lack of choice though; every post-rock, math-rock and left-field act in the city and beyond must have tried getting on tonight’s bill. No, the hard part of booking tonight’s support must not have been finding any act, but rather finding the right act. After all, who can support a band as idiosyncratic as Toe? Well, it seems HAAL can.
Filling more or less the entire breadth of the Prospect Building’s lengthy stage with an array of synths, noise tables, amplifiers and a single 10” CRT TV that’s trying its damn best in this 1350-capacity warehouse of a room, the local noiseniks are as mercurial as they are hypnotic. Peddling a sound that straddles the faded, thin line between noise rock and the more abtruse stylings of post punk, whilst HAAL are unnerving as a live entity, they certainly are entrancing, especially with their sound resonating a sense of industrialist unease that manages to remain concentrated in a room this large. It’s a fantastic, modernist dirge of creeping tension and unease, one that manages to retain the grey, ashen tones of this ex-weapons factory of a venue, but one that still pounds and thumps along to a driving beat that’s dirty as it is instantly engaging.
Tonight’s promoter must have been feeling a touch lucky when they booked Pupil Slicer to open. Whilst the band are filled with nothing but the loveliest of humans and their discography is (mostly) fantastic, Slicer’s live performances can be bit, well, hit and miss, to say the very least. In fact, catching one of their sets can feel like rolling a dice; both punters and the band alike can only hope they land a nat 20. Do they manage it tonight? More or less.
Displaying a level of assertiveness as they storm from material from last year’s Fleshwork, the London mathcore yob are genuinely great tonight, especially with Kate Davies sounding on top form and legitimately passionate. But what makes this set just so strong, especially in contrast to some of their more dare say dicey shows in the past, is the level of confidence they radiate tonight. They may be opening for Nails in a 1000+ cap room filled with folk who may not be familiar with their approach to frantic punishment, but clearly such a feat hasn’t knocked their psyche in the slightest. Instead, they’re bold and assured, something that ensures the celestial punishment of ‘Momentary Actuality’ and the lacerating ‘Wounds Upon My Skin’ to cut more deeply tonight. There’s no denying Pupil Slicer are rolling high this evening.
There is a fervor building on the concourse and as Drug Church step out on stage, they seem a little taken back that so many people are there and ready to engage. The crowd more than hold up to their end of the bargain as well as the calls from Patrick Kindlon for crowd surfers is met with overwhelming enthusiasm. The pit is bouncing from minute one to the closing notes of “Weed Pin”, despite the Bp Pulse’s best attempts to swallow the sound whole. No one seems to care, and there is a rapturous applause as Kindlon thanks the disparate subcultures for coming together tonight, with specific emphasis on the “goth baddies”.
Forming in Brighton in 2014 and being the only brits on the lineup, Pure Noise Records alumni and energetic ska-punkers The Bar Stool Preachers were a perfect opener to a night that was chock full of horns, undisputed energy, and two stepping. From their confrontational and uncompromising new single ‘Pick A Side’ which discusses artists and public figures refusing to speak out on the genocide currently happening in Palestine, to the spirited cover of Cock Sparrer’s ‘Suicide Girls’, The Bar Stool Preachers are a shining example of why politics still matter in punk, and the importance of community, subculture, and unity within today’s less than ideal political climate.
Looks can be deceiving. On the surface, Dopelord look more crust punk than doom/stoner metallers, clad in all black save the white band logos on their tees. They wouldn’t look out of place at a squat gig. Looks aside, they come out to a pretty full Electric Ballroom at 6:40pm on a Tuesday. Many members of the audience know them already, are singing along and have gotten to the barriers. Vocalist Paweł Mioduchowski encourages the crowd to throw up their horns while shouting “Hail Satan” then rips through guitar solos and atmospheric vocals. The reverb is turned up to 11, bringing in an eerie, graveyard feel to the stage.
At the end of the set, the lights turn red and the band amp the speed up (albeit not beyond a crawl; this is doom after all), but the change feels significant. Right at the end of their setlist, they play a song that is downright fun, with audience members breaking out into dance. Deep brooding and ethereal, Dopelord steam through their setlist with no overt theatrics or unnecessary fanfare. They’ve honed their image enough to let the music do the talking.
Backlit in amber, the emotive Post Rock band emerged without fanfare, just as silhouettes. In an age of overstimulation, Pijn are gentle and muted. Thought-provoking and emotionally raw; the set unfolded politely and slowly. The drums cut through the ambience of the music and each strike felt purposeful and weighted. They play a nearly fully instrumental set, allowing the music to tell the story.
This is a band to contemplate and take in, rather than simply consume. The performance stretches and climbs, bathing the audience in a sonic blanket of strings and an atmosphere so dense, it feels you are breathing it in. Each song weaves into the next, with the band taking small breaks after playing what feels like continuously. In between each break, the packed venue applaud them, and the reception is nearly deafening. It is well deserved.
They built this setlist to end at a crescendo that engulfs Electric Ballroom, sound rising like floodwater, filling every pocket of space with sound. There is, too, the sheer tenacity of it all as these are long, demanding compositions, yet the band never loosens its grip.
