Words: Nage
Photos: Antony Roberts
What an odd but AWESOME line up I thought when this got announced. Thrash, doom and the godfathers of industrial metal all in one mashed up line up, but the more you think about it the more it makes sense. All three bands are generally liked by fans of “real” music of the heavy variety, and it would be nice to see more varied line ups like this happen.
D.R.I.
A few pre gig drinks in the Assembly Rooms and straight in for D.R.I. at 7.30pm after the relatively early door time of 6.30. The gig was fairly quiet at this point, I guess 7.30 is still pretty early for those getting into or across London after work. Health and safety killed thrash, what this set needed was no barriers and a continual stream of lemmings throwing themselves off the stage however D.R.I. played with the vigor of a band half their age. Singer Kurt Brecht and bass player Harald Oimoen were like teenagers on their first speed trip throwing themselves around the stage barely stopping still the whole time. An awesome start to the evening.
Goatsnake
It’s been a long time coming and I think there was a lot of people here to see Goatsnake hit the UK, the venue was packed when they took to the stage. After getting over the initial shock of just how unbelievably awesome the sound was I noticed how odd it was to see the normally sloth like Anderson going for it on stage. In Thorr’s Hammer and SunnO))) the only motions tend to be claws to the sky but here he could be seen really rocking around, grooving away, making shapes, and even smiling. Pete Stahl was on fire right from the off, his voice soaring away and with little to no banter between songs they just smashed through their songs giving the people what they’d paid to see and hear. The set seemed over far too soon despite them playing for close to an hour and I really hope they come back to the UK soon for their own headline date.
SETLIST:
Flower of Disease
Innocent
IV
The Orphan
Slippin’ The Stealth
El Coyote
Lord of Los Feliz
Trower
Easy Greasy
The Dealer
Mower
GODFLESH
Following on from Goatsnake’s masterful set it was going to be interesting to see how a 2 piece band like Godflesh were going to sonically fill a venue the size of Kentish Town Forum. Any concern was instantly smashed to bits the moment they started tearing into Like Rats with a sheer ferocity that completely floored everyone watching. The drum machine sounded like an industrial battering ram pummeling away to Broadrick’s intense guitar and Green’s bass. Broadrick exuded emotion his face a continual whirlwind of pained expressions as he literally put his all into the performance smashing away at the strings. Forget the fact some of these songs are over 20 years old they sounded fresh, relevant, completely immense and enveloping live. A conversation I overhead on the way out summed it up for me “that was the best gig so far this year……….if not possibly the best i’ve ever been to”.
SETLIST:
Like Rats
Christbait Rising
Streetcleaner
Tiny Tears
Avalanche Master Song
Mighty Trust Krusher
Life is Easy
Dead Head
Spite
Mothra
Pure
Encore:
Crush My Soul
Slateman
minimalist backing line, how did they achieve such an amazing sound?!
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