Words: Antony Roberts
Photos: Antony Roberts (Monarch/Pagan Altar), Neil Shaw (Sea Bastard)
It was Halloween and this always means there is a slew of Metal gigs around the UK.
Brighton had a night of doom in the form of Pagan Altar and Sea Bastard, with a free after show featuring France’s Monarch.
We headed over to the Green Door Store, a fairly recently opened venue conveniently situated directly underneath Brighton train Station. Much like Camden’s Unicorn, this venue is now hosting a regular free Metal night. With it being a special night a small charge was levied at £5, though normal “Metal Monday” nights are free of charge. Coming up are gigs with Bast, Slabdragger, Gurt, Blackstorm, Vier, Enos, Sedulus and Sea Bastard. Be sure to check the listings on the site and support the promoter, and the bands playing these shows!
With a somewhat late arrival, we’d already missed the first support band and Sea Bastard could be heard coming through from the main room. Hand stamped we walked through curtains into a packed room. The main room at Green Door Store and in fact the whole venue has a very speakeasy vibe about it, it’s like some giant underground roomy cellar, unplastered brick walls make for a very secretive underground feel to the place.
Wth it being Halloween Sea Bastard were dressed up with zombie style make up and played through the whole of their new EP Great Barrier Riff. Their live sound is much more in your face and thick than the sound on the EP. There’s a glut of sludge bands springing up all over the UK and things can get a tad stale, but thankfully they’ve taken the formula and twisted it into some sloth like sludge doom hybrid. Imagine taking an eyehategod vinyl and playing it on the wrong speed, slowing things down to a lethargic nasty crawl and you’ll be somewhere close. The bass ripped through the audience setting a precedent for the rest of the night. Joking with the crowd, of which one member was asking for them to play something fast, they returned fire stating the next song “has a slightly faster bit, but you’ll have to wait till over 10 minutes into the song”. Sea Bastard don’t do fast, but their take on sludgy doom is all the more better for it, definitely one to watch out for.
Check em out here:
https://www.facebook.com/seabastarddoom
And download their EP for free(!) here:
http://www.archive.org/details/GreatBarrierRiff
Setlist:
Aqua Vitae
Taedium
Green Tide
Thanks to Neil Shaw for the Sea Bastard photos, check out more of his work on his site: www.neilwilliamshaw.co.uk
It was clear when Pagan Altar came on that the local crowd had come to see their friends in Sea Bastard, as the room was nowhere near as filled for their set. It’s great to see support for local bands but a shame people didn’t stick around. Having already seen them at Roadburn and then at Live Evil the previous week I knew what to expect. Despite this nothing quite prepared me for the amazing hat guitarist Alan Jones came on with. Singer Terry kept looking around in confusion and was quick to say he could not take the man seriously whilst he was wearing it. Distractions aside they put together a competent performance but it really lacked the magic they created at Live Evil. The sound wasn’t quite right with too much bass and every time Alan turned his amp up, bassist Manny seemed to respond turning his up more. They were quick to point out this was their first trip to Brighton and would like to return, let’s hope they do and get the sound to do them justice.
website:
http://www.paganaltar.com/
Setlist:
Pagan Altar
In the wake of Armadeus
Demons of the night
The cry of the Banshee
The Sentinels of Hate
Walking in the dark
Samhein
Dorian Gray
Lords Of Hypocrisy
Dance of the Vampires
The Aftermath
March of the Dead
Judgement of the Dead
The Black Mass
Satan’s henchmen
The Witches pathway
Following a break from the actual gig itself, the venue then opened up for a free after party, of which Monarch had kindly agreed to play. The mood was set with the house lights set down, and candles darted around the pedal set up of singer Emilie. What came next was pure unfiltered, shit your pants, bass heavy nightmare drone doom. Whilst Emilie’s scary as hell reverbed vocals echo’d like the sounds of a lost soul screaming from the dungeon depths of a haunted empty mansion, drummer Rob (also drummer from Dark Castle and sometimes Yob) proceeding to smack the absolute crap out of his kit like like it had just insulted his mother. The guitarists all seemed to give two fingers to MF Tinnitus and shoved heads deep down in front of their cabs, as feedback drone chords crushed all in attendance. If you said a band only played 2 songs most people would laugh, but clocking in at over 40 minutes, it was all that was needed to truly make this Halloween a very special and memorable night.
website:
http://www.myspace.com/monarchuberalles
Setlist:
Blood Seeress/Black Becomes the Sun
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