Chris Hambling

Film & English student at UEA, Norwich. Radio Host of livewire1350.com and contributor to The Student Pocket Guide. This is where I go to write things.

[chrishambling-blog]

THE HUNNA @ The Waterfront, Norwich -  07/10/16

Despite the impending wind of cold-air and darker evenings, the summery and indie wave of bands still take a quick stop in Norwich, bringing in the younger and more niche demographic into The Waterfront, this time in the form of THE HUNNA along with fellow indie groups The Night Café and Blaenavon. An evening of sonic music, long hair and baggy shirts – with sprinkles of twangy and plucky guitar tunes to finish it off.

 To start was The Night Café, the natives of Liverpool and they definitely succeeded in setting the sonic tone of the night as their sound poured its way around the venue; the atmospheric ambient noise in the background, the plucking of the strings tiptoeing its way through the song. They were certainly a strong start, and even somehow instigated a mosh pit or two, catching me by an extreme level of surprise. Maybe this is just the way things are now. Maybe we get mosh pits at indie gigs. If I was that up-tight I’d probably find it annoying, however it’s quite interesting to see how other genres have begun to embrace that kind of culture and experience, so hats off to The Night Café for swimming into a deeper and more mysterious end of live performing.

 And then we got Blaenavon. No, I’m not sure how you say it either. But either way, despite their wavy vibes, Blaenavon managed to crank the evening up a few gears and, believe me, when they began to shred the absolute living shit out of their instruments it left me impressed. If you’ve read anything else by me, you’ll be familiar with my “… and then I turned to my mate and went ‘these are actually really good’, with a pint in my hand” line. Unfortunately, I was but a lonesome wanderer within the crowd, so I had to internally express this to myself. But just know, Blaenavon, had there been a mate to turn to, I would have turned to them and revealed my inner impressions, without any considerable doubt. It makes for a really comfortable statement when you really see a band take advantage of the large options of sound they can make with their instruments; these are a group of guys that know what they’re doing and they’re obviously enjoying themselves. There’s something really progressive about Blaenavon and I’m a proper advocate of the pushing of boundaries when it comes to heaviness in calmer genres, so top marks guys.

 Lastly, THE HUNNA made their way onto the stage and were met with a hot response from the audience – an audience which, at times, sung so loud they equaled the levels of the band themselves. It’s always pretty heart-warming, regardless of what you think of the band in question, to see them met with such enthusiasm, and this is also a point worth bringing up. THE HUNNA have independently produced a single album so far and they’ve already achieved a sell-out tour and have recently added on more dates due to popular demand.

They’re doing something right.

The overall quality of THE HUNNA’S sound was so crisp and clean-cut, all components working together and in unison without any conflicting audio-levels. It sounded like this band have been doing it for years, which is probably a testament to how successful they’ve manage to be in such a short space of time. Or course, it makes for a more progressive journey to see a band go from strength to strength, but there’s also an air of excitement when you see a group hit the ground running, straight off the mark. That’s not to say they haven’t put in a lot of time of hard grafting; it’s not as if by magic that they’ve done so well, but they’ve obviously ticket a lot of boxes. Twangy and plucky indie music might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s not difficult to see why other people are into this corner of music. I can see it now, one of their songs will definitely feature on FIFA 18 or something, so keep your eyes peeled.

THE HUNNA just need to cement their stage presence and audience interaction for this band to strike gold with me though. They’re young and fresh and new, but to take that live experience that step further we really need to get more out of their interactions with the audience. It takes massive balls to play music live and I’ll happily admit they’re a talented bunch of dudes – not everyone can do it. But to make it truly memorable it just needs that edge. That zing. That spice. You get me.

Overall, THE HUNNA know how to write some massive radio hits and I can imagine, come next year after festival season has wrapped up, their name will start to become very familiar.  

[chrishambling-blog]

Sundara Karma @ The Waterfront, Norwich - 28/09/16

Drawing the younger and more indie target-demographic of Norwich, Sundara Karma eased their way into The Waterfront like a pair of recently-bought jeans; slick, attractive and with the promise of a cool image-to-come. Chelmsford-born band FREAK and small-time group Joy Room accompanied Sundara Karma under their wings for this tour and offered a decent and ever-so-slightly diverse warm up for the team from Reading. And this is a point worth raising, actually. There was a definite air of post-festival-vibes in the room; autumn is creeping in and when I saw Sundara Karma support Nothing But Thieves in April, I claimed that they were “most certainly the soundtrack to your summer break. Proper roll-your-windows-down-and-play-out-loud kind of band when you’re on your way to the beach or something”, therefore I was intrigued to say the least at how this evening would play out following such a massive performance on Reading’s main stage this year.

Alas, Joy Room commenced the show and despite the average audience member being a fifteen-to-seventeen year old girl, it wasn’t long before moshes started to break out in the centre. I’m willing to bet this is partly due to the large ratio between young teenage girls and testosterone-fuelled boys, post-festival season, with both parties involved slightly intoxicated. A bit jarring at first considering the indie nature of the line-up, but I can’t help but deny how awesome it must’ve felt for such a small band to be met with such a large and chaotic response, and there’s no doubting they reciprocated equal amounts of energy. They worked hard to promote their debut single, Late at Night, which is available to listen to on Spotify and it’s definitely worth checking out. I like to think they did themselves proud that night and I hope to see them about more in the future.

Shortly afterwards, FREAK slammed on stage and cranked the pace upwards, pushing the vibe of the evening into the punkier regions of music. Imagine if Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes tended a bit more towards the indie/pop genre, I feel like the end result would be FREAK. Although one might argue that the sound contrasted the image a bit too much, if a band like FREAK are able to expose an audience to heavier sounds and be met with such a fierce and positive response, then another might argue that this goes to show how the crossover of genres is prevailing evermore, and I’m totally a fan. The heavier popular music can get, the better, I’d say. The only improvement I have to make is the band need to work on their stage presence and interaction with the audience to further cement the interest they give off. The lead singer dipped his toes in such waters, like stage-diving at the very front and so on, but they need to instigate much more interaction and celebrate a lot more personality to fully reflect the punk sounds they’re crunching off. “How are we doing, Norwich?” only works once or twice, for example, before it begins to wear off. Other than that, FREAK gave off a solid performance and I recommend you give them a look if you’re into your indie music with a bit more bite.

And at last, Sundara Karma graced the stage with their already iconic image, as I described in April “amidst the stage-smoke, complete with flowing hair, wavy shirts and limp arms” and, really, they haven’t changed much, but this time they control the stage with even more confidence and comfort. It’s like they were born to be there. They began their set with where their published music was born with Indigo Puff and subsequently took us through the selective discography of Oscar, Ally, Haydn and Dom. And this is where I have to congratulate Sundara Karma the most. It must seem weird seeing a band, that haven’t released a full record yet, headline a tour as their discography only contains a couple of EP’s and singles, yet this means that every track they play is a complete banger that feels like it was made to be played and replayed, to work its way through the charts and onto regular radio broadcasting. In seeing Sundara Karma as this time of year, we’re catching them after owning the main stage at Reading and Leeds and before their album actually comes out; we’ve seen them at their very best (so far) and it promises of even better things to come. I’m thick with anticipation. It’s also worth mentioning how interesting it is to see the summer-festival-sound of Sundara Karma translate to a small and sweaty clubroom. It confines their oozy sonic music to a smaller space and the grassy ground beneath you is traded for a sticky clubroom floor, but it didn’t seem to effect the mind-set of the band at all. At first I figured their summery vibes would only be appropriate for its respective target audience and season, but they seem to be a jack of all trades on this one.

This is where the congratulatory comments get stronger. It is without doubt a talent to be able to write a handful of songs that will literally never get boring and they’re played with such precision, it sounds like you’re listening to it straight off the record. Either that or it sounds like the production of the record itself has perfectly captured the live sound of Sundara Karma, not too different to Black Foxxes’ debut album ‘I’m Not Well’.

To make things even dreamier, Sundara Karma offered their own rendition of Luther Vandross’ ‘Never Too Much’ and it made perfect sense. It also helps that I’ve been obsessed with this song for the past couple of weeks; the stars and planets aligned and I felt like they were doing it for me. (Although it was dedicated to a friends’ birthday).

This marks the third time this year that I’ve managed to see Sundara Karma live and they’ve grown from a support act, to a main stage act, to a headline act – so who knows where they could be once their album is finally released. The sky’s the limit at this point.

They’re a beautiful bunch of men that seem to pull off the kind of style we all wish we could achieve, so I wouldn’t miss out on this band because I feel like we’re going to be seeing a lot more of them over the next year.

[chrishambling-blog]

Interview: Sun Scream

Despite their busy and youthful schedule, I finally managed to pin down Sun Scream for a quick e-mail interview - the 'surfey-psychedelic' 5-piece who seem to be picking up a bit of intrigue in Bury St. Edmund, Suffolk. Following the release of their new single 'David Lynch'  through Sounds Like Music, I was just dying to probe them with a few questions. I'm a lover of the work of David Lynch, and it seemed like this band were after my own heart.

So you guys make it VERY clear that 'David Lynch' is about the man himself, and I bloody love that, but I'm dying to know what it was about Lynch that inspired the song. So, what is it about Lynch that inspired you writing a song about him, and how does this tie into the overall sound and look of Sun Scream, from your perspective? If that's not too deep-a-question...

David Lynch was our first real exposure to surrealist film, Eraserhead warped and twisted our fragile young minds! How that fits into the context of the song we have no idea, it was simply one of those spontaneous moments where the chords came first and then the lyrics naturally followed. But the theme of the song definitely fits into the natural sound and aesthetic of Sun Scream - which appears to be a homage to everything that we love in life in a musical format.

So following the release of that live video, are there any plans to release more material? There's a few pictures of you at The Crypt Studio, so you've gotta be cooking something up... If so, what can we expect?

We had a great time at The Crypt recording a double A side EP which we’re really proud of and excited about. We hope to release that in the near future, but also get it out there with a ton of artwork and a music video. We really want artwork and imagery to be an important feature of the band as well as the music.

You've been playing some shows in London and in & around Bury, but are there any plans to branch out to other areas across the UK?

We definitely have a plan to branch out further than our local area - a lot of promoters who dig psychedelic pop and rock seem to really want to put us on. The idea of playing in cities and towns we’ve never been to is pretty exciting and hopefully people will dance along and get wavy with us.

And lastly, I'm really interested to hear your main influences.

Main influences are mainly contemporary bands in honesty such as Tame Impala and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. But we find ourselves listening to disco and funk mostly as a collective group. George Clintons Funkadelic, Moto Town Records, and who can resist a bit of knee shaking to Chic?

Definitely keep an eye out for these guys if you're into local, grass-roots music because it sounds like they've got some good stuff cooking up in the kitchen. And who knows, you could be lucky enough to catch them live. I know I want to.

[chrishambling-blog]

Lower Than Atlantis Give the Boundaries of Radio-Friendly Rock a Bit of a Nudge With New Single ‘Work For It’

So Lower Than Atlantis have just dropped yet another corker, Work For It on Annie Mac’s BBC Radio One show; the single which, in my eyes, aims to push the boundaries of radio-friendly rock once more. The fierce and fist-pumping guitar tones contrast quite nicely with the more reserved and cleaner vocals which, at first, takes some time getting used to. But as the song unfolds, the point of a band like Lower Than Atlantis and a single like Work For It becomes a lot clearer. Work For It slots comfortably among other heavyweight rock singles of recent times from bands such as Bring Me The Horizon, for instance. I recall Oliver Sykes or Jordan Fish once saying that with their newest album, That’s The Spirit - the record which aimed for the heights of being number one in the charts - they were attempting to be the heaviest band among their competitors, rather than the softest band in the metal and rock corners. So it makes perfect sense that Lower Than Atlantis have been influenced to do the same, perhaps, as Work For It chugs away with a more aggressive edge, whilst maintaining the catchiness and control of a pop-rock single. If this is the direction that radio-friendly rock is going and therefore softening the mind-numbing blow of hearing heavier bands for first-time listeners then, I don’t know, I’m all for it. Although only slow at first, the gap is being closed.  

As always, songwriter Mike Duce makes the whole thing look easy with lyrics that call-back to some of their greats; I’m thinking Here We Go and Criminal off their most recent self-titled album and Get Over It off its respective B-side. Work For It inspires you to flick your shades down and roll your sleeves up, making the typical walk to the shops like a thousand times cooler, I’m sure. In a way, it’s the complete reverse of Go On Strike, but gives you a spring in your step all the same.

 Mike Duce also went on to explain that this track is only “about a month old” and comes from a process of “recording three tracks, and then writing three more”. I don’t know about you, but this only adds to the raw energy Work For It provides; it’s practically fresh out the oven.

 Who knows, maybe this hints to us of LTA going into a bit of a tougher direction, combining everything we know and love from their previous four albums. Their self-titled album was cracking, don’t get me wrong, but I’d love to see a bit more bite in their next record, dipping their toes back into the pond of their debut album Far Q.

 I’m probably just a bit of a LTA fanboy, I’ve essentially had Far Q on repeat for the past two months, but I, amongst many others, am majorly excited to hear this banger live during their set at Reading this year on the main stage, no less.

[chrishambling-blog]

Black Peaks @ The Owl Sanctuary, Norwich - 09/07/16

Ok so if you’ve been paying attention to any music outlet you should know by now that Brighton-born Black Peaks are picking up some interesting heat with their progressive post-hardcore debut album Statues. To make matters even hotter, on Saturday 9th July at The Owl Sanctuary in Norwich, Black Peaks arrived on stage fresh off the back of a pretty high-stakes track-record. This band have supported Deftones at Wembley Arena, they took Download by storm and turned a few heads and raised a few eyebrows at The 2000 Trees Festival in Cheltenham. It only makes sense that we felt completely blessed to witness them in a small and sweaty room above a pub in Norwich.

And this is essentially how this review is going to go; you have been warned.

Opening their set with Glass Built Castles, an instant classic (in my books), Norwich made no hesitations to match the energy and the aggression Black Peaks came on stage with. With a song as large as this, it’s no wonder everyone had the instant urge to move and shove to its chorus. I, like many others, experienced love at first sight with Black Peaks when I first heard this song off their album, thus fuelling their performance with this sense of things coming full circle for me. Nothing can top hearing one of your favourite songs live, and these guys did not disappoint.

They continued to plug away through the heavy-hitting songs off Statues such as their new single White Eyes, Set in Stone, Say You Will and Saviour, as well as a few others and lead singer Will Gardner proved that he basically had it all. The guy just has an insane vocal-range; he can sing, he can scream and he can growl. Initially I thought Black Peaks shared their vocals between two different singers, but it seems Gardner’s got this one covered by himself.

And this, for my money, has got to be why this show was so great. Despite the small size of the The Owl Sanctuary, Black Peaks did not once show any signs of complacency and they certainly did not let the venue become a limitation or a set-back. What I’m trying to say is, they still sounded massive. And if a band can achieve that in a tiny room above a pub, then god knows how heavy they can sound in an arena.

In terms of the length of the set, Black Peaks came across quite short and sweet, but it’s honestly no surprise when they have such a small back-catalogue of songs. The set didn’t drag on in the slightest and I’m pretty sure it’s safe to say they left us all wanting more. With the band joining in on the moshing and amps falling over here and there, I can’t help but agree with Gardner when he assured us that this show was ‘punk as fuck’.

And to get even soppier, Black Peaks provoked in me the kind of feeling one only feels when they go to a live rock gig for the first time in their life. Black Peaks made me feel like I had never been to a live show before and if I’m going to be honest with you, I felt like I was witnessing something that I’ll probably never forget, especially considering how big this band are going to be. What I felt was pure excitement and appreciation to watch a band who have performed such large shows in such a small room – a band which seem to have no idea how huge they’re going to be. A band which has their feet firmly rooted on planet Earth as they sold their merch at the booth straight after the show and spoke to anyone who came to say hello in such a humble manner.  

But before I go I have to give an honourable mention to the support acts Kill the Ideal and Yonaka – two impressively talented bands that I’m sure will go on to garner more attention as their run with Black Peaks unfolds. They’re the kind of stuff where you turn to your mate and go “they’re actually really good”, if you get what I mean.

All things considered, the entire show and the venue itself offered a reflection on everything that is wholesomely good about live concerts. Do yourself a favour and check out all the bands mentioned and get yourself down to The Owl Sanctuary once in a while, because it’s fucking rad.

[chrishambling-blog]

IN DYNAMICS RELEASE VIDEO FOR A STRING OF LOSSES

Founded in 2012 and releasing their debut album next month, In Dynamics have just freshly released the video to their newest single A String of Losses. Within seconds, In Dynamics cut straight to the chase with a hard-hitting intro; chords being strung within an inch of their life and cymbals being smashed as if with aggressive vengeance. This, therefore, is only further emphasised through the excellent and intricate direction of the video itself through camera trickery and the bending of time.

Director Carl Shanahan utilizes his abilities by flashing off the long-shot technique and seemingly filming the video in double-speed, and then slowing it down in post. As a result, this adds to the sheer weight of the sound of In Dynamics as every movement and emotion is emphasised as the speed of the song and the speed of their actions are in contrast with each other.

Throughout the video, lead singer Beau Bolden explores an abandoned and run-down building whilst his fellow bandmates seem to teleport between different rooms, perfectly reflecting how dynamic the band itself sounds. Grimy and wallpaper-torn walls fail to confine the movement of its members as much as the group entirely defy the limitations of only being a three-piece band – they still successfully achieve a deep and raw quality to their sound.

From hearing this single alone, In Dynamics have teased us at hopefully decent things to come with their upcoming album Everything I See and I’m willing to bet this song sounds absolutely cracking live. Good stuff.

[chrishambling-blog]

Bowling for Soup @ The LCR, Norwich - 08/02/16

On a cold, rainy and windy Monday evening, Texan four-piece Bowling For Soup graced the LCR with old buddies from The Dollyrots and even brought along Nottingham-based band Lacey. The evening was tied together with MC Lars, having short appearances between acts.

So this would be a good place to start: MC Lars. Armed with nothing but a Mac, a mic and a Legend of Zelda medallion, MC Lars had brief performances on stage in between the acts. Although this gave the overall concert a sense of fluidity, as it cancelled-out the boring and impatient wait for the next band, it personally took me a long time to warm to his performance. It wasn’t until he did this ingenious freestyle with random items donated by the crowd that I really got on board, and by then, his time on stage was up. That being said, it didn’t take the audience long to get in the mood for his fun and innocent humour. When he asked for audience participation, it felt like the vast majority were willing to comply and, if anything, he did pretty well to get everyone in the mood for the party that Bowling for Soup were going to bring.

Lacey were up next and gave a tight and standard performance. It’s quite strange, despite how decent the quality of the sound was, it was very easy to forget most of what happened during their set. If you’re into the middle-field, inoffensive corner of rock music, then that’s totally okay and Lacey are probably the band for you. I am not disregarding their musical expertise; but maybe it just wasn’t for me. The maths here didn’t particularly add up and they seemed a little out of place. We were ready for an evening fuelled with American pop punk and dorky humour and Lacey’s reserved sound just didn’t quite fit. Although a bold move, their slower cover of Blink-182’s ‘Dammit’ felt like a bit of a misfire. But in all fairness, a song as iconic as ‘Dammit’ by a band as huge as Blink-182 is going to be a tough challenge. Sometimes songs such as this should just be left unchallenged. I’m sure that during tours with bands of a similar ilk, Lacey deliver a good and fitting show, but this left me waiting for The Dollyrots.  

After another short interlude by MC Lars, The Dollyrots launched themselves on stage in a true adolescent fashion and by and large, they were just happy to be back on the road with Bowling for Soup again. It was here that the evening began to pick up. Establishing what would come to be a fun and sentimental evening, The Dollyrots radiated with enjoyment and this perfectly reflected onto the crowd. It’s a common idea that the audience will reciprocate the amount of energy a band puts in on stage, and I feel like this was proved here. Contrasting to Lacey, the Florida-born band completely changed the scene of the evening with emo-fringes, long blonde hair and Ska-Punk t-shirts alongside thick American accents. It’s quite easy to throw The Dollyrots into the pop punk genre, and in many ways that makes perfect sense. However, it became quite clear that The Dollyrots succeeded in doing something more with the genre, such as giving it this country/folk-twinge. This, of course, was confirmed during their rendition of ‘Brand New Key’ by folk singer Melanie. They sung about a brand new pair of rollerskates, and, as you could imagine, we sung about a brand new combine harvester. Kelly Ogden and Luis Cabezas wrapped up the evening of sentimentalities by bringing their baby son on stage, warming the hearts of the audience and generating “Aws” from all.

By this point, the LCR was crammed, we were shoulder to shoulder – as it always gets – and we were ready for Bowling for Soup.

The backdrop-curtain was removed, and there stood the glorious Bowling for Soup set. Our eyes were treated to their iconic cartoon image behind a pub, because of course there was. There was a dartboard, a framed picture, toilets for both girls and boys and even their very own bar in which they frequently went to for a quick drink, because of course they can. Coming on to a bouncy intro, the crowd chanted in true American fashion for Bowling for Soup and the second they got going, so did the audience. It always amazes me how much people can be up for it on a cold evening like Monday and it didn’t take long for me to get involved too. Reddick, Burney, Chandler and Wiseman were very, very quick to prove to us that they were having a party and everyone was invited, chomping through song after song whilst still finding time to have spontaneous and actually comedic banter between tracks. Dick jokes, toilet humour and a floating condom should give you a general idea of the evening. Not only were they hilarious, but their chemistry radiated into the audience. Only a band as close and as happy-go-lucky as Bowling for Soup could string along a joke about a floating condom for as long as they did.

The band played a selection of all their classics you’d expect them to play, but to prove that pop punk isn’t dead, they treated us to something wonderful: a five song pop punk medley. All The Small Things, Basket Case, Girls & Boys, My Friends Over You and then The Middle. Just when you think they couldn’t get any better, they then played Stacy’s Mom in-full. It was truly one of those “I want to film this to prove it actually happened, but I just want to go nuts” moments and the entirety of the LCR, from front to back, sang along, lyric-for-lyric, from the pit of their stomachs. Call me corny, but it was one of those moments you could only describe as beautiful.

Bowling for Soup continued to break the rules even during their encore. Instead of going off stage just for us to chant them back on, they just slid to the back of their set for a quick drink, because to hell with walking all the way to the dressing room and back, right?

Ending their set with Girl all the Bad Guys Want, Bowling for Soup smashed the LCR and certainly got everyone’s week off to a good start, and all I can say is thank you.

[chrishambling-blog]

Nekrogoblikon @ The Waterfront, Norwich - 03/02/16

From the depths of Los Angeles in 2006, something weird was born. It was Nekrogoblikon. Enlisting the help of John Goblikon, the bands life-insurance-selling creature, they have taken both the internet and thus the world by some kind of storm, staring in the face of the cynics who label the Goblin clan a gimmick. 10 years, 2 records and an EP later, and the band are back in Norwich to tear the Waterfront studio in half. And they’ve brought some friends. 

Saigon Kiss commenced the night’s entertainment, establishing a heavy and intimate tone, giving us growling vocal performances and thumping double-bass drumming. Gregg Cuss, the bassist, stood with comfort and authority, slapping the strings with a certain chillness and Steve Hardy delivered guitar tones that made us reminisce of metal bands from decades before. The crowd had a relaxed reaction to Saigon Kiss, however, but this is typical stuff for a first act. Nevertheless, they still showed interest and mingled close to the stage, responding to any interactions frontman Kev made. If anything, they made their hometown Norwich quite proud, borrowing nostalgic vibes that harkened back to classic thrash metal.

Next up were Yorkshire blues-metal-groove-whatever-it-was band The Bastard Sons and it was here that the bar was raised. Lead singer JJ lassoed the audience in, dragging them closer and closer to the already close-enough stage, and I couldn’t help but be drawn in myself. Relatively new to the scene, The Bastard Sons proved that they had a sound worth bopping too, forging together groovy riffs, raw cymbals and grizzly vocals. It only makes sense that the lead singer fashions long hair and a long beard; this band were metal. However don’t let such a label fool you. It quickly became clear that The Bastard Sons have their fingers in a few genre-pies making them quite difficult to pin down, only proving to us how diverse and interesting the metal corner of music can be. Amongst their setlist, Release the Hounds and A Lie Is a Lie were the most stand-out tracks. The latter, of course, being inspired by the London riots and the lies our government feed us. Their performance was sharp, cutting the insides of our ears and although the crowd were beginning to get into it, The Bastard Sons exited the stage leaving us tender and eager for the headline act.

Finally, it was the moment we had all been waiting for. The expanding and distorting intro of Full Body Xplosion riled up something strange in the crowd as they anticipated the first note of the guitar, and as that note was hit, boy did Norwich let Nekrogoblikon know they were up for it. I have never in my life heard something as brilliantly different as Nekrogoblikon, and by the time their Goblin mascot was moshing around on stage, I found myself grinning, literally, from ear-to-ear. It was melodic death metal madness and the audience reacted in the exact same way, opening the floor right up with ferocious moshing and fierce head-banging. From the first note to the last, it was intimate and small-scale carnage. Frontman Scorpion growled, screeched, sung and even had this odd fusion of growl-rap in a few of their songs, perfectly epitomizing what the band are all about. Death metal guitar riffs tag-teamed with gloriously satanic keyboard solos and by the time we got to Bells & Whistles, they threw in exactly that and ritual-sounding choir vocals. To be honest, I think we were all surprised they didn’t throw in a kitchen sink on top of that. And this, I think, is where you have to give Nekrogoblikon credit. Suffering from a lot of backlash for ‘being a gimmick’, they counterattacked such criticism in the appropriate way, playing upon their weirdness. They introduced us into songs, explaining that robots and talking lobsters gave them the lyrics, before fighting them or eating them afterwards. They threw banter straight back at any hecklers, completely destroying the seemingly un-crossable bridge between audience member and band member. But that’s the thing, it was all harmless banter. It was just a bit of fun and I have to give the band massive respect for that.

After moshing and bouncing through a thick handful of songs, we finally got to ‘We Need a Gimmick’ where Nekrogoblikon lathered us with satire thick and fast: “I don’t know what this song’s about…” Scorpion proclaimed as John Goblikon crawled around on stage. Get it? Eventually, we got to the joyous and upbeat Giraffe and there just happened to be a dude in a giraffe onesie in the audience who was hoisted up on stage to join in with the hype. Melodies, metal, madness… Crowd-surfing goblins.

Overall, I think it’s safe to say that everyone had a good time and really, that is what going to a gig is all about. You can dismiss Nekrogoblikon all you want, but after that night, I think it’s pretty clear that this band aren’t going anywhere and they’re probably only going to get better.