ALTAR OF PLAGUES, FEN & TOR MARROCK
LONDON THE GAFF 25/09/09
I had really been looking forward to seeing Welsh boyos Tor Marrock for the first time, tonight was going to be drummer Madrus last show too apparently. They got instant atmosphere, wearing masks that were a cross between Ed Gein’s home furnishing catalogue and John Pertwee era Dr Who and played in near darkness bar blue spotlights. Aptly throwing us into a gnarly ‘Death Of Summer’ the sound was really bass heavy and crunching. At first I thought that this was going to mean some of the cleaner guitar sounds were not going to cut through properly in the mix but need not have worried. ‘A Gothic Romance’ in particular with spoken word intro, fleshy bass tones and grandiose Gothic guitars sounded great. By third song or so and with the audience all seeming to suddenly arrive at once, the trio were gaining better sound and confidence and really were getting into their stride. I was pleased that they got a fairly lengthy time to play, it really is a nice idea having just three bands on a bill rather than try and cram four or five into an evening especially when they are all of the calibre that they were tonight. They had time to play pretty much everything I wanted to hear from the album, ‘Throw Yourself Into Our Empty Well’ was a definite highlight but it was all good. Finishing with a new number ‘Born In Blood’ the band had hopefully won over many who had never heard of them before. I’ve been raving about Tor Marrock for a while now so it was a pleasure to see them cut it on stage and I’m already looking forward to a second album.
Another group that are no strangers to these pages are Fen who were playing as replacement for Atavist who had dropped out. I had not really intended getting bogged down (yeah that was a bad one) in reviewing them again but from the first notes of ‘Exiles Journey’ found myself completely transfixed. I don’t know what it was about Fen in particular tonight but it was about the best I have seen from the band live, perhaps it was the sound that did it, as it was spot on. The star gazing (fed up with all the talk of shoes) elements were nothing short of lush and the beefy pile-driving, blackened assaults between them were totally intense. With the band bathed in red light and with keyboard player Draugluin burning some heady incense there was plenty of atmosphere too. I have by now got more than used to the clean vocal parts and they sounded spot on here as well. Apparently an unreleased track, ‘Towards The Shores Of The End’ had some beard stroking progressive moments that had me thinking this lot would be a very interesting choice to support Opeth. Again the longer set time the band had worked completely in both their and the audiences favour. If this were a book it would be Clive Barker’s Weaveworld was another thought that came from my by now drunk mind, perhaps due to the fact that Fen were crafting a rich and beguiling tapestry in front of me. Finishing with the excellent ‘A Witness To The Passing Of Aeons’ I had to seriously wonder if the headliners were going to have a hope of following this.
Of course Altar Of Plagues did and in a perhaps different way had me equally riveted to the spot for the next 45 minutes or so apart from when I was taking pictures that seemed to come out with an equal dynamic intensity as the band on stage. Having seen them supporting Wolves In The Throne Room and also having devoured album ‘White Tomb’ I had been expecting a full on set and that’s exactly what we got. This was one of those shows where mere track titles go straight out the window and strike as irrelevant (that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it), this was all about simply letting the music pick you up and tear you apart as it drags you from one place to the next. Stark spotlights beamed off the stage in front of flailing band who after a few doomed and miserable chords set about causing utter sonic devastation. I’m not sure if the sound worked for or against them to be honest, everything was turned up to the max and it was flung out at near deafening volume, no single instrument was in control here that’s for sure, they were all trying to outdo each other. Standing next to the speaker I kind of expected to hear a Scottish accent in my ear shouting, “they cannae take it captain, they’re on critical mass and gonna blow any second.” By now I was losing the vocals in a melee of drums and guitars fuzzing and bubbling away and this was a quiet section. Suddenly the bass literally blew in and everything behind it piled up with even more apocalyptic intensity, crafting a vortex of destruction. There was a pause between songs whilst an instrument was fine tuned but this was covered with a thick layer of drone, feedback and other repressed emotions. There was a bestial and animalistic feel to this especially when the vocals did rise above and bite and the performance as a whole captivated and destroyed in equal measures. Possibly towards the end they played ‘Twisted Structures Against The Sun’ a non album track given away by a flamboyant almost el-mariachi guitar section and as I staggered out into the cooler night air it had felt like I had just been flattened by a bus.
Thanks to Funeral Of Mankind Promotions who already have some great shows lined up for 2010. Check them out
www.myspace.com/fompromotions
Pete Woods
Click here for photographs
MTUK HOME
