ESOTERIC, JARBOE & ROSE KEMP
LONDON UNDERWORLD 20/06/09
The saving grace of not going to Hellfest this year was the fact that Amebix and Jarboe were both being considerate enough to play London as well and the fact that Manowar were not! Perhaps this explained the attendance at The Underworld tonight which was surprisingly not that busy, lots of people who should have been here were no doubt in France. First up was Rose Kemp who was a perfect support. I was startled by the huge amounts of knobs and pedals at the bassist’s feet, what the hell did they all do? A photo was necessary! Well they certainly shook the place and the drone heavy waves of sound went through my ribcage and hit every internal organ on the way out my back. Then came the vocals. Rose was dressed in a monkish habit which I suddenly realised was probably more witches cloak as she started casting words around like spells. The audience were transfixed and seemingly in awe, in fact the singer commented how quiet we were after the first number but you cannot really talk over the trembling bass sounds to be fair, it was difficult enough stopping brains seeping out your ears. I recognised a couple of tracks such as ‘Bitter & Sweet’ from my encounter seeing Rose support New Model Army and kicked myself for not picking up the album; to be fair I had grabbed Esoteric’s latest on entering the venue and what money was left was to be wasted on cider. One number built around a wall of fuzz with the drums occasionally bursting into a volley shaking us senseless. When the vocals came in it was kind of like that scene on Fear And Loathing involving Jefferson Airplane, a bath and a toaster, and as last song ‘The Unholy’ climaxed I appear to have written the words, “Bjork consider yourself pixie slapped,” now where’s the damn bar?
Tonight was described as a co-headline slot but even so I was really surprised to see Jarboe getting ready to play next. Sure Esoteric were the home band but and as much as I love them, the Goddess herself should have had that elevated position. Before I go on about just how wondrous she was I am also going to have to moan about the brevity of her set; I’m sure it was only about 45 minutes. I had never seen Jarboe live before and can only describe her on stage mannerisms as graceful, radiant and at times almost divine. Her voice was incredible and as started it was like a children’s tale was being told in the midst of a forest of nightmares; fantastical, sinister, scary and as though the narrator was possessed by a higher force. It was not just a one woman show by any stretch though and the backing band were fantastically supercharged and dynamic to watch. I believe the drummer was Eric Wunder from Cobalt and others were from industrial band Inswarm. Keyboard player Fade was a mass of dreadlocks and when hitting a tabla on one number was a seething blur of motion. The tribal aspects of that particular song were particularly fantastic and whether they got the audience behind me moving is unknown as I dont think I looked away from the stage for the duration of the set. The set-list I had snapped appeared not to be so but rather some lyrics so song titles escape me. Unfortunately the set was over almost as soon as it felt like it had started and somewhat bemused we wondered off. Hopefully she may return again but I have a feeling it wont be for some time.
So the band that I have decided to call the scariest in the world were up next and Esoteric had no time limit on them like they did at SWR where I caught them last month. They had the opportunity to decimate this audience and send them home in pieces and they also had the whole line up intact this time to do so. It’s really impossible to describe Esoteric’s sound to someone who has never heard them, they are utterly unique and trying to tether them to any mere genre is impossible although I guess extreme doom is a very lazy way of doing so. Songs are long; hell, they would last centuries for those that hate their sound and although again I noticed many parts from the new album, I could not attempt a track by track description. I’m not sure if there were many curiosity seekers in the audience and it was not noticed that anyone dropped dead in shock or left the venue on a stretcher as the band powered their way through a melee of destructive riffs and demonic vocals. Watching them is like looking at the art of Bosch, Munch and Geiger as it melts in front of you, funnily enough the photos I was taking began to do just that and some of the pictures came out unintentionally trippy as the band almost warped in front of me. I spent much of the set in a trance and one beyond places that mere beer could transport me to. I was suddenly shaken into life by the pulsing start of ‘Beneath This Face’ and am looking forward to destroying myself with ‘The Manical Vale’ after finishing this review, which as it happens is pretty much finished as anything after this is a bit of a blur. To quote someone who would no doubt love Esoteric, “The suffering, the sweet, sweet suffering” They certainly showed their gathering many sights and sounds to marvel at tonight.
Pete Woods
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