EPHEL DUATH, NEGURA BUNGET & BOSSK
A very strange line up of bands, each and every one of them demanding a run through the old spell checker. Only the small area of the Underworld was open this evening and although it filled up quickly I had a feeling by the end of the evening it was going to have emptied out.
First up were Bossk who it must be said had some very nice joss sticks, don’t think I have ever known the Underworld smell so nice. Post rock with big solid riffs kind of affair here and what seemed to be an instrumental combo in essence. You could also call this meandering mood music I guess, the convoluted grooves were far removed from the crazy bustle of Camden just up a flight of stairs away. One number built with hefty drum tattoos being struck at 10 second intervals around guitars flying out the wavelengths of sonic hearing, mesmerising in the way of bands like Godspeed You Black Emperor and Isis, a name virtually everyone in the venue seemed to be muttering into their pints.
Song titles seemed irrelevant and although this was a sound that you have probably heard many times, Bossk did it all quite well. Towards the end of the set they did unexpectedly add harsh guttural vocal bellows; surprisingly the band created an atmosphere for what was just about to come.
That was the first ever London show of Rumanians Negura Bunget and a lot of people had been looking forward to this performance, one that if they had been headlining should have seen the venue a lot busier. We needn’t have worried and although I didn’t exactly time the show but they must have played for an hour and taken in the bulk of last album, the magnificent Om. As the expanded live line up took to the stage we were instantly spellbound by the music and the array of instruments set up on it. Hupogrammos for example had a very long piped horn implement (thing along the lines of a massive didgeridoo) and blew on it emitting a tone like a black fog coming from a dark forest. It was evident that they were not going to play numbers in specific order as this first one was actually Inarborat. There was a man on his knees hitting what looked like a block of wood and a glockenspiel being played and sounding like a rack of human bones. When the angry vocals did actually explode and the track tore in it was a force to be reckoned with and almost took the flesh off those of us in the front row.
I’m pretty sure it was Norilor up next. The Holst Mars Bringer Of War flavoured austerity of the piece sparkled magnificently around the venue in a ritualistic manner. This was music with one hell of a lot of feeling behind it but not looking behind myself even once I couldn’t tell you how it was being received by the rest of the audience, guess I was in a world of my own. One number was introduced as being about the Transylvanian Winter and was as harsh and icy cold as you would expect. The female keyboard player was head banging hell for leather and the guitarist with his twin axe was blazing away. The pagan and back to nature vibe was illustrated by the glorious Esarul De Lumni which hit giddy peaks akin to an eagle gliding over the top of a snowy mountain.
Will I see a better band this year? Somehow I doubt it. There was overwhelming applause at the end of the set and there was no two ways about it, Negura were brought back for an obligatory encore. All we need now is to have them back for a better tour, preferably with Enslaved and Drudkh; now that would really be a show!
Unfortunately the headliners Ephal Duath were a most mismatched and bizarre choice of head liner. For a start they didn’t have a chance to top what had preceded and most of the audience here couldn’t have cared less about them playing. As the venue partly emptied and many sought the solace of the bar my first thought on this band that I intended politely catching a bit of was that this was an over the top tantrum display of discordant riffing and moody screaming vocals. This was pretentious as an art rock 80s’ band and so clichéd it hurt. Fellow scribe Andrew pointed out that for some reason they were missing a bassist here tonight and stuck to a hardcore style rather than blending it with classic and jazz passages. I’m afraid I summed it up in one word, “wank”.
Pete Woods
LONDON UNDERWORLD 16/05/07
At best there were moments citing the guitar sound of say Fugazi or Slint but it struck my ears as a case of noise for noise sake and 20 minutes of this was quite enough for me. True perhaps I didn’t get it but to be honest I didn’t want it either.