RISE ABOVE RECORDS 20TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW
LONDON ULU 13/12/08
Rise Above as you should well know is a fantastic Black Flag song as well as the name adopted by Lee Dorrian of Cathedral when he set up his label two decades ago. To celebrate this occasion in style, this show gathered together nine bands from the label and put them on the stage for a big old doom down. Tickets for the event sold out weeks ago and people had flown in from all over the shop to witness the event. There was also a limited edition 500 pressed Electric Wizard 12” on sale and as soon as doors opened the merchandise stall was mobbed.
Someone has to play first and it was Witchsorrow who I had managed to miss at Bloodstock whose task it was to open the ceremony. With only a 30 minute set they had time for but two of their somewhat epic numbers. There was little movement on stage from bassist Emily Witch and guitarist/singer Necroskull and drummer Morrellhammer was apparently ridden with the plague and was lucky to have made the show. Plague was apt as this had the feel that it had crept from the dark ages about it. Slow and gravid at times but then bursting into action, drum hits sounded akin to nails being hammered into a vampire’s coffin. Second number ‘Thou Art Cursed’ was intense, slothful and mesmerising, vocals were full throated and lined with grit and there was no sorrow cast upon this spell. Will certainly be checking this lot again when they play at The Unicorn in February.
www.myspace.com/witchsorrowdoom
Belgian band SerpentCult were for me one of the main draws of the day. I loved their excellent ‘Weight Of Light’ debut and was immediately weighed down by the gravity of Fred and Steven’s on stage bass, guitar jam. However when Michelle bounced on to stage and bolstered the fuzzy riffing and bowel shaking instrumental onslaught I really was virtually knocked off my feet. It has to be said that until you catch them live you cannot really comprehend just what a dynamic impact Michelle brings to the band, she really does have a throat full of steel. Although I was trying to take pictures (something far from easy in a sold out venue with no photo pit) I found myself compelled to stand by the speaker, drink beer and headbang as I was turned deaf as a post. The album title track was a highlight and they played as much of their debut as they could fit into their 30 minute set. My one complaint was that I had to share this with so many others as the place was now getting really busy. Hopefully this lot will play a headlining tour here at some point; the cult is very much alive!
www.myspace.com/serpentcult
I had not actually heard Litmus before but had been informed that they were a tad like the mighty Hawkwind. No shit Sherlock, this is your captain speaking, we have a new captain! Needless to say I absolutely loved them and was reminded of a mix of Levitation and Xenon Codex as they blazed away. This was like watching a 70s edition of Old Grey Whistle Test just after Dr Who. The visuals behind it playing old black and white Flash Gordon added to the whole experience nicely. Guitarist and bassist shared vocals and at either end of the stage we had two geeks who looked like they ran a comic shop for their day job providing all the whooshes and pulses. I have to disagree with their Myspace description of sounding like “nothing you have heard before,” hell they even tipped hats with a great astro-dynamic cover of Pink Floyd’s ‘Astronomy Domine.’I had not really intended going in search of space but I sure as hell found it here, stellar performance!
www.myspace.com/litmusspacerock
After several bands that were the dog’s bullock it was time for the brown runny stuff that…. you get the picture. Seriously I have tried both live and on album with Moss and was determined to give them my best shot again, to be fair the hall was absolutely rammed with worshipers and I really wanted to join them but could not. I like this sort of funeral drone filled doom (for want of a better description) too, so it is not as though I am anti genre or anything but Moss just irritated. Their stance firstly with singer Olly refusing to meet his audience eyes is something I found both obtuse and frankly akin to a sulky teenager and the music is equally as obstreperous. There is just so little variation to their racket that after 5 minutes of listening to the same notes I began to fear for my sanity. The bass was nice and thick and chundered away, the vocals screamed with bestial ferocity but I just could not find myself involved here. I began to feel the walls closing in after 10 mins, perhaps the feeling of claustrophobia is the group’s goal, perhaps the nonchalance in their demeanour is all part of the act but by now I had tried to get to grips with it quite long enough. The bar was thankfully in another room but still the caterwauling followed me as though it was doing its damndest not to let go.
www.myspace.com/cthonicrites
I had given Brighton mob Diagonal’s debut album a couple of spins before sending it out for review and really enjoyed it. I was slightly perplexed that there was a bald guy on stage considering the very hairy promo pics of the group but after realising it was actually them quickly settled into the flow. This was timeless music that again sounded like it had crept out of another era. 70s keyboards and trousers to match, this was a sound rather like blowing the dust off old records. You could probably cite lots of influences here (some of them actually older than me) King Crimson, Captain Beefheart a bit of Gong, early Genesis, it was all there and wrapped up brilliantly in a fashion that had the audience nodding in appreciation and rubbing what facial hair was readily available. Musically they were spot on and I was surprised when vocals crept in, must admit I was not struck by them though and have to say Diagonal would have been more my thing if they had stuck to being an instrumental combo. One track sounded like a mad Italian Giallo theme song. Obviously the sax played a large part but there was also a clarinet thrown into the equation at one point. This was another totally involving performance and one that really illustrated the day’s diversity.
www.myspace.com/diagonalband
Gentlemans Pistols were for me the day’s unknown group. I have seen their name around one hell of a lot on the live circuit but never caught or even listened to them, boy have I been missing out! Using very basic language they fucking rocked. They had the audience moving at last (well all the beer no doubt helped) and at first I was rather rude looking at my notes comparing them to a stoner tinged Blur with a splash of The Darkness (sorry). On stage they were a riot, the bearded vocalist looked like he had crawled out of a mountain shack in search of moonshine and one of the guitarists was playing his axe behind his head. There were times that they turned the crowd into boogie central city, there were others with smooth and soulful songs like ‘The Lady’ somewhat preposterously working magic like a pimp his posse of hookers. Was that song called ‘Sherman Tank’? Heavy man!
www.myspace.com/gentlemanspistols
Next up were Welsh boyos Taint, rather high up the bill I thought but guess they have been touring quite extensively and played Damnation in the UK recently; also with Capricorns RIP they were probably the obvious choice. I found their ‘Ruin Of Nova Roma’ album somewhat frustrating, good whilst listening to it but instantly forgotten when finished. I have to say that is kind of the impression I got with them live too. Musically they are like turning up at a petrol station when running on fumes with the hounds of hell on your tail. They gave it their best shot and plenty of welly but I was left with the impression that the wolf was always going to eventually overtake them and rip their throats out before the final reel. Taking in some influences from the past and giving it all a modern edge I found this perfectly good drinking music at the last chance saloon. I kind of kept thinking of them as a stoner etched Fugazi and once I got that thought in my head it was damn difficult to shake. Think I best go and give the album another spin hopefully this time it might stick.
www.myspace.com/taintuk
Even without particularly trying this was the third time I had caught Grand Magus this year and fair play for them for visiting our shores with such frequency. Whatever the event, be it with the unlikely pairing of Watain, the heathen clamour of Primordial or a show with drunken drugged up revellers, GM will always turn things into a big old party, this was no exception. JB is a real showman and instantly the audience (even those so drunk they could hardly stand) were up and thrusting fists in the air to the rampant rifferama and power croons leaping off the stage. Their ‘Blood Oath’ was to Rise Above Records as JB praised the label for their support and wished them another 20 years. Getting anywhere near the front was a real mission but the speaker was as always a good clear spot and something to hold on to whilst rocking out. We were asked whether we wanted to die after ‘The Shadow Knows’ but the real highlight was a rousing finale of ‘Kingslayer’ after which it was literally time to collapse.
www.myspace.com/grandmagusrocks
Seriously it was; having gone from diagonal to virtually almost horizontal and fed up with getting photos ruined by hair and mobile phones held in the air it seemed like a good idea to go and watch Electric Wizard from the balcony. Lets face it watching this lot is kind of like going to the cinema for an all night 60’s and 70’s horror fest on acid and as the stage lights drenched the group in claret it was as though we were sitting back to settle into something like ‘Masque Of The Red Death.’ What was ill fitting was the heady scent from the balcony, not of dope or patchouli but cheese and onion crisps, guess someone had the munchies.
Introduced by a chap in a cloak and plenty of dry ice I settled back to worship the fuzz and there was plenty of that over the next hour, only problem was where were the actual songs, lurking in there somewhere but never particularly obvious? It was seething down the front, The Wiz do not exactly play very often, from memory the last time in London was with Daemonia back in 2005. Justin Oborn and Liz Buckingham were very much centre of attention and commanded the ritual from stage front, a bassist lurked at the side never really stepping into the limelight as songs such as ‘The Satanic Rites Of Drugula’ and ‘Witchcraft Today’ rose up from the tomb and bit like an ethereal acid trip. This was not so much about rampant psychedelia though, with everything thick and thrust high in the mix this was an exorcise (sic) in noise terrorism as well and it was as though it was designed to pretty much finish us off. In that fashion the beer was taking its toll and whilst nodding along and trancing out to things a humongous passage of feedback taking up a good part of the set was enough to have many heading for the bar and one for the road. Luckily remembering that all important vinyl from the cloakroom before shuffling to the tube station one thing was certain, it had been a great and varied day and a worthy celebration to the legacy of Rise Above.
www.myspace.com/electricwizarddorsetdoom
www.riseaboverecords.com
Pete Woods
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