EsoWith a massive 200 words to write for this review and camera at home I found myself somewhat at a loose end thinking that there was going to be so much more to say about tonight’s show upstairs at the Garage. Sod it, can always review it twice! People had on the whole turned out early and as Aphonic Threnody took to the stage there was already a healthy crowd to witness them. This is a multinational band comprising of members of Pantheist, Absentia Lunae, Urna and Dea Marica amongst others. With one release a ‘First Funeral’ so far we were to get a taste of them for the first time in London tonight. Things started in a slow ragged fashion with vocalist Roberto’s barnacle weathered tones penetrating through the ice. The atmosphere was both sombre and cold as though the onset of winter had followed through the doors and seeped into the pores of the venue. Songs such as Hollow displayed some underlying gothic guitar structures and the mesmerising melody glistened taking me off to another realm. Funereal, chilly and expansive it was sublime and dreamy and totally involving as its tenebrous fronds gradually took us over. Emotion, atmosphere and depth along with a leaden gravity surged ever forward, enrapturing us and urging us to nod along as it propelled us to the gloomy depths of despair. There was only time for a few epic numbers and ‘Life Calls Death’ complete with sampled cello was the final maudlin song. The drummer exploded into life hitting things like an octopus and the keyboards also suddenly seemed to burst to life leaving us with an otherworldly and heady conclusion. If you turned up late you missed out here.

The versatile bill was next taken to much a more fevered pace by the heathen cleave of Wodensthrone. Things were just as epic though and as they brought the thunder there was no choice but to hold on tight and gallop off into glory ride with them. Immediately driven into a neck snapping fervour their brand of in the face layered black metal was one hell of a force to contend with. The place was now pretty rammed and everyone seemed to be infected by this formidable call to arms. Instrumentally it was a deluge and at times this made it difficult for the vocals to fully get through in the mix but the antagonistic bark behind it did best to win the battle against the scything musical fury. Slower grandiose passages formed and mesmerised building with a tribal call to arms drum beat, there was a sense of history here and it was passionate and expansive as the first number seemed to go ever on and after a while it made me wonder if they were just going to play just the one track. A pause finally followed by discordant guitars summoned ‘The Great Darkness’ which glistened in with malevolence before suddenly going right for the throat. This was totally engrossing stuff and music that retold forgotten legends in more ways than one.  The bands had plenty of time to play long sets here tonight which is the way it should be when they are of this calibre and we were rewarded with ‘The Name Of The Wind’ having us stomping away as it’s chant decimated the venue complete with a vocal spot from Greg of Esoteric. Excellent.

It has been a little while since we last caught Fen and expectation was high as their gloomy guitar sound skeletally oozed out the speakers with a bit of a flamenco edge about it. There were some odd effects here and the slow post whatever you want to call it sound formulated with rich Nephilim etched grandeur completely enrapturing us. It twisted and turned down ever darker paths going into muscle bound storming parts designed to flatten. ‘As Buried Spirits Stir’ really had the melody up front and going back to the earlier Malediction Fields went down really well with the crowd here. The way songs went from full on battering blackness to moments of sublime Indie-psyche guitar noodling was handled expertly and we suddenly found ourselves violently taken out of gazing intricacies by full on violent flurries. Newer numbers like ‘Consequence’ had rough and raw twin vocals attacking and a humungous pummelling sound from the drum department which threatened to split the firmament. The familiar tones of ‘Exiles Journey’ were followed by a deathly roar which was clinically delivered and absolutely ferocious. We were reminded that today was Remembrance Sunday and a fitting epitaph to the show was ‘The Gales Scream Of Loss’ from way back to the band’s first EP release ‘Ancient Sorrow.’ It certainly gave us something to reflect upon not least of which was the fact we had just witnessed another remarkable set.

Some people left before Esoteric came on, others were saying it was going to be their first experience at seeing the band. I am always intrigued by seeing what sort of reaction the group get but found myself completely transfixed at the front of the stage for the majority of their set, rooted to the spot and unable to move. I have referred to Esoteric as the scariest band on the planet and have seen them countless times in the past but every show seems different and tonight’s on reflection seemed a lighter one rather than atmospherically bringing all out terror and fear. Mellow ambience starts this trip as the keyboard player who is off the stage at the front starts off with the opening parts to ‘Disconsolate’ from latest album ‘Paragon Of Dissonance’ There is no huge urgency as we are slowly eased in. I am all too aware the band will only have at most four numbers over their hour and a bit set, they do not play short songs in the slightest. A bank of effects pedals lines the floor and when Greg Chandler finally roars in his vocals are cavernous, stadium etched, reverb ridden howls. It’s a somewhat mellow start though as this ponderous number takes form but I am all too aware a storm is coming and when it hits it’s going to be ruinous.

Popping back to The Maniacal Vale for ‘Beneath This Face’ we get a real exercise in dream laden funeral doom complete with gibbering vocals and a huge sense of gravity as this beast literally rises from the depths. If the old ones are hungry this may well be an offering to appease, if they came to claim us I may not have noticed as I am so spaced out by this. Still it was just an appetizer in effect as next it was Circle, a 20 minute beast to go and do a full cleansing sweep. The riff is one that they build upon and it keeps constructing around us to giddy heights. We sway on point of collapse and everything comes crushing down like so much mangled wreckage. There are swirls from intergalactic dimensions as we greet the final frontier with brains expanding without any need for drugs to take us there. Guitars swirl, vocals roar and it seems like everything in the cosmos is aligning. It’s difficult to describe unless you witness this yourself and snapping out of it and realising that Monday morning is around the corner is no easy task. Taking a step back I see the venue is a fair bit emptier than for the last couple of bands, not everyone could take this trip which was a shame but for those of us that did it really hit the peak!

Review Pete Woods

Photos with thanks © Antony Roberts.

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