Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats and Blood Ceremony, The Globe, Cardiff
When I saw that two of the occult rock scene's biggest acts were going to be touring together in Cardiff, I dosed myself up to combat the man-flu and went down to The Globe on a cold Thursday night for a night of witchery and retroism, in the hope that the headliners didn't destroy an amp much like they did last time they came to the capital.
With only two acts playing it was a later start than usual but just as Canadian four piece Blood Ceremony (7) took to the stage The Globe was rammed, I'd guess almost sold out, although that could be due to the impromptu seating area that seemed to appear on the balcony. Fronted by the catsuited Alia O'Brien this band looked as if they stepped right off the set of a Dario Argento movie all beards and bare feet. Their songs pairs witchcraft with acid-induced paranoia driven by the head throbbing heaviness of Sean Kennedy, Lucas Gadke and Michael Carrillo who play analogue instruments with analogue amps as O'Brien has her work cut out for her with hammond organs, vocals and flute but moves between all of them effortlessly, playing tracks from their three albums including a new unreleased song, there was very little movement on stage mainly due to the organ but when every head is nodding very few would have noticed. A band I've wanted to see for a while now (mainly due to my love of the 1970's) Blood Ceremony were exactly what I expected the only major flaw was that I wish the vocals were higher in the mix as I struggled to hear them (maybe it was man-flu). An ideal opener for this evening of occult heaviness it got the room swaying like a black magic conjuring.
With a switchover complete Kevin Starrs' band of greasy longhairs made their way to the stage for the headline show of the paranoia inciting Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats (8) who drew mainly upon their most recent album Wasteland for the set of discordant, fuzz-driven doom that saw the riffs swirl as the backing screen displayed the blood red logo mixed with some 60's B-Movies and other assorted nasties on Mt. Abraxas which swished into Mind Crawler as they moved through the set the songs were down tuned retro Sabbath worshiping affairs with the occult ramped up to the full as the four members of the band locked in to colossal heavy grooves that saw the band moving through Death's Door, Shockwave City, Pusher Man and I'll Cut You Down to a wild crowd and ferocious headbanging. Uncle Acid are a primal force on stage very little chit chat between the songs meant it was almost a sermon of noise from the opening bars until the closing clatter, possibly the loudest gig in The Globe (except for THAT Dragonforce gig) it's music to dislodge a brain cells and the huddled masses left with a few less than they walked in with. Proto-metal evil at it's finest Uncle Acid are a dirty little thrill, best enjoyed with chemical help (in my case cold and flu), don't pass them by next time.
When I saw that two of the occult rock scene's biggest acts were going to be touring together in Cardiff, I dosed myself up to combat the man-flu and went down to The Globe on a cold Thursday night for a night of witchery and retroism, in the hope that the headliners didn't destroy an amp much like they did last time they came to the capital.
With only two acts playing it was a later start than usual but just as Canadian four piece Blood Ceremony (7) took to the stage The Globe was rammed, I'd guess almost sold out, although that could be due to the impromptu seating area that seemed to appear on the balcony. Fronted by the catsuited Alia O'Brien this band looked as if they stepped right off the set of a Dario Argento movie all beards and bare feet. Their songs pairs witchcraft with acid-induced paranoia driven by the head throbbing heaviness of Sean Kennedy, Lucas Gadke and Michael Carrillo who play analogue instruments with analogue amps as O'Brien has her work cut out for her with hammond organs, vocals and flute but moves between all of them effortlessly, playing tracks from their three albums including a new unreleased song, there was very little movement on stage mainly due to the organ but when every head is nodding very few would have noticed. A band I've wanted to see for a while now (mainly due to my love of the 1970's) Blood Ceremony were exactly what I expected the only major flaw was that I wish the vocals were higher in the mix as I struggled to hear them (maybe it was man-flu). An ideal opener for this evening of occult heaviness it got the room swaying like a black magic conjuring.
With a switchover complete Kevin Starrs' band of greasy longhairs made their way to the stage for the headline show of the paranoia inciting Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats (8) who drew mainly upon their most recent album Wasteland for the set of discordant, fuzz-driven doom that saw the riffs swirl as the backing screen displayed the blood red logo mixed with some 60's B-Movies and other assorted nasties on Mt. Abraxas which swished into Mind Crawler as they moved through the set the songs were down tuned retro Sabbath worshiping affairs with the occult ramped up to the full as the four members of the band locked in to colossal heavy grooves that saw the band moving through Death's Door, Shockwave City, Pusher Man and I'll Cut You Down to a wild crowd and ferocious headbanging. Uncle Acid are a primal force on stage very little chit chat between the songs meant it was almost a sermon of noise from the opening bars until the closing clatter, possibly the loudest gig in The Globe (except for THAT Dragonforce gig) it's music to dislodge a brain cells and the huddled masses left with a few less than they walked in with. Proto-metal evil at it's finest Uncle Acid are a dirty little thrill, best enjoyed with chemical help (in my case cold and flu), don't pass them by next time.