A deep gloom spread across London one late spring evening and residents of Kentish Town felt shivers creeping up their spines like spiders intent on spinning webs of fear in their discontent minds. Little known to those uninitiated, the HMV Forum was being infiltrated by the dirtiest, doomiest bands known to human ears. This was the night that Electric Wizard came to town.
Purson began the evening by transporting the venue back to the 1960s, flares and platforms adorned the band who appeared to bleed nostalgia and acid flashbacks. Purson deliver layers of psychedelic groove tinged with prog rock, smeared with undertones of doom that always seems on the verge of exploding. The beautiful Rosalie Cunningham boasts a set of gorgeous vocals which simply weren’t awarded justice by the sound system. Purson are quite similar to Jex Thoth but drive a harder groove and even produce some juicy guitar riffs. This is a band who have a lot of potential and have their fingers in a lot of genres, Purson are worth keeping an eye on.
Next up came Witchsorrow, they sound like a doom band, play like a doom band and look like one too. Unsurprisingly Witchsorrow sing about witchcraft and cover some aspects of its bloody history. So if you like bog standard doom you’ll probably like Witchsorrow, but there aren’t the most inventive of live bands if a dramatic performance is what you are looking for.
Electric Wizard have grown into giants of their genre, filling increasingly larger rooms with the fug of weed and brain-shattering volumes of bass. In spite of the smoking ban and the illegality of weed, the glowing ends of spliffs littered the audience and the plumes of smoke rising from the crowd appeared to go unnoticed by security. A five screen projector and television screen set up threw psychedelic spirals, screaming faces, melting skulls and naked bodies onto the stage and audience while vintage BDSM porn and satanic rituals played behind the band.
Bass curled around every ear drum in the venue like a pyroclastic cloud of smoke, rattling bodies, drinks and belt buckles in a sonic earthquake. The first trembling chords of Supercoven heralded a gig that would soon turn into one big hypnotic trip, punctuated by uncomfortable scenes of violence, sexual ritual and at one point even Nazi insignia. Electric Wizard need to be seen and heard, seeing them live is a sensory holiday that will mess with your head, fuck with your ears and shatter your bones.
Setlist:
Supercoven
The Nightchild
Dopethrone
Return Trip
Black Mass
Legalise Drugs and Murder
Witchcult Today
Satanic Rites of Drugula
The Chosen Few
Funeralopolis
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO7VP34n2Ps[/youtube]
