Chaos Theory Music, the London-based promoters, are celebrating fifteen years of curating “new music for open minds” by bringing together a suitably eclectic selection of bands to fill the sacred subterranean chambers of the Camden Underworld on this unseasonably hot winter day. It’s the second day of their big annual bash, which kicked off last weekend at Signature Brew in Walthamstow, bringing together the very best in underground music, and challenging the boundaries of genre whilst providing safe, welcoming, and inclusive spaces in which all music lovers can find fun and friendship.
Despite this positive ethos, however, those looking to join an alien sax cult should still choose carefully. Ensure you find Codex Serafini, the friendly one from Brighton with the red robes, the deep bass grooves, and the eccentric helium vocals, and not someone scary like, say the doom-laden ritualists Five The Hierophant. Well, you’d probably be fine with them too actually, but more on that later.
Codex Serafini. Photo: Estie Joy Photography
I’ve seen Codex a few times now and they never fail to engage me with the vibrant, kaleidoscopic intensity of their spacious, heavy psychedelia. Combining vocals, bass, drums and saxophone today (I think they usually have one guitar) Codex’s sound is somewhat minimal compared with other cosmic sonic explorers who might rely on broad, sweeping keys and/or huge sustained guitar effects to create an appropriately expansive sound. Often the bass is keeping us grounded with cool, calm, sinuous lines, while the sax blows up from sultry and cheeky to free-jazz-wild. The vocals are soaring over and around, while the drums take us from soft and steady, to pacey and urgent, to frantic and erratic. Codex take their cues from the gamut of great music from the 1960s and ‘70s, whilst bringing something bizarre and wonderful to the mix that is entirely their own. This is music to become immersed in whilst dancing in a mad dopamine rush.
Following this outer space voyage, Shooting Daggers bring us right back down to earth with their politicized, punk energy. A non-binary trio from London, hot off a Kerrang! Interview last year, Daggers waste no time in demonstrating how effective righteous anger, direct lyrics, and power chords can be at delivering a message. Several messages actually – all about empowerment for women and queer people, dedicating your life to what you believe is right, and – receiving the biggest cheer – “Free-free-Pa-le-stine!”
Shooting Daggers. Photo: Estie Joy Photography
Shooting Daggers are a hurtling ball of momentum, crafting memorable, catchy bangers from a modest set of sonic components. The energy is almost entirely unrelenting. Almost, as we’re made to sit down at one point, to listen to a moving, heavy ballad – ‘Love & Rage’ I think – from the sticky floor; and it’s my favourite part of the show, as I’m thinking of the best parts of Hole and The Distillers.
“I’m so happy,” shouts someone in a Korn battle jacket beside me: and they’re right.
It’s late afternoon by this point and the Underworld is filling up nicely. The great thing about Chaos Theory shows is how friendly everyone is. While I often end up chatting to someone at the Underworld, stood at this very spot at the front awaiting the next band, it’s so much easier today: you just know they’ll be nice at a Chaos Theory show. Today’s impromptu conversation seems to segue into the start of our second sax cult for today: Five The Hierophant.
Five The Hierophant. Photo: Estie Joy Photography
Perfectly positioned on the same bill as Codex Serafini, the robes, the saxophone and Thee Pedals Ov Doome are in position as these five woe-bringers from London resume the psych-laden grooves. Taking to the stage with two giant bronze horns, amidst swathes of burning sage, Five the Hierophant create a huge, immersive sound from guitars, violin bows, bells, and percussion instruments. They also utilize two drummers, but not to get proggy with polyrhythms and the like; instead, Hierophant achieve huge, layered drum parts by adding additional tribal toms alongside a standard kit, struck with mallets. If the doomish chords didn’t plunge us low enough into seductive, brass-tickled despair already, that huge drum sound achieves the final plunge. The whole set is perfectly structured from start to finish, never losing momentum, even during the quieter, ambient sections. And, like Codex Serafini, the ritual trappings are very much the decorative shroud laid over a sacred sonic statue, rather than a gimmick. Five The Hierophant are sensual, heavy in a warm, enveloping way, and utterly absorbing.
Underdark. Photo: Estie Joy Photography
Maybe we can say that Five The Hierophant play post-doom metal, whatever that means to you; but it seems clear that the post-black metal label applies to Underdark. I last caught Underdark playing what must have been one of their biggest shows to date at the ArcTanGent festival in Bristol last year, so was not surprised to find them on very fine form indeed. Vocalist Abi is a charismatic force, leaning into the crowd to growl with passion and personality as her band produce expansive, punk-tinged extreme metal: the lyrical themes and samples may touch on the bleakest aspects of our neo-liberal British wasteland, but the experience of being right in the middle of it, smothering you down in the pit, is pure cathartic joy. The tracks from latest album Managed Decline sound especially good, tightening the delivery and refining the core elements of their sound, as well as adding some subtly progressive, and death metal-tinged flourishes
And, once again, Abi drags the mic down to join us, meeting our eyes with a look somewhere between fury and respect. It works to increase the sense of intimacy and sincerity for the rest of the show, and the crowd response is so warm that Abi has genuine tears in her eyes by the time she’s thanking us at the end.
The atmosphere can only get more intimate and more rapturous as Bristolian, post-hardcore heroes Svalbard take to the stage. As a band well-loved in the UK and as old friends of Chaos Theory, singer/guitarist Serena received an especially warm welcome; but she manages to be even more effusive about having the opportunity to play at the Underworld once again: “This is a night I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” she says towards the end, and she means every word. Given that the band have toured world-wide of late, with big-hitters like Cult of Luna and Enslaved, and including several headlining dates in Australia, it’s especially touching that they are so keen to be here tonight. I caught them supporting Alcest earlier in the year, so it’s great that they play a full headline set tonight, weaving recent material from The Weight of the Mask with older songs, including the super aggressive rarity ‘Greyscale’ to close.
Svalbard. Photo: Estie Joy Photography
I can’t say how many times I’ve seen Svalbard now – at least seven, I think – and they’ve never performed with anything less than total passion and feeling. They always win the crowd over, no matter where they’re playing, and tonight is no exception; but tonight, at the Chaos Theory big bash, there is no shred of a doubt that the feelings of love are entirely mutual.
Svalbard. Photo: Estie Joy Photography
I can’t find the right words to summarize my day without sounding trite. Over fifteen years, Chaos Theory have put on a swathe of the most eclectic, the most innovative, the most welcoming, and the most vital, musical events that it’s possible to see – and this annual bash encapsulated that ethos perfectly. Same time next year?
Photo: Estie Joy Photography
