Words by Andrew Rawlinson
Photos by Magda Wrzeszcz
Tonight’s adventure has an interesting sense of a family get together for me as the three bands on the bill all have had connections between each other in the last couple of years.
- Wolves Like Us and Junius have previously toured together.
- Junius and Long Distance Calling have both supported Katatonia on recent tours.
- Long Distance Calling have played this very venue supporting Maybeshewill.
So a triple win of a line up to begin with but the main purpose is for Long Distance Calling to continue promoting the rather marvellous 2013 album The Flood Inside.
Opening proceedings to an already sizeable and appreciative crowd is Norwegian troupe Wolves Like Us. My previous encounter found them was underpowered by the vocalist being struck by illness but happily tonight they are on fine form and power through their set of infectious post-hardcore with tracks form their new album Black Soul Choir sitting comfortably with the Late Love material.
Wolves Like Us
Also peddling new material are American atmospheric doom merchants Junius whose crushingly heavy yet finely crafted melancholic odes have always been brilliant in my previous encounters and tonight is no exception. Intriguingly throwing in a curveball from the start, as they DON’T open with their best song ‘Betray The Grave’ (in fact I’m not sure they even played it!) but delve into their back catalogue to open with ‘Hiding Knives’ form their self- titled album. It’s a slow start but the performance gathers substantial momentum as reaches its climax with three tracks from the new EP Days of the Fallen Sun weaving perfectly into their existing repertoire especially the stunning dual harmonies of ‘Forging The Cleansing Meteor’.
Junius
Another superb effort that would put to shame most bands in the unfortunate position to follow them…
“Tell me why did you come to our planet?”
“YOUR Planet?”
“Yes, this is OUR planet.”
…But most bands are not Long Distance Calling
“No… It is not!”
These German (mostly) instrumentalists have over the last few years honed their live performance into a fine art and once again they hit the ground running with ‘Into The Black Wide Open’ and proceed to run through an hour of extremely high quality post metal RIFFAGE, as well as technical ability what amplifies the performance above similar bands and provides a connection with the assembled crowd is their undoubted visible enthusiasm in playing live.
Although promoting their new album the set list covers the last three albums equally and one of my favourite tracks ‘Black Paper Planes’ sounds absolutely colossal!
The keyboardist performs vocal duties on ‘Inside The Flood’ and ‘The Man Within’ from behind his keyboards rather than front and centre (most likely due to stage restrictions) and we are even treated to a brand new song (simply called Song “Keyboardin” on the setlist), which sounds like Slayer doesn’t mess with the winning formula.
Amusingly the majority of the heavy RIFF sections throughout the set were accompanied by frantic strobes which mixed with the bright neon green venue sign made for a neat psychedelic side effect!
So yes a thoroughly fantastic evening showcasing top level post-metal all around and worth missing Dozer and Lowrider further up the road!
