There are gigs that you watch and there are gigs that you are a part of. Whenever a set of bands tour together with similar values, it's always a much more interesting prospect.
Especially when those bands stage their shows in venues that also have similar ideologies, it means there's no conflict, no alienation of the audience, just a collection of beings together fights for the same thing, enjoying the same thing and shouting loudly and proudly about the same things.
This tour was definitely one that needed to be experienced, one that you had to be a part of rather than passively listen too and watch. Playing a venue like Strange Brew which is an art space that is proudly and defiantly a safe space for people who are queer, refugees, or anyone who is a minority.
The colour clash of neon artwork, rustic bar fittings and flags from across the LGBTQ+ spectrum and many that were of Palestine and other cities facing conflict, was exactly the venue that these three bands needed to showcase their music and their ideals.
Setting up the evening was emo/post-hardcore duo Death Goals (8), a band who are extremely forthright in their queer identity and their political stance, all of their music is based around their beliefs and their experiences as two queer people and their call outs to anyone experiencing anything similar.
Calling for unity between those who identify as queer and those who don't, preaching tolerance and acceptance through fierce, short, blasts of emo/hardcore/punk fury much to the delight of the crowd and the bar staff too.
With pointed words towards those in power, certain leaders in the Middle East and a visceral musical assault Death Goals, went down like a house on fire in Bristol, setting the tone for the evening, they were a incendiary start to this musical experience.
Up next though no words were needed as Pijn (7) took to the stage doused in yellow light they began their rhythmic instrumental ritual and shifted the tone from antagonistic aggression to shamanic expansion, showcasing that diversity on a line up is never a bad thing.
A way to reset the audience after Death Goals in your face, dual vocal assault, Pijn don't do vocals at all allowing their instruments to do the taking, playing with dynamics and space, as post metal meandering leans heavily into jams where even if they change a song you wouldn't always notice due the lack of talking between them.
It was if this was just one sonic journey and the entire sold out crowd moved their heads in unison to Pijn's rhythmic hypnosis. A perfect way to lose yourself after the firebrand first band, the two supports combined, were reflective of the scope of the headliners.
It was on to the headliners, touring in support of their, has to be and AOTY record, Unself, the mighty Conjurer (10) have been flourishing into one of the best UK bands around over the past few years. Apocalyptically heavy, Conjurer are equally all-consuming and crushing alongside atmospheric and melodic, the shifts between the two never jarring just one segueing into the other and back again.
This has become even more prominent on Unself as they have released their most emotional and personal record yet. Detailing vocalist/guitarist Dani Nightingale's autism diagnosis at 31 combined with the realisation they were non-binary, Unself is a record that redefines the band members and the band themselves.
Brady Deeprose (vocals/guitar) made a joke that if you hadn't heard Unself you'd be bored by their set as they basically played the entire album plus a few from Mire and Pathos their previous two albums, however how could you ever be bored of watching Conjurer lay waste to a stage.
Beginning with the title track of the new album, Dani sings the old folk song be by themself before the rest of the band crash into the massive overture that leads into All Apart and There Is No Warmth. With these two you can understand how dynamic the new songs are Noah See's obliteration of his drum kit, divining the pace of these tracks. Locked down with Conor Marshall's filthy bass, standing in the middle of Dani and Brady, he is forever hair whipping and filling the low end with organ moving rumble.
Brady and Dani share the guitar legwork and the vocals, switching from growls to screams to cleans as they unleash more visceral older material such as Retch, Choke and Rot which punctuates the new stuff. However it was the new songs I was interested in and they hold up so well live, powerful and affecting, you can feel that Conjurer have shifted up a gear.
The musical interplay between light and shade is stronger here, carrying more ferocity and aggression but also more introspection and catharsis. Culminating in The Searing Glow and The World Is Not My Own from that ends the Unself part of the show, you can tell that much like Mastodon or Neurosis, the combination of sludge and post metal that Conjurer have always done so well is now elevated into something more complex.
No longer preoccupied with creating music just to level cities, Conjurer once this musical kaiju now bring more humanity to their sound, establishing a collective where artist and audience experience the music in the same way. It makes them imperious and nigh-on unstoppable from here on out.
Editor's note: Having Lay Down by the underrated Priestess as the song playing before you arrive on stage made me extremely happy, though I was probably the only one singing along!
Up next though no words were needed as Pijn (7) took to the stage doused in yellow light they began their rhythmic instrumental ritual and shifted the tone from antagonistic aggression to shamanic expansion, showcasing that diversity on a line up is never a bad thing.
A way to reset the audience after Death Goals in your face, dual vocal assault, Pijn don't do vocals at all allowing their instruments to do the taking, playing with dynamics and space, as post metal meandering leans heavily into jams where even if they change a song you wouldn't always notice due the lack of talking between them.
It was if this was just one sonic journey and the entire sold out crowd moved their heads in unison to Pijn's rhythmic hypnosis. A perfect way to lose yourself after the firebrand first band, the two supports combined, were reflective of the scope of the headliners.
It was on to the headliners, touring in support of their, has to be and AOTY record, Unself, the mighty Conjurer (10) have been flourishing into one of the best UK bands around over the past few years. Apocalyptically heavy, Conjurer are equally all-consuming and crushing alongside atmospheric and melodic, the shifts between the two never jarring just one segueing into the other and back again.
This has become even more prominent on Unself as they have released their most emotional and personal record yet. Detailing vocalist/guitarist Dani Nightingale's autism diagnosis at 31 combined with the realisation they were non-binary, Unself is a record that redefines the band members and the band themselves.
Brady Deeprose (vocals/guitar) made a joke that if you hadn't heard Unself you'd be bored by their set as they basically played the entire album plus a few from Mire and Pathos their previous two albums, however how could you ever be bored of watching Conjurer lay waste to a stage.
Beginning with the title track of the new album, Dani sings the old folk song be by themself before the rest of the band crash into the massive overture that leads into All Apart and There Is No Warmth. With these two you can understand how dynamic the new songs are Noah See's obliteration of his drum kit, divining the pace of these tracks. Locked down with Conor Marshall's filthy bass, standing in the middle of Dani and Brady, he is forever hair whipping and filling the low end with organ moving rumble.
Brady and Dani share the guitar legwork and the vocals, switching from growls to screams to cleans as they unleash more visceral older material such as Retch, Choke and Rot which punctuates the new stuff. However it was the new songs I was interested in and they hold up so well live, powerful and affecting, you can feel that Conjurer have shifted up a gear.
The musical interplay between light and shade is stronger here, carrying more ferocity and aggression but also more introspection and catharsis. Culminating in The Searing Glow and The World Is Not My Own from that ends the Unself part of the show, you can tell that much like Mastodon or Neurosis, the combination of sludge and post metal that Conjurer have always done so well is now elevated into something more complex.
No longer preoccupied with creating music just to level cities, Conjurer once this musical kaiju now bring more humanity to their sound, establishing a collective where artist and audience experience the music in the same way. It makes them imperious and nigh-on unstoppable from here on out.
Editor's note: Having Lay Down by the underrated Priestess as the song playing before you arrive on stage made me extremely happy, though I was probably the only one singing along!
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