Almost let this one slip under the radar! Thankfully I actually managed to pull myself together and get it written up before my memory was too faded.
Though on the day itself, I wouldn't have been telling you much of what happened as two of my bestest buddies and spent most of day preceding the show visiting the Deya brewery alongside a few of Cheltenham's most appealing watering holes.
Many delightful beers were drunk, some delicious food was ingested and we finally arrived from our odyssey at The Frog And Fiddle which had yet more treats for the taste buds and of course more importantly the ears.
I've been to Frog And Fiddle before, however it was for professional wrestling, so this was my first gig at the venue and while the high stage is tightly packed into one end of the room, complete with a big screen on the back to show graphics for the bands. the sound is perfect, coming through the speakers into the cavernous room and it's imposing wooden beams.
It's a long and thin venue running the length of the outside bar, which offers seats and refuge from the loud noises inside the gig area. In short more venues should take the time and effort that Frog & Fiddle do as it's a pleasure to watch bands there.
A particular pleasure when the bands are this good. Presented by promoters Road To Masochist, getting the evening started were Midlands based Pluto, who combine ear bleeding molten sludge with blackened post-metal blasts, thick basslines come with tremolo picking that shifts into heavy grooves.
Squashed onto the stage there was little room to move but their singer commanded the stage with his presence and voice as the rest of the band locked in for this melting pot of genres that created a seam that linked them to the other, more well known I'd wager bands on the bill, but Pluto for my money stood their ground as an opener to get the heads nodding.
Next up though we're two bands we had seen before, as if in One For Sorrow Plymouth replay it was Manchester band Cairns who took tongue stage yet. Their frontman bemoaning, with tongue-in-cheek, that he was missing football to come and play for Cheltenham, as they dove into their atmospheric post black metal ferocity.
Never a band without a crowd, they seem to bring a dedicated fanbase with them wherever they play and that does give this Manchester band a cocksure attitude that bleeds into how sickly they're able to storm through their set, playing their 2022 EP Keening in full alongside a brand new song that seems to be of the same high quality musicals offence that Cairns are known for.
The fire was stoked by Cairns ready for the headliners to take to the stage, and as with every show from Sheffield band Ba'al tissues need to be at the ready as their style of blackened post metal is always emotionally cathartic no matter how many times you experience it. That's the key word for Ba'al they're a band you experience, rather than listen to, or enjoy, each of their songs if fuelled by trauma, rage, sadness and the search for closure.
These emotions wrought through the intense vocals of Joe Stamps, who lets the music and lyrics overwhelm him. Though it would be just a man screaming without the layered heaviness of guitarists Nick Gosling and Chris Mole, drummer Luke Rutter and bassist Richard Spencer who weave the intricacies of Ba'al's blackened post metal menagerie.
The bulk of their set coming from their tremendous The Fine Line Between Heaven And Here album, with one from Ellipsism and another from Soft Eyes sprinkled in-between, but as always with Ba'al the whole set is mesmerising, drawing you into in with their introspective aggression that closed a brilliant night of music after a great away day for team MoM.
Cheltenham will be on our gig list from now on as the whole city is buzzing with good times and their music scene is very strong. 10/10
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