LIVE REVIEW: Loathe @ The Asylum, Birmingham
A waltz through the winter wonderland of Birmingham’s Frankfurt Christmas Market is a dazzling display of grandeur. Just beyond it, down a series of hills, is an industrial wasteland stripped of Christmas colours in favour of old-school grey. At its heart sits The Asylum, where LOATHE are finally taking 2020’s critically-acclaimed I Let It In And It Took Everything on it’s well-deserved victory lap – in its entirety. Essentially a warehouse, this cavernous venue is the perfect place for the liverpudlian quartet’s alchemy.
Warming up the worms for the early birds is MODERN ERROR. Fronted by Zak Pinchin – a long-term associate of the LOATHE story – there’s a swelling sense of hype around the duo. On record, MODERN ERROR are a masterful, audio-visual experience; tonight, live, they’re a poor man’s THIRTY SECONDS TO MARS. Kind of. Closer Only One pushes and pulls between tectonic slabs of pulsing industrial synths and anthemic mid-noughties emo, as if HEALTH were fronted by Jared Leto. Elsewhere, they toy with that classic American-emo vibe, sitting somewhere between MCR, AFI and THE USED.
It’s something they filter out into their set-up, too. Decked out in all black, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d stumbled into a Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge-era MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE set, and their static, standstill movement sans visuals fails to set their sound off like the fireworks it should. It’s not to say their songbook isn’t strong; MODERN ERROR are easily one of British alternative music’s most exciting acts right now – it’s just that tonight they’re missing what makes their music so vital and vibrant.
Rating: 5/10
On paper, Belgium shoegazers SLOW CRUSH are the odd ones out. In reality, they’re the much-needed calm before LOATHE’s storm. And a mesmerising one at that.
Shimmering basslines, glittering riffs, and frenetic drumming drown vocalist and bassist Isa Holliday’s honey-soaked harmonies for an ethereal experience. Any band attempting to replicate the compellingly complex tones shoegaze commands live is at risk of it all getting lost in the wrong mix, yet tonight they sound more visceral than ever.
Their set dabbles between both their albums, yet it’s cuts from this year’s criminally under-the-radar Hush that hit harder. Every note you hear feels like waves crashing over you, as if you’re being reborn in their emotional waters. In their heavier moments, they snap you out of this transcendence in order to headbang your way through their thrashy evaporations of sound.
Glancing around, you can tell there’s a handful of concert-goers who can’t buy in. They’ve come to a LOATHE show, and despite the headliners own diversions into shoegaze, they want the pit-starting heavy stuff. For those who can suspend their disbelief, SLOW CRUSH are a formidable live act and the perfect way to ease you into I Let It In And It Took Everything.
Rating: 9/10
Like MODERN ERROR before them, Liverpool’s LOATHE are a band who command you to buy-in to their audio-visual world. They create music that’s meant to be played from start-to-finish, not tossed up and torn apart for live settings. Unlike MODERN ERROR, LOATHE knows how to tie it all together in a bow befitting one of Britain’s most visceral, vibrant and vital live acts.
LOATHE are masters of pace. Hearing I Let It In And It Took Everything in full tonight feels at times like they made this album to be played in full. It takes you on the twists and turns Hollywood blockbusters bring you, lulling you into a false sense of security. From the cinematic warmth of ambient opener Theme into the battering ram beats and firing squad synths of Aggressive Evolution, all the way to the atmospheric beauty of Is It Really You dive-bombing into the earth-destroying rot of Gored, they are masters of crafting moments.
It’s important to note this is the first time they’re touring without founding member and rhythm guitarist Connor Sweeney. Any reservations about a loss to LOATHE’s chaotic layers are duly wiped away; the quartet remain as ferocious, fierce and technically on-fire as ever.
It even feels like they’ve found a command of the stage together too, everyone slipping into their own spots comfortably, whether it’s bassist Feisal El-Khazragi appearing possessed by his own basslines, guitarist and vocalist Erik Bickerstaffe reacting to every note like an out-of-body experience, or vocalist Kadeem France switching effortlessly between head-banging madness and club-worthy dancing.
Kadeem, in many ways, is the master of ceremonies. LOATHE, ever-committed to presenting their art as it’s intended to be heard, leaves little room for words. They don’t break the illusion the album paints, letting each instrumental and interlude go uninterrupted. However, Kadeem does all he can to thank the audience, from symbolic thank-you signs to throwing himself at the barrier. And his on-stage presence, as has always been the case, is infectious; at times, over half the room is embroiled in mosh-pit madness.
Closing their set with a palette-cleansing, aggro-inducing encore of White Hot and It’s Yours, the Liverpudlians prove they are by far and large the future of British alternative music. Now, where’s album number three, please?
Rating: 10/10
Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in Birmingham from Damian John Photo here:
