LIVE REVIEW: SikTh @ The Globe, Cardiff
Contrary to the words of Benjamin Franklin, there are in fact three certainties in life: death, taxes and Wales having terrible weather. Summer has well and truly departed from Cardiff tonight, the rain lashing down across the city and, pardon the pun, dampening the mood around The Globe before SIKTH tonight. Inside however, the atmosphere remains buoyant, one final hurrah of the weekend to delay the inevitable return to work the next morning.
Kicking off tonight are local boys MALUM SKY, who triumphed in the South Wales leg of Metal 2 The Masses in 2017 and subsequently went on to play Bloodstock Festival that summer. They start slowly, their post-metal drifting round the venue to only a handful of punters but by the time they play the likes of Diatribe and Year of the Rat, the audience in front of them has swelled considerably and they seem far more at ease, vocalist Ben Honebone able to entrance with a combination of dance moves and chilling screeches. They do a fine job of opening procedures this evening and the potential is most definitely there; the proof of their staying power will come when their debut album drops before the end of the year.
Rating: 6/10
Hype is never a bad thing unless you can’t live up to it, but LOATHE are no way falling short of the praise they’re getting. Flanked by old-school TV’s that provide a great visual element to their show, the quintet from Liverpool have an abundance of energy and charisma and will go very far indeed. Whether it’s the drive of Stigmata or the frenzy of Rest; In Violence, they already understand the power of a live performance and deliver on all fronts. Even more impressively is that the visuals perfectly sync with Kadeem France and Eric Bickerstaffe’s vocals, adding an entire new layer onto their show. Given that they’re doing this for half hour supporting sets, God knows what they could achieve at their own show.
Rating: 8/10
It’s been a good number of years since SIKTH last brought a headliner show to Wales and they’re certainly wanting to make up for lost time with a setlist that spans their entire career. Right from the off they’re having technical issues though, Mikee Goodman unable to hear a thing in his earpieces and expressing as much to the back, but at least the music isn’t suffering. Again it takes a short while to get going, opening Philistine Philosophies not giving the explosion they probably wanted, but The Aura cranks the momentum up a notch and the touchpaper is finally lit with a ferocious rendition of Hold My Finger, the crowd now warmed up properly and giving everything for the next hour. The momentum does drop slightly in the middle, Way Beyond the Fond Old River feeling cumbersome and laboured but the double punch of Riddles of Humanity and the Welsh debut of Summer Rain do much to rectify things and continue SIKTH onto a strong finish; there’s even time for Mikee to give us the spoken word When Will the Forest Speak…? to much amusement. As the set draws to a close with Part of the Friction and a bombastic Bland Street Bloom, the question about why SIKTH were never bigger reigns supreme in the air, but at least the rain doesn’t feel as bad.
Rating: 8/10
Check out our photo gallery from the night’s action in Cardiff from Serena Hill Photography:
