LIVE REVIEW: Sumac @ The Exchange, Bristol

Not content with hammering the Irish and completing the Grand Slam, Wales have added insult to injury and sent their weather to England as well. It’s absolutely lashing it down in Bristol tonight, with nothing more than a warm pint and a collapse against Scotland to comfort a number of despondent souls across the city. Down at The Exchange, however, there’s a more vibrant atmosphere; a sold out show for SUMAC is approaching and a chance for several punters to get out of the damp and forget the worries of the outside world.

If they can’t forget them, there’s also the option of having them forcibly blown away, which is what Japanese outfit ENDON seem intent on doing. They start ten minutes late due to technical issues but make up for that by bringing an energetic, chaotic and quite ferocious performance that makes you question PENDULUM’s age old claim that ‘Blood Sugar’ is the sonic recreation of the end of the world; it might well be this lot. To many, the CONVERGE-inspired guitars, thunderous drums and terrifying vocals from Taichi Nagura would be considered a tuneless racket, but it all works together in a harmony spiked with broken glass and sandpaper that takes you out of your comfort zone without the slightest consideration. By the time they finish, many people aren’t quite sure what they’ve quite witnessed, but they all agree that it’s a thumping spectacle.

Rating: 8/10

By contrast, Canadian crust-punks BAPTISTS are a little more straightforward, although in the context of their overall sound that’s used very loosely. They also suffer tech issues, bassist Shawn Hawryluk commenting that “what can go wrong has gone wrong”, but their rabid set is akin to several quick jabs by Anthony Joshua, each one packed with furious savagery. They are a perfect example of DIY punk done brilliantly, emitting a real sense that they want to plough as much as they can into their stage time before defiantly walking off with two middle fingers high in the air. There’s a lot of crowd appreciation too – this isn’t the night for moshing, but from the front to the back there are heads banging, bodies moving and a rousing appreciation for every song that passes. Vocalist Andrew Drury is on fine form, at times making the vein in his neck bulge so much you get genuinely concerned it might break through and shower everyone with blood. Forty minutes on stage gives time for a good dozen songs or so, and whilst BAPTISTS are very much the rebellious child of the three on tour, they’ve gone and killed it without question.

Rating: 8/10

For Nick Yacyshyn, drummer with the aforementioned, there’s no rush to pack the kit up as he’s also behind it for SUMAC, whose ranks also boast RUSSIAN CIRCLES bassist Nick Cook and former ISIS frontman Aaron Turner. In a complete reversal to BAPTISTS, SUMAC play four songs in seventy minutes, three of which are from last year’s Love In Shadow album. Beginning with Attis’ Blade, the trio immediately begin to give The Exchange’s PA system a real run for its money as the distortion and doom laden melancholy takes over, Cook’s bass lines travelling through the venue like shockwaves from an explosion. Follow up Arcing Silver has a steadier opening but is no less captivating, especially when it explodes into a cacophony of excellence. Post-metal is by no means the quickest of genres, demonstrated perfectly by the length of the songs on display, but SUMAC put so much energy into their set that’s it all too easy to be swept along at a remarkable rate.

Third song The Task is the longest played tonight, clocking in at a monstrous 21-and-a-half minutes, and the immediate opening is so crushing it’s almost the musical equivalent of Antonin Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty movement; unabashed, in your face and on the brink of being overwhelming. But it never reaches that singularity, and as such every person in the room embraces the majesty of it all, a notion returned by Turner with a big smile and a real sense that he is having an absolute blast. This is one of those moments when seeing something live in the flesh transcends reality and becomes an out-of-body experience, and it’s impossible to overlook the sheer brilliance of it all. After an extended interlude of feedback, the set closes with Image of Control, the only song present less than ten minutes in length and a suitably brutal finale. SUMAC might not be a household name right now, but like the tree they take their name from, they’re about to spring up everywhere and send waves through the post-metal scene with aplomb.

Rating: 9/10

Check out our photo gallery from the night’s action in Bristol from Darktones Photography here: