LIVE REVIEW: Conjurer @ The Exchange, Bristol

It’s the peak of spooky season, Goth Christmas, the day before All Saint’s Day, and yet the scariest thing about Halloween 2022 in Bristol this year is the weather; it’s been hammering it down on and off all day and as doors open at The Exchange for CONJURER it shows no signs of letting up; however, for those who are here (and there’s plenty, somehow this is the only sold out show of the tour so far), whether in costume or not, a night of stunning metal awaits.

It’s kicked off by local act SUGAR HORSE, who clearly don’t take themselves too seriously given their social media handles range from sugarhorse.are.awful on Instagram to sugarhorseruinedmybirthday on Facebook, but their downtrodden sound, which goes from hefty doom to expansive post-metal, is both a fitting one for Halloween and also the conditions outside, conjuring up a beautiful pathetic fallacy, particularly during the song Gutted that featured both Kate Davies from PUPIL SLICER and Dan Nightingale from tonight’s headliners on the Waterloo Teeth EP that dropped just days before this show. The low end is a bit much at times, with the bass extremely noticeable through the vibrations emitting from the wooden floor, but SUGAR HORSE make a good example of themselves on their homecoming show; if they’re ever in a position to add a smoke machine for added atmosphere to their set, it would be killer.

Rating: 7/10

TUSKAR are from Milton Keynes and are no strangers to this part of the country, having produced a storming set at ArcTanGent two months prior. Promoting debut album Matriarch, which garnered great reviews all round when it dropped in February, the two piece begin with a hypnotic mix of looped riffs and drum patterns all while the lights focus on the audience for an unsettling opening. However, when they get going, they’re anything but unsettling; for a duo, the noise they make is gigantic, fusing the sludge of MASTODON with the complexity of BARONESS and throwing in a dash for changing time signatures for good measure as Halcyon Guilt and Toegrinder enchant a full room of punters. Guitarist Tom Dimmock is extremely adept at what he does, his hands moving like lightning up and down his fretboard to prove there’s no added backing tracks or gimmicks to his riffs, but drummer/vocalist Tyler Hodges is simply captivating, a hugely expressive individual that leads from the front and side through half an hour of excellent music. If you’ve not checked TUSKAR out before, now is definitely the time.

Rating: 8/10

“It’s spooky season, bitches!” announces Dan Nightingale as CONJURER take to the stage. Flying high off the back of sophomore album Páthos and their major label debut, they’re proving to be one of the hottest acts on the live circuit right now, but also ones not afraid to throw a surprise in here and there; they do not open with It Dwells, the first track from the latest record tonight, instead embracing Halloween’s ‘trick or treat’ reputation by blazing through a partial cover of METALLICA‘s Frantic; even if you’re not a fan of St. Anger – and there are plenty out there – when it’s played like this, there’s no way it’s falling into ‘trick’ territory.

Seamlessly transitioning into It Dwells and then Rot sees the packed room reach fever pitch and the pits open up when the sludge-drenched opening of Choke goes into overdrive; it’s not a secret to those who have witnessed CONJURER before now, but they’re so visceral and furious on stage that they’re already getting close to the point of not needing to make a statement when they walk out, because their reputation already precedes them. This is summed up no better than Hollow – as is customary, Dan steps away from the mic and bellows the refrain out into the venue with nothing to amplify his voice; he’s as savage as ever, but now the words are sung back at him with gusto, proof that these four men from Rugby are becoming one of the country’s best loved heavy bands.

From hereon in, there’s absolutely no way CONJURER aren’t triumphing tonight – Scorn is a soul-crushing experience, Retch is already a crowd favourite and, by the time they’ve left The Exchange in metaphorical rubble with a closing double of Cracks In The Pyre and Hadal, even the inclement weather can’t spoil the collective mood; metalheads love the sound of carnage in the evening.

Rating: 9/10

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

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