LIVE REVIEW: Vile Creature @ DIY Space For London, London

While the surrounds of the DIY Space for London might be oppressively corporate, nestled as it is in a formless industrial estate, the music emanating from it tonight is anything but. The more-charming-than-their-name-implies South London Scum have put together yet another stellar mixed bill, boasting all sorts of horrible noisemakers. That this includes Ontarian doom duo VILE CREATURE on their first UK tour is something to truly whet the appetite of any who worship at the temple of bodacious riff.

Before an intimidatingly towering henge of amplifiers London post-metal collective SŪRYA take to the stage. Well, partly, considering three quarters of the band set up on the dancefloor in front of it. Projections of strife, natural processes, collapsing buildings and sacred geometry frame their churning, cinematic onslaught. Throbbing bass and a kick drum that pulses like a heartbeat propel them through the ebb and flow of guitar dynamics, soaring tremolo inexorably building into moments of spiralling lightness and restraint. Mostly instrumental, letting their music breathe and speak for itself, a three way vocal round of barked, screeched and howled ‘what have we done’ leaves a lasting impression.

Rating: 7/10

It’s rare to see systematic face demolition trio TORPOR this early on in the evening, a testament to the regard the underground scene holds them in (they’re usually first support, if not headlining). Regardless, their seismic blend of doom, sludge and post metal is awe inspiring whatever time you’re subjected to it. Incense weaves through the darkened room, Lauren Mason’s crushing bass filth and Simon Mason’s hammering drum onslaught underpinning Jon Taylor’s shifting guitar dynamics and roaring vocals. Stringing their tracks together with roiling noisescapes, they’re a slickly professional, well-oiled machine, with a confidence and faultlessness born of familiarity with one another and their material. Despite a set that feels all too short, with every performance the anticipation of their next release heightens keenly.

Rating: 8/10

Speaking of releases, Nottingham gloom duo BISMUTH have put out one of the strongest albums of 2018 with their latest sonic endurance test, The Slow Dying Of The Great Barrier Reef. Their set tonight is a transcendent experience akin to being hurled bodily through hell. Taking shape initially as a languid noisescape, shimmering cymbals crash like breakers as layers of bass reverb begin to swell, giving way to the occasional maddening scrape or rumble, conjured from a pedal board that would give any gear fiend no little cause for envy. Tanya Byrne’s ethereal, reverb drenched vocals haunt these early moments as the track builds and builds like an unstoppable tide. When it finally breaks it’s nearly unbearable, peaking and troughing with hypnotic, tectonic shifts, Byrne’s ungodly screeches a world away from her earlier vocals. Throughout, Joe Rawlings keeps pace, either with a restrained and considered approach or by leathering his cavernous sounding kit. By the end of their set, Byrne is on the floor, foetal and screaming in a rage so deep one can’t help but empathise. A truly aweing set.

Rating: 9/10

Tonight truly belongs to the duos, with VILE CREATURE taking the stage bathed in blood red light. As with BISMUTH, they move through areas of lilting lightness and trenchant darkness. Tentative, cymbal heavy drums add creeping tension onto ringing, breathy guitar layers that crawl through a wall of feedback, mutating into pulsing chugs. Guitarist KW and drummer Vic trade scalded vocals, throat-shredding shrieks doing battle with guttural grunts. Their churning, grinding grooves are akin to granite grinding on granite, a pulverising force of nature, especially evident in the towering edifice of Forest, Subsists As A Tomb. Feedback pierces the murk, lancing uncomfortable before being harnessed into yet another huge slab of chord. Their set is intercut with samples, breaking up the onslaught of merciless, desolate doom that threatens to open a sinkhole and swallow the venue hole. At once bleakly exhausting and upliftingly cathartic, the duo bring the evening to a close in triumphant style, with a crushing set that might have a few folks re-thinking the Canadian reputation for niceness.

Rating: 8/10