LIVE REVIEW: Will Haven @ The Underworld, London

With a fair few incredible records from the early 00s turning 20 just as the COVID-19 pandemic was keeping everyone indoors, it feels like we might’ve missed some of the opportunities to celebrate them as we perhaps normally would’ve done. WILL HAVEN aren’t about to let that happen though; taking to The Underworld in Camden just days ahead of a long overdue appearance at Download Festival, they’re here to mark, albeit slightly late, the 20th anniversary of arguably their finest record in Carpe Diem by playing it in full, and they’ve brought along three excellent UK up and comers to flesh out an impressively stacked bill.

First up this evening are London/Bristol-based trio ROW OF ASHES – a band whose placing on this bill makes just about the most sense ever given their propensity for utterly cacophonous noisy sludge metal. The room isn’t too full as they take to the stage, but the band have no problems grabbing the attention of all present with the gargantuan opening salvo of Jerk and Bleaching Heat. Heads bang as bassist/vocalist Chris Wilson spews bile into the microphone, with the band leaning heavily on their excellent brand new full-length – also called Bleaching Heat – throughout. Tracks like Contraband and The Wreck And The Mill boast moments of more trance-like hypnotism amid the band’s excoriating noise, and by the time the set rolls to a strobe-laden close with the devastating In Summation it’s safe to say these guys have definitely earned themselves a few new fans.

Rating: 8/10

Next up are the instrumental sludge duo WALL, and if you like riffs you’ll have no complaints here. The Oxford-based brothers deal in their fair share of pure SABBATH-isms, but they’re also perhaps surprisingly thrashy for this bill. For the most part, guitarist Ryan Cole‘s tone is massive enough to compensate for the absence of bass – thanks largely to an impressive pedal board – but if there is one complaint it’s that a few vocals wouldn’t go amiss here. Everything the band are doing is good though, you just get the sense that a couple of barks or hooks to pull you a little further in could go a long way. That said, there’s still plenty to like here, and as the band close things out with a cover of KARMA TO BURN‘s Nineteen followed by Legion from their debut self-titled EP it’s hard not to get sucked into the gleeful riffing of it all.

Rating: 7/10

There are a lot more bodies in the room by the time Cambridge trio THE GREY take to stage, and these soon turn into a sea of banging heads as the band’s towering riffs come thundering out of moments of post-metal-esque ebb and flow. There’s more motion on stage too, with guitarist Charlie Gration and bassist Andy Price both throwing themselves around a fair bit in front of drummer Steve Moore and his glow-in-the-dark headband. 

These guys have no problem holding the crowd’s attention; they’re a tight, dynamic unit, and they leave little space between their lengthy compositions for anyone to lose interest. Surely the highlight comes with the penultimate track of the set, which Price informs us is about loss and silence and how “the only cure for that is to talk to each other“. As the track builds to a staggering conclusion, we see the bassist bellowing into the crowd, his words inaudible above the noise of the band as though he’s screaming into the void. 

Rating: 8/10

A strong showing all round so far, but as THE GREY remind us towards the end of their set “we’re all passengers on this journey and the ship is being steered by WILL HAVEN.” The Underworld is absolutely packed as the Sacramento noise metal legends step up, and so it should be; Carpe Diem is nothing short of a classic album, and the chance to see it performed in full isn’t likely to come around often.

To be honest, it should be illegal to play two songs as incendiary as Saga and Carpe Diem back to back, but with the band going through the album cover to cover that’s exactly what happens here. Kicking off the set with these two absolute ragers after the brief intro of S.H.R., the energy in the crowd is predictably and significantly heightened. It stays that way throughout too, with frontman Grady Avenell cutting a mesmeric figure as the band behind him deliver groove after sweltering groove. They keep the chit-chat to a minimum, and the momentum remains high even across the various experimental electronics-driven breaks (some of which may have had a sensible little trim, although we didn’t have a stop-watch to hand to check).

As a result, the set seems to fly by in the blink of an eye, with the band sounding if anything even heavier and more crushing than they do on the record. Initially winding down with album closer Moving To Montana, they aren’t done quite yet, returning to deliver a three-track encore comprising WHVN album opener Fresno, a deeper cut from that same record in End Summary, and a staggering final bludgeoning of When The Walls Close In from 2011’s Voir Dire. Mission well and truly accomplished, everyone leaves tonight having hopefully discovered a few more bright lights from the UK scene, and even more importantly with a reminder of the sheer power of WILL HAVEN left fresh in their minds.

Rating: 9/10

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in London from Karolina Janikunaite here: 

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