DVNE / MADE OF TEETH
Matt Pike’s metal warriors take a hatchet to Highbury
SHIRTS BEING OPTIONAL is clearly going to be a running theme tonight; MADE OF TEETH open, their bassist opting for this route as the power trio deliver a half hour of noise rock. There are occasional moments where they switch into more serpentine, math rock segments and it draws in much of the steady stream of punters gradually filling up the venue. Where Made Of Teeth deal in unbridled chaos, DVNE weave transcendent beauty into their expansive, progressive post-metal. Pulling entirely from last year’s phenomenal album Etemen Ænka, even without moving or speaking more than 20 words between songs, they’re utterly spellbinding. Cuts like Court Of The Matriarch and Omega Severer both seethe and soar in equal measure, their impact magnified tenfold from their recorded counterparts. Though they’re flanked by two arguably harder-hitting bands, the quintet steal the show with ease with a near-perfect mix and truly mesmerising performance.
Not only shirtless, but a living legend to boot, is Matt Pike. Not content to lead the legendary Sleep, he’s found a second wind with his own whiskeyand weed-drenched speed metal outfit HIGH ON FIRE, who’ve packed the Garage to the gills. While he’s perhaps flown a little too close to the sun of late, seemingly embracing the conspiracy theories he’s sung about for years, some of them allegedly rooted in the thinking of conspiracy theorist David Icke, he steers well clear of putting his foot in it tonight. Instead, it’s a raucous, sweatdrenched performance that does away with subtlety to instead swing for the fences.
Opening with a crushing Turk before launching into the only song in the set from latest album Electric Messiah, Spewn From The Earth, it’s electrifying and Matt is on top form as he growls his way through. There are no showy stage tricks but it’s not necessary with a band like High On Fire; they know what the wild crowd want and they deliver. Carcosa’s sludgy heft gives way to an unnecessary drum solo to open Fertile Green, but there’s no loss of energy and they close on the classic Snakes For The Divine. Again, there’s precious little said to the crowd, but there is no need. Instead, High On Fire demonstrate when it comes to making heavy fucking metal, there aren’t many who can touch them.
JAWBOX
THE ELECTRIC BALLROOM, LONDON
Having a gig delayed two years by Covid is a pain in the arse, but for post-hardcore legends Jawbox it seems like water off a duck’s back considering they were last headlining here in ’94. Contemporaries of Washington DC punk royalty like Fugazi, Hoover and Shudder To Think, they helped shape a decade of underground music with a sound that mixed abrasive crunch and wonky, shouldn’t
