Tuesday, June 19 2007 @ 11:04 AM BST
Author: Barney. Views: 227
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Sunn0)) and Chrome Hoof Queen Elizabeth Hall June 18th 2007
Tonight seemed to be a gathering of the tribes as outside were many heads, milling around. The more middle aged heads in their psychedelic t-shirts were here to see Roky Erikkson of the 13th Floor Elevators expand their minds one more time ... while the more new aged psychedelics, a mixture of avant garde types and death metal t-shirts, were here to experience Sunn0)) and have theirs exploded!
Jarvis, the compere, started the proceedings, and climed off the stage to join us in our seats. Chrome Hoof appear, all in silver space capes, filling the stage like the Sun Ra Arkestra, with the funk of Parliament and the foolery of Gong, and the intensity of Amon Duul they welcome us onboard ... the music shifts from funky disco, to prog rock, with space jazz and floating orchestrations to extreme metal. All with a sense of humour, but not just a joke. The strings entertain us with a beautiful piece before the two players are 'strangled' by the go-go dancers, and the guitars launch in to some full on death metal. We have someone sweeping up the stage around them, and a ten foot puppet taking the stage towards the end. This is a show grand proportions, well worth catching when they land in your area
After the interval, the hall fills with smoke, I can only see about four
rows in front of me now, and it is dark. I hear whispers,
indecipherable whispers that scare me, these begin to layer up into
monastic chants, and the chants begat moaning, and the drawn out krang
of guitars start to resonate, my chest is vibrating, and then the fx
start. I make out a man in a robe writhing on stage, moaning and
groaning and screaming, while the pounding fx make me feel like I am in
Notre Dame Cathedrral while being pummelled by mortar fire.
I make out five figures on stage, two on guitars, and two at keyboards,
all in hooded robes. Like the evil twin of Tangerine Dream, Sunn0)) are
exponents of catastrophic ambient 'music'. It would be filed under
'Heavy Metal' but you certainly would see them featured on the Seven
Ages of Rock. The pounding and the chaos ensues, I feel like Captain
Willard in Apocalypse Now when he's at the bridge looking for the
C.O. ... it's chaos, noisy, frightening, but all around me the people
that stay are mesmerized; some have bailed out, or at least sought
refuge at the bar.
Finally, the performance comes full circle, and the pounding fades, the
guitars calm and slow, and the screaming drops to moaning, then the
demonic whispers return, and the monk that has been leading the rite is
reduced to a foetal ball on the floor. The lights dim, and when they
return, all five, robed performers are lying flat on the stage..... it
has finished and I am pleased, not that it is over, but they completed
it, solidly for an hour and a half.
This is not for the faint hearted, they took me to some very scary
places, if Dr Who needs a new adversary, look no further than Chrome
Hoof or Sunn0)).
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Meltdown at The Southbank.
