Text and Photos: Abi Coulson/Darktones Photography

It’s only been a few days since a sludge heavy sweaty night at the Fleece and tonight’s line-up has even more to offer on this sticky Sunday evening. Hardcore outfit MADE OF TEETH are the first band on but unfortunately a bit too early.

Northerners from Leeds, Yorkshire BONGCAULDRON kick off proceedings with their brew of stoner sludge. Epic, echoey, bellowing vocals soar over stoner heavy riffs, pounding drums and rumbling basslines. To this reviewer it’s like a hazy concoction of Mastodon and Sleep with a touch of hardcore mixed in for good measure and also at times reminiscent of Conan, which is no great surprise as their latest album was recorded by Chris Fielding of Skyhammer Studios.  They flow between styles effortlessly and get the audience ferociously head banging and revved up for a feast of sludge.

BONGCAULDRON

BEGGAR from London/Bristol pummel ears with bluesy stoner riffs. Toying with the tempo by speeding up to fast and aggressive hardcore infused vocals and then slowing it right down (to the satisfaction of a stoner audience) to a psychedelic desert rock vibe with the occasional doomy breakdown. It’s a great juxtaposition of raucous and furious, chilled and groovy blend and which really makes sense adds more variety to compliment the hardcore/stoner/sludgy line up.

BEGGAR

DVNE (pronounced Dune) from Edinburgh have been making a fair few waves in the doom scene and after seeing them demolish the Fleece it’s easy to see why. They are second band of the night to seamlessly merge together a diverse array of genres, from progressive sludge with a light BARONESS sometimes heavier MASTODON feel. Fabulously relentless pummelling drums and soaring clean vocals of ‘The Crimson Path’ give way to the blackened doom of ‘Thirst’ and ‘Rite of Seven Mourning’s’. Much like INTER ARMA, DVNE take the audience on an inter-galactic journey of epic proportions through a sometimes utopic sometimes dystopic landscape with a surprising twist behind every corner. The climbing and descending between delicate and intricate then brutal and pounding drawn out riffs and guitar solos and minimal vocals is astounding and when delivered almost anonymously behind a darkened hazy red cloud of smoke is truly emotive, crushing, mesmerising and constantly spine chilling. These guys are an absolute must to check out and destined for greatness in the not too distant future. This reviewers favourite band of the night.

DVNE

It’s this reviewer’s third time seeing EYEHATEGOD this year and they are consistently still on great form. The air is rife with nihilism and not giving a fuck the perfect atmosphere for these legends. This time it is a real treat to see the sludge-fathers in a such an intimate venue which is quickly filled with frantic microphone waving Mike’s pissed off snarling hatred. Bower’s viscous riffs come thick and fast and there is not a moment he doesn’t have a cheeky cigarette wedged between his lips. That’s the beauty of this place, everyone is inebriated in some way or another despite having work the next day. It’s slow and low and angry as fuck.

EYEHATEGOD

EYEHATEGOD

July 30 – The Queen – Wilmington, DE
Aug. 01 – The Mill & Mine – Knoxville, TN
Aug. 02 – The Fillmore – Charlotte, NC
Aug. 03 – Phase 2 – Lynchburg, VA
Aug. 04 – Earth Rocker Fest – Inwood, WV
Aug. 05 – The NorVA – Norfolk, VA
Aug. 06 – Basement Transmissions – Erie, PA
Aug. 07 – Rebel – Toronto, Ontario
Aug. 08 – M Telus – Montreal, Quebec
Aug. 09 – Sherman Theater – Stroudsburg, PA
Aug. 10 – The Paramount – Huntington, NY
Aug. 11 – Starland Ballroom – Sayreville, NJ
Aug. 12 – TBA – TBA
Aug. 16 – Rickshaw – Vancouver, Canada
Aug. 17 – Tony V’s – Everett, WA
Aug. 18 – Psycho Las Vegas – Las Vegas, NV