Slo Burn

BLOOD CEREMONY/ STEAK Garage, London

The Garage’s fancy revamp doesn’t appear to have air conditioning, turning the venue into a tropical sweatbox. Kicking off just after doors open, London’s STEAK [7] deal in laidback, fuzzed-out grooves that hark back to the mid-90s, with a good dash of both Kyuss and Nebula. Canada’s BLOOD CEREMONY [8] summon the spirits of Arthur Machen and Lord Dunsany via the sounds of Coven and Jethro Tull. Alia O’Brien’s voice soars through an Amicus/ Hammer Horror-esque world and even technical gremlins fail to ground their magical psych sounds. Utterly enthralling, as ever. Not many people can lay claim to the voice of a genre, but who can think of stoner rock and not hear John Garcia’s soulful rasp?

Amusing The Amazing was a killer EP but not even SLO BURN [7] can stretch four songs over almost 90 minutes. A set that features more demo tracks than official releases flags a little in the heat at times, but set closer Pilot The Dune remains one of the greatest songs of the 90s.