CONJURER
TORPOR/ATTAN
THE BLACK HEART, LONDON
Crushing UK newcomers prove their might
some of the
UK’s grittiest metal upstarts have invaded Camden’s Black Heart for a showcase that’s determined to test the venue’s foundations. The frenzied grind of ATTAN [8] lays waste to the diminutive bar venue, and TORPOR’S [7] towering doom builds it back up again, brick by punishing brick, getting the evening off to a varied, if cranium-crunching, start. Headliners CONJURER [9] waste no time in proving their prowess. Where their supports channel fast-paced fury and sickening sludge respectively, Conjurer whip it all together on debut album Mire, creating an ever-mutating, hypnotising breadth of sound and fury. Bassist Connor Marshall’s whip-fast windmills are flanked by the steadfast pillars of dual vocalist and guitarists Dan Nightingale and Brady Deeprose as they rocket through Choke. No one puts a toe out of line, until Dan breaks cover for Hollow’s pained refrain, ditching his microphone to stand atop the monitors and scream down to the devotees gathered at the front. “We’re gonna do the pop single now,” he smirks, before launching into Retch’s Herculean double-time thrash. As a venue-wide pit threatens to tear down the walls, that smirk becomes a Pennywise grin. Clean vocals briefly stick their head above the parapet during the Deafheaven-esque dynamics of Thankless, but otherwise tonight is a captivating, crushing introduction to one of British music’s heaviest hopes – one that could (and should) be playing venues 10 times this size before the year is out.