Origin
RINGS OF SATURN UNDERWORLD, LONDON
US TECH-DEATH SUPREMOS ASSAULT THE SENSES
IF YOU’RE IMPRESSED by sheer technicality, then you might get a kick out of RINGS OF SATURN [4] and their self-proclaimed aliencore, but it’s hard to see much more appeal than that. The trio are a man down, making them visually lopsided and lacking any kind of personality onstage, which is especially weird when you consider how eccentric their music is. When vocalist Ian Bearer leaves the stage to let his bandmates endlessly noodle, Rings Of Saturn’s set goes from uneventful to tediously patience testing.
And, frankly, if you are going to base your appeal entirely on your technical chops, it’s best not to try to compete with ORIGIN [7] as you do so. The New Yorkers have spent the last 15 years making some of the most dizzying tech-death imaginable, and tonight they blast through as much of their back catalogue as their blurring limbs can manage, concentrating particularly on the 10th anniversary of the Antithesis album. It’s testament to the quality of their material that you often find yourself banging your head along with them, as much as purely just marvelling at the quality of the musicians up there. And as much as we’re keen to state the how big a part each bandmember plays, with vocalist Jason Keyser’s manic bug-eyed stare complementing his high-end screeching brilliantly, it’s nigh-on impossible to take your eyes off of bassist Mike Flores, a man who has one of the most unique styles in music. Enjoyable? Quite. Impressive? Massively.