BELL WITCH

PANTHEIST THE DOME, LONDON

UK’s PANtheISt open with a lugubrious sound somewhere between Unholy and the Peaceville Three. Candles, drapes and robes add to vibe that’s both penitent and wrathful, but if it drips ceremony the band’s keyboard-shrouded funeral doom is also rather familiar. While Pantheist are playing it safe, Seattle duo Bell WItch are out on an ambitious limb, turning the mosh-friendly Dome into a seated auditorium and coupling their lauded Mirror Reaper LP with a visual display that cuts archive footage of tarantulas, pig foetuses and natural disasters with scenes from Herk Harvey’s Carnival Of Souls. The imagery provides a mesmeric foil to the weighty progressive doom, the experience serving as a punishingly sorrowful paean to the passing of founding member Adrian Guerra. The band lurk in the shadows and let their bleak art take centre stage, the only performative concession coming when they’re joined by guest vocalist Erik Moggridge, who looks like he’d stab you for touching his Harley but possesses a fragile voice that could front a glum 90s slowcore act. Erik’s vocals blend effortlessly with the band’s soul-splintering woe, resulting in a perineum-tingling set that’s memorable for far more than its ability to get hundreds of beer-swilling metalheads to headbang meditatively in their seats.