SVALBARD

ITHACA/MORROW West Country ragers leave their mark on North London IT’S AN EvENINg

BOSTON MUSIC ROOM, LONDON

of ‘Holy Roar-core’ down at the Boston Music Room on this Saturday night, with three of the four acts performing this evening labelmates on the hugely respected UK label. Although there is definitely a lot of imagination that permeates throughout self-professed emo-crust, it feels frustratingly loose and rough around the edges. The cello and violin parts are certainly an interesting touch in a type of music that usually ignores subtleties, but they’re drowned out by the fairly one-note, dual vocal attack of the band. Harness the ideas and there might be something interesting to come in the future.

With a genuinely excellent debut album finally released to the general public, there is a buzz in the room before take to the stage. It’s a great thing to see a large group of people hyped to see a band in their infancy, but, unfortunately for everyone, the sound in the venue does its very best to ruin the excitement by petulantly robbing us of any vocals whatsoever. You can see, and eventually hear, the frustration in vocalist Djamila Azzouz as she politely asks for patience whilst trying to sort the gremlins. When the band do finally kick into gear, their Gallowsmeets-Dillinger hybrid sounds fucking monstrous. They’ll be back, no doubt about it.

The sound seems to have finally sorted itself out by the time arrive, and when it does get sorted out, good god is it sorted out! The Bristolian quartet sound as sharp as a scalpel and as raw and sandpaper in all of the right places. Guitarist and vocalist Serena Cherry is on unbelievable form, cracking her neck back and forth as she peels out venomous blackened hardcore riffs before stepping up to the microphone and unleashing all of her inner torment. The rest of the band around her are scintillatingly tight, and when she expresses herself between songs, such as before a savage

the distain in her voice is oh so real. With the songs from last year’s album obvious standouts, it feels as if we are very much on the cusp of adding Svalbard to the list of young, world-class metal bands that this country has recently produced.