VALIS ABLAZE DERANGE/XERO
229 THE VENUE, LONDON UK tech maestros go to battle against sound gremlins
FYI 229, having your eardrums mashed and lacerated by the world’s loudest PA system isn’t fun. A very buoyant XERO, probably oblivious to the onset of migraines on the other side of the speakers, have drawn the short straw by playing first, but within the dirge they offer something curious. There are enough techy riffs to whet the appetite for the upcoming bands but their grungy subtones and Steff’s elongated occult-esque notes yearns for a ritualistic candle-lit venue to bring their darker side to life.
Derange’s in-your-face rebellion takes a very different route to raising spirits. “London, can you hear me?!” screams vocalist Cat Pereira. Yes, we can, and people in Milton Keynes probably can too if someone doesn’t turn the noise down. With the painful and distorted sound continuing the band have no hope in hell of letting songs like their mammoth new drop, Higher, breathe. On record their intuitive connection with the crowd and subtle throwback to nu metal makes their vitriolic pop a raucous delight; tonight, those solidifying choruses tinged with metallic complexity lose their spark, even if the band give 100%.
Alas, it’s the same story for VALIS ABLAZE, the most techy of this lineup and therefore even more reliant on a sharp sound system. Tom Moore plays an eight-string guitar (oh god, does that mean more noise?) and the speed of his fingers implies he’s playing something impressive but what we hear is quite different while the drums sound like a bin being chucked down a stairwell. The dynamic twinkles and crushes of Frequency, a quite pleasant nod to Tesseract, let this band shine but their encore – a repeat of Hollow Heart – is another Pyrrhic victory for a bunch of puffing and grinning bands who have no idea how 229 drove all their hard work into a sonic cesspit. What a shame.
HOLLY WRIGHT