Review By Paul Taggart Photos By Barry Douglas
Tonight’s entertainment is two bands that offer a mix of guitar laced electronica and sledgehammer aggression, coupled with a stage confidence that would put Kiss to shame. Kuro are the support act for Combrichrist, a brash alternative outfit, who plough a musical furrow that reminds me of the very late 90s. Long forgotten bands like Godhead, Videodrone and Society One that mixed heavy, but not quite nu-metal riffs, along with industrial or electronic textures.
Kuro are like that, with the occasional Linkin Park detour and they even splice in a brief snippet of the Prodigy’s “Voodoo People”. Highlights were the prickly, stuttering Korn like “Doom Scroll” and the insistent post-modern groove of ‘”Wake Up And Choose Violence”, both from their recent ep “Social Venality” . They promise a later headliner show in 2024.
From the moment Combichrist frontman Andy LaPlegua and the rest of the band stepped onto the stage through a haze of dry ice and flashing lights, it was clear that this show was going to be a fucking intense experience. Looking like some sort of post-apocalyptic punk rocker, they hit the stage with an energy that was like a brick in the face. The opening track, “Doom Planet” set the tone for the rest of the evening,a melodic synth intro giving way to grinding raw power of heavy guitar and hard-hitting pained vocals. “Wolves Eating Wolves” was next, an angry rant bolted to a huge Prong type riff. Both are from their 2024 album “CMBCRST”. A huge portion of tonight’s set is drawn from this album.
Combrichrist’s music is basic aggression, raw vocals, heavy music. Little nuance or departure from this in the live setting, merely banger, after banger. Hey, it works for hardcore bands, doesn’t it? Angry music for angry twenty-four hour party people. The setlist was a well-crafted journey through Combichrist’s discography, seamlessly blending a few more electronic beat based tracks from their earlier works, such as “Never Surrender” with the newer guitar heavier material.
Half way through, the bassist switches to synth, bringing up a more beats heavy angle to their tunes, where the guitars are present but are not as dominant, prompting a sea of bodies to thrash and grind in sync with the likes of the almost anthemic and atmospheric “Violence Solves Everything” and “Modern Demon”.
Towards the end, the bass returns and the guitars are cranked up again. At the end the bassist is in the circle pit, still playing his bass. He resembles Thor. I half expected lightning to strike us all at the final notes of the show. It didn’t but there was plenty of thunder at this show tonight
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