Concorde2, 30th June

The Concorde2 was buzzing with people to see Swedish metallers Cult of Luna. It looked like there were a few generations of metal fans there too and I spoke to some fans of the band who informed me that COL are “fucking epic” and “fucking heavy’. They would say that wouldn’t they? But there was a sense of anticipation and I was genuinely looking forward to seeing them live.

I caught British support act Devil Sold His Soul who seemed to impress everyone; they’ve already got the major heavy metal music press in the UK such as Kerrang! and Terrorizer jumping on their bandwagon, not to mention Q Magazine. Devil Sold His Soul is a must-see for any metal fan seeking something different; imagine a heavy metal version of Scottish rockers Mogwai. Good stuff.

On the other hand, Cult of Luna were disappointing. After a lengthy wait, they eventually came on in unspectacular fashion and carried on from there. Their set was repetitive, unimaginative and self indulgent. You knew when the song was going to drop to a melody that goes on for two minutes only to come straight back into the ‘heavy’ riff that went on for five minutes at the start of the song. I was thinking about what the fan told me earlier; to me it was too contrived, and it did appeared that COL sat around and listened to the Neurosis’ album ‘Through Silver and Blood’ then decided to start a band.

I wasn’t the only one bored; looking around the venue I could see a scores of people with deadpan faces and I wondered why they came at all. Yes, there were a group of loyal fans at the front, but it didn’t seem to me that everyone was having a great time. I walked out of the venue thinking: “what’s happened to metal?’ This night belonged to Devil Sold His Soul. Judging by their songs, I think they’re also tired of generic shite metal that plagues us at the moment.

Words by Mo Mostowfi
Photograph by Sarah Hadland