Steering Fail / Comply or Die / Sinner Fails / BEW
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Kicking things off in decidedly unconventional fashion, BEW (Barry鈥檚 Electric Workshop) AKA Barry Cullen, is a forward-thinking noisenik whose shifting walls of analogue noise border on sought-after attacks. On a one-man experimental crusade via an array of homemade pedals, his partiality to droning waves and caustic racket, though no means mind-expandingly innovative in scope or vision, reveals a commendable and brazen take on improvisational live sound. We were promised noise and, for all intents and purposes, we鈥檝e readily received it from the fore.
Hats donned, self-professed alt-rock three-piece Sinner Falls take things intro more structured territory with their impassioned and alchemical force. With frontman Lorcan Falls鈥 ad hoc soliloquies and wah-wah infested guitar solos, it鈥檚 a raging set marked by the likes of 鈥楽ilence鈥 (a track melding 鈥榃ar Pigs鈥 and 鈥極rion鈥), 鈥渁 song about our horrible future鈥, 鈥楥entrifugal Bumble-Puppy鈥, and the frantic riffdom of 鈥楰ill Me First鈥, a highlight that sees drummer David Donnelly鈥檚 drive come to the fore. A rare triad of talent and decency, Sinner Falls keep growing in leaps and bounds.
Easily the most established band on the bill, Comply Or Die and their progressive post-punk shtick is comfortably cushioned between predecessors in Black Flag, Bad Brains and Nirvana. But despite the fact their latest album, Depths, embodies real crushing conviction and weight, it all feels a bit riff-by-numbers from their three-piece tonight, ultimately contributing to a pervading sense of apathy from both band and crowd alike. Make no mistake: CoD are capable of great things, and while their snappy set of menacing dirgedom pricks a few ears, it sadly feels a bit flat throughout.
Of the seemingly countless Belfast-based 鈥渁lt-rock three-pieces鈥 making the rounds at the minute, Steering Fail stand firm aside the likes of Chocolate Love Factory and Abandcalledboy in being endearing conjurers of unpredictable and maligned riffage. 鈥楪ood Luck鈥 is by far the song of the night, with hints of early Deftones and a bridge evoking Mastodon circa Leviathan and Fugazi鈥檚 chanting might, it best defines this three-piece鈥檚 musical modus operandi: thick, frantic and really loud. At the end, with Guy and Chris descending onto the floor for an explosive finale, Lorcan Falls鈥 spontaneously topless re-emergence to proverbially wreck the gaff rounds off an underattended but thoroughly entertaining night.
Brian Coney
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