The night kicked off with Slug 13, a guitar and drum duo from Surrey. I wasn't aware of their local origins and found out from a fan at the gig that they had started in the 90s as a trio called Slug. I was impressed by their sonic infusion of aggressive soundscapes and experimental feedback scales. Without vocals, I felt like I was listening to an angry metal version of Mogwai.
From there, we were enveloped in the sounds of The Hyena Kill, a four-piece from Manchester consisting of Steven Dobbs (vocals/guitars), Lorna Blundell (drums/vocals), Charlie Seisay (lead guitar) and Dan Jones (bass). . They've been releasing music for over a decade and recently released a new single called 'Piece of Hell', which marks their first release since the release of their seminal album 'A Disconnect' nearly two and a half years ago. As many have done before me, I found myself drawing comparisons to Deftones from the start. I was immediately drawn to how well Steven was able to pull off authentic Chino-style screams. Overall, the band has a sense of impending doom and a deep atmospheric tension that was familiar to 90s nu-metal and alternative rock. I remember a member of the audience shouting “they sounded bad”!
Playing us, we had Brighton's own – El Muno. They are a quartet consisting of Zac Jackson (vocals/guitar), Jamie Haas (guitar/vocals), Harry Logan (bass) and Chris Cartwright (drums). They are touring to promote their new single, Chains – the first single from their highly anticipated debut album due out next year. As a band, they were much more comfortable on stage than the previous two and drew the audience into their set. Zac cracked jokes and shared his artistic and dramatic talent on stage, as his demeanor as a singer was to perform directly to us. Musically, Zac's vocals were similar to Brandon Boyd and Daniel Johns. El Moono's vision for his music is not far from the Incubus meets Silverchair dimension. With elements of experimental and high concept metal merging together, even at their most emotional, their music has a level of intensity that is exciting to witness live.
4/5
