I had started to get frustrated at the start of this gig. The queue when I arrived wasn’t that big but it was moving at a snail’s pace. About a quarter of the way up the Cathouse stairs and I could hear the first band Death Goals starting their set. Credit where credit’s due, the staff put an extra guy on security checks and the queue immediately speeded up. So, fair play.
I actually ended up in the room just as Death Goals were finishing their first song. After which, lead vocalist Harry Bailey introduces the band by saying, “We are Death Goals, we are a Queercore band, playing queer songs for queer people”. Which might be a great way of introducing the philosophical outlook of this duo, but doesn’t necessarily say much about the actual music! With this being my first hearing of the band I found them to play dissonant/jarring – I wouldn’t say hardcore, but it’s not post hardcore either? At times there were bits that reminded me of Will Haven and at other times a sort of less math-corey Dillinger Escape Plan.
Two things to state, Harry spent much of the time between songs issuing impassioned pleas for the respect, recognition and support for all marginalised groups. Rather than alienate, this definitely built a rapport with the crowd. Secondly the music did that too. I’ve witnessed a few opening acts struggle to engage recently but not Death Goals, they really got the crowd going, especially with Harry delivering the vocals of the final song from within the body of the crowd.
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To say Pijn were a musical contrast is a massive understatement. They produced a wholly instrumental set of atmospheric, melodic post-rock that subtly built the energy in crescendic waves. This was enthralling and hypnotic. At one point I closed my eyes and basically let the music carry me along. I felt like I was floating in a body of water that at times was a gentle flowing river with deep pools before imperceptibly changing its pace and flowing at a slightly faster rate before building up to a great rush.
I’ve no idea how many songs they played because they seemed to merge – in a good way – together. Apart from the last one that started with a heavier section and then mellowed. This set seemed to just fly by in no time, it was almost like a dreamscape. A magnificent, beguiling, entrancing performance. Wow!
After seeing Orbit Culture and Gaerea earlier this week, Conjurer was the next band that I would catch after also seeing them at Damnation Festival last weekend. Conjurer opened the main stage on the Sunday and promoter Gav McInally posted a picture of the size of crowd they attracted – it was massive!
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More intimate surroundings tonight but a show that I was very much looking forward to. The last time I saw them in the Cathouse in 2022, Conjurer levelled the place. And with a crushing new album in place the promise was of the same.
That new album – titled Unself – has been attracting heaps of praise since its release, from myself included. As such, it accounts for a good portion of the set tonight.
Both the opening track and the closing track to Unself based around a repurposing of a century old gospel song “This World Is Not My Home” to explore the sense of not belonging.
Conjurer’s set tonight starts with the opening and title track, “Unself”. This features an acoustic guitar being strummed mournfully, with the original words to “This World Is Not My Home” being sung lowly and plaintively. About halfway through, a slow fade in of feedback builds and then the track explodes in a cathartic wail of fury. On the album this is effective and striking. Live, tonight, in the Cathouse, it hit you like a steam train.
This is followed by “All Apart” and “There Is No Warmth” tracks 2 and 3 from Unself.
This is followed by “Retch” from the band’s debut album Mire which induces the first circle pit of the evening. Also, this is partly induced at the instigation of bassist Conor Marshall who – sandwiched in the middle of the stage between the guitar/vocal pairing of Brady Deeprose and Dani Nightingale – is a constant focus of energy, be it through constant headbanging or windmilling of hair.
“Let Us Live” is also introduced as dedicated to the LGBTQ community. Another track from Unself, as a song it carries a strong statement from an album partly inspired by the personal challenges faced by vocalist/guitarist Dani Nightingale, diagnosed with autism at age 31 alongside their realisation they were non-binary.
“Hang Them In Your Head” and “Foreclosure” also follow from Unself before “Rot” from the Mire album again and “Rot” from their second album Pathos. Again during these two songs the energy in the crowd lifts and the mosh pit is at its most intense.
The set finishes with two further songs from Unself, “The Searing Glow” before the final track – as on the album, “This World Is Not My Home”. I wrote in my review of this album that the lead guitar and sung vocals towards the end of the track made the final reprised version feel more redemptive and self-reflective. Live it carries an extra layer of emotion and was a quite stunning finale to an already stacked live show.
I’ve now seen Conjurer 4 times. Twice at the Cathouse, once on the mainstage at Bloodstock and last week at Damnation. They’ve shown that they can carry off their performances across this array of platforms and now they have an album of real stature on which to build their profile.
Header photo by Matthieu Gill
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