By Jim Rowland
With ears still ringing from this year’s Desertfest in Camden at the weekend, three of the bands that graced those stages made a quick trip to the seaside the following day to join some local doomsters for a cracking four band bill at Bournemouth’s intimate Bear Cave.
Considering this was a wet and windy Monday night, a very respectable turnout was present at the Bear Cave for what turned out to be a quality show on all counts from four bands, all loud and heavy, but all with something different to bring to the table.
First up, Dorset’s very own Dukes of Hades kicked things off in fine style. This two-piece, who have historic links to Electric Wizard and Sludgefeast, have some seriously good riffs and tunes going on in their mix of fuzzed up doom, sludge and death’n’roll. It’s a pretty perfect way to kick the evening off, and considering all of the other bands are from overseas, it’s nice to have some local talent doing Dorset proud.
I’d already heard good things about Midhaven’s Desertfest set the previous day, and witnessing them for the first time, I’m not surprised. Hailing from Mumbai, India, which says a lot for the universal nature of heavy music these days, Midhaven manage to fuse Indic flavours into their mix of stoner, doom and death metal to great effect, partly due to some innovative work on the six string bass.
Cramming four lengthy tunes into their highly impressive half hour set, they have great presence, talent and material, and certainly looked like they were enjoying being here. The crowd were undoubtedly enjoying them being here too.
Denver’s Abrams come from an altogether more alt-rock direction, with elements of heavy rock, psych, post-punk, grunge and post-metal cleverly combining melody with abrasive dissonance, snappy rhythms and engaging guitar soundscapes and hooks.
They’re intense, angsty, tight, and well drilled, and even when a power outage cuts out the guitars, they effortlessly kick into the exact place where they left off once power in restored, taking it cooly in their stride. Although stylistically the most different of the four bands here tonight, they fit in just fine and get a deserved great reception.
New Jersey’s Solace are coming to the end of the biggest run of gigs they have played in their whole career with this European jaunt, and by their own admission, it’s starting to take its toll, with over half the band suffering from heavy colds, so the tissues are in plentiful supply.
You wouldn’t be able to tell that from the performance though, with frontman Justin Goins giving it every bit of energy he can muster throughout. If the previous three bands were loud (and they were!), Solace manage to turn the volume up a few extra notches on top for a pummelling roar.
Touring to support the forthcoming new album ‘Fading Failing Ruin’, their mix of hardcore-infused metal, doom and stoner rock gets heads banging and fists pumping from the off. It’s a relatively short set, but the explosive guitar interplay between Tommy Southard and Justin Daniels is a joy to behold, with a stunning crescendo to the show (did they just turn the volume up again?!) threatening to take the roof off. If new track ‘Spiral Will’ is anything to go by, the new album, out in July, is gonna be a belter.
Four short, sharp sets from four quality bands, all with things in common but equally something different to each other, made for a top class night of very heavy music on a wet and windy south coast Monday night.
- Photos by Graham Wood.