By DJ Astrocreep
A long weekend of long and winding songs was complete with a journey down to London to catch Dylan Carlson and company headlining the suspiciously similarly titled EartH. My first time in the purpose-built arts venue led me to a fair-sized basement room with a lot of hopefully aural delights to fill up the evening after the long journey down.
The evening’s support act is Helen Money, an American artist who plays a cello with effects and premade samples, with leads to a bit of intrigue as she takes to the stage. I’m actually thrown back in my own mind to the first time I saw Rammstein live, with Apocalyptica supporting, though Helen’s work is far more experimental and out there than anything I’ve personally heard from Apocalyptica. It starts off softly, before Helen starts properly exploring her wilder musical side, with the frankly jarring effect of this actually working very well to readjust your conception of her work so early in the set. The loud/soft dynamic is quite apparent from early in her set, mixing in newer tracks with her older work in what becomes quite compelling listening as we adjust to her stylings some more. There are elements of both prog and drone encapsulated within the works, which set both well and against each other as it feels like we are being told a story. It’s a great set, once I adjust my headspace enough to be open to something quite different.
Our headliners take to the stage and there is definitely something wrong. Dylan’s guitar definitely doesn’t sound quite right and this is something that sadly continues throughout the first half of the set, leading to a long pause as they try to start ‘The Colour Of Poison’ as the second song in the set, before quite quickly stopping to change Dylan’s amp and adjust his pedals in an effort that is clearly bothering him, as it throws off the performance. While the sound from Dylan is somewhat intermittent, he is clearly unable to hear himself, as he can be heard asking the sound desk if anything is even coming through from him, while a change in guitar brings forth no better results.
What we do get from all three of the band is absolute precision, clarity of sound – once Dylan’s issues seem to resolve – and sheer technical ability and tightness as a band. I’m right in at the barrier throughout the set and spend half the night or more with my eyes closed, headbanging away in my own little world focusing solely on the music. In terms of the set, it’s the same set as previous nights on the tour, though with the order slightly rejigged as ‘Descending Belladonna’ is initially cut from the set, before becoming our encore as Dylan and co realise the venue has a later curfew than had been realised.
The inclusion of a brand new, as yet untitled, track is a very nice talking point, while ‘The Mandrake’s Hymn’ has an excited audience member call out that her cat has the same name, to chuckles from a few, ‘A Wretched Country Of Dusk’ and finally ‘Old Black’, initially intended as an encore before being set back in time due to the earlier equipment issues, are worked through with a mix of both consummate ease and flawless playing, to the point we almost forget about the earlier issues. The issues apart, it’s another great live performance from Dylan et al and one that feels worth the self-induced whiplash I’ve picked up for my overnight journey home. A great evening of entertainment.
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