By Jase Walker

In the days leading up to the forthcoming Tech-Fest, I get to experience an early preview in the form of Pound with support from GreyLotus in my local nightclub, Satan’s Hollow.

I’m especially excited for GreyLotus as I can have a quick catch-up with a mate of mine, their vocalist, Lee and also meet well known personality, Drewsif for the first time! This show tonight promises to be one that’ll rattle my bones and ears good and proper as a warm-up before hitting Tech-Fest on Thursday!

As I arrive at the venue I find that GreyLotus are actually headlining this particular night *and* there’s a local band in support, Absolence. And as with most Satan’s Hollow shows, the doors are incredibly early at 6:30pm with the first band being on at 7pm. Not a particularly large crowd so far, but Absolence kick off anyway so let’s see what they’re about eh?

Absolence kick off with a riff that feels very much in home territory for me, a nice bouncy metalcore riff and screams vocals? Yep, even a few good ‘bleghs’ for measure. The balance is a off as the lead guitar seems a bit quiet in comparison with the rhythm and I can’t hear much of the nuance of the bass guitar. The bass drum is also crazy loud, louder than the snare even but in their defence Satan’s is notoriously hard to get the sound right in.

Overall the music is solid, it’s also good seeing the drummer taking a main role in the vocal section which is ridiculously difficult to do. Decent grooves, good pacing, and the vocals work well together. The main criticism I have for the show is visually it’s a bit wooden as there’s not really a lot of movement to see and feels a bit like watching a practice session rather than a gig. I’m still keen on seeing them again but probably on a stage that does their sound justice.

Pound certainly has an interesting setup, almost two entire drum kits played by one person, two gigantic cabs behind the guitarist and notably with music sheets on the floor. It’s just a two-person show here and I have no idea what I’m in for. The soundcheck chat between them and the sound engineer goes, “How do you like it sounding?”, “Uh, loud, just loud” and they kick off.

I dunno what I was expecting but a quite literal cacophonous onslaught of rhythm and some of the heaviest guitars I’ve ever actually heard wasn’t it. Imagine if Animals as Leaders just threw the entire jazz bit of their sound out of the window and decided they wanted to sound like Meshuggah, that’s probably it. This is legitimately the loudest gig I’ve ever seen in Satan’s by a massive margin.

Some of the riffage weirdly reminds me of a band called Chorder, full-on extended range wankery at its finest. A few goofs here and there but it’s all taken in stride, I struggle to think that there wouldn’t be with the rhythmically complex stuff they’re kicking out here and the drummer flicking between two different drum sets! I’m into it for the same reason I’m into Car Bomb or Frontierer, it’s a non-stop rollercoaster of the heaviest riffs mixed with insane mathy rhythms. Pound are, for lack of a better way of putting it, absolutely fucking ridiculous.

  • Pound play the second stage at UK Tech-Fest tomorrow (Friday 1 July).

And finally for tonight’s early show, it’s GreyLotus, fronted by my boy, Lee Mintz. A full ensemble of headless guitars, including Drewsif’s bass, a full tech-death outfit. After a brief game show styled intro, someone definitely put some money in the coin slot as we go from about 10% to 1500% at breakneck speed. They’ve done a great job of getting the balance right for Satan’s, with the sound permeating every corner of the Satan’s Hollow venue. And getting to see Lee do his thing right in front of me rather than a music video it feels like he’s gonna grab me by the throat!

It’s a privilege to get to see these guys do their first ever date on UK soil in lieu of their next set at Tech-Fest this weekend! Each of the guitarists actively moves on stage despite the complexity of what they’re playing, with Lee at the front jumping around in all directions. A delightfully devilish band for a satanic venue, a great fit.

Gurn-worthy riffs, blast beats, absolutely filthy gutturals, and tastefully epic guitar solos, I feel quite jealous that the US has had these all to themselves until now. The speed their drummer’s hand goes wild during their intense blast beat sections so damn fast it looks like a blur! Keeping up the intensity for the whole set, all killer, no filler, I’m glad they picked Manchester to be the first date to touch down on. With London filling in on Wednesday prior to their Tech-Fest slot, I’m sure they’ll be playing to great company there before returning to the hallowed ground of Newark Showground. Also I can’t wait to get my ears around that album they’ve got due out soon, it’ll keep me gurning until I get to see them again!

Fantastic set, and I get to revel in it all over again very soon, fuck yes.

  • GreyLotus play the main stage at UK Tech-Fest tomorrow (Friday 1 July).
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