By Jase Walker
A mere 24 hours from my last jaunt to Patronaat in Haarlem to get screamed at by a bunch of loud bands, I’m back again to get my face melted again but in this case by one of Pelagic Records’ finest, Oh Hiroshima. It’s only been a short few months since seeing these earlier this year at Pelagic Fest in Maastricht and I wasn’t going to pass off round two in a hurry. Along for the show tonight is ništa which compliments the bill nicely for an evening of post-rock/metal/shoegaze and what have you.
Ništa get things going and their slow and atmospheric start reminds me quite a lot of Pink Floyd, although that could be almost entirely down to the phaser effect on the guitars that was a mainstay of Pink Floyd’s bigger albums. This eventually builds into much more forceful guitar playing that thunders throughout the room and the vocals mixed with this sort of slow and heavy style begins to feel much closer to AA Williams.
Either way I’m already quite invested in this, what a great way to kick off a show like this. Great to see their guitarist show off his chops with some really tasty licks during a solo too, absolutely ragging that way pedal too. And as I’m always going to comment on, their bass guitar sounds nice and fat and really punches through well but doesn’t overpower everything else, great stuff.
The approach of post-metal to work through general extremes of quieter and more atmospheric parts and either building or switching into more forceful parts is what keeps this genre interesting to me as it creates wonderful dynamics. You have the moments to throw your head around like you’re trying to cause self-induced whiplash and others where you can really tune into the subtle layering and get lost in the song.
I love the fact that one solo is even done using a slide, something about how that sounds with a guitar that has some light distortion on it really scratches an itch for a metal band that has that slightly unusual approach. What an immense opening this was to tonight’s show and I’m already hoping these potentially end up at either ArcTanGent or Pelagic Fest next year and I’ll definitely be giving their discography a bit of a listen because I properly enjoyed this!
Other than a few whoops and cheers, the crowd goes deadly silent for the start of Oh Hiroshima. The room is completely dark except for dull red light across the stage shining from above as well as several light pillars dotted around the stage. Revert guitar playing echoes around the room to signal the start of their set.
These guys do an absolutely unreal job of building atmosphere: wailing guitars, droney bass and some damn busy drums drenches the room with sound that wraps around you like a warm familiar blanket. This time round it’s really standing out to me how much of a groove machine their drummer is, there’s a consistent pulse that dances around the kit while the rest of the playing is at odds with it and almost feels like a ticking metronome. Bands like Oh Hiroshima are some of the most interesting artists around with their unique approaches of odd time signatures and strong focus on creating a wall of sound that steadily builds into an incredible peak.
It’s easy to see why these ended up with Pelagic Records considering the sort of approach to songwriting they have very much falls in line with the likes of The Ocean, but by no means do they sound similar. There’s a small overlap with mixing drones and hypnotic arpeggios but there’s more or less it. They do, however, have this particular quality of writing that when experienced live, the music itself feels like it’s reaching out to grab you to keep your focus entirely on the band.
There’s a subtle melancholy that runs throughout Oh Hiroshima’s music that really shows when they’re going at it with the more melodic parts and solos, especially when the piano segments hit as well. There’s such a serene beauty in post-rock, it’s a fantastic genre that is packed with bands doing all sorts of interesting things and creating wonderful soundscapes that are so easy to get lost in.
Oh Hiroshima are probably one of the bands you might need to dig into the genre to find compared to the heavyweights of Mogwai and Explosions In The Sky but are every bit as much worthy of your time to experience. Absolutely fantastic band putting out real emotionally provoking music that is a true treat to see played live.
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