Black Cloud All Dayer

Black Cloud All Dayer

Rebellion - 06/05/17

Black Cloud all dayer for me was easily the best all day metal event I’ve attended so far this year. This for most part can be put down to the lineup consisting of genuinely interesting extreme metal acts. What at first may have seemed like an oddly diverse mixture of bands for me was coherently drawn together through the theme of bands that rely on a mixture of misanthropy, atmosphere and sheer volume to make up their aural assaults. I was disappointed to see Let It Die to pull out at the  last minute as they were one of the acts I was most looking forward to catching, but luckily due to the quality of the rest of the bands that played this didn’t put a dampener on my mood for too long.

Ba’al

The days openers, Ba’al, were a band I was looking forward to seeing on the merit of their reputation alone and I’m glad to say they did not disappoint. These lads from sheffield provided everything you could want from a post metal band. Drawn out atmospheric riffing and weighty sludge laden tones. Their use of song motifs was excellent with sounds that built and journeyed organically developing on each song's core idea but never straying too far away from it that it became lost. Each passage flowed well, never feeling disjointed from the last with a dynamic drummer that effortlessly kept everything in check with interesting drum fills segwaying into each new section of the songs. Over the top of this their singer slathered the sound with a great mix of ferocious screeches and soaring clean vocals that never seemed to miss a note or key and performance that was bursting with energy. All in all Ba’al’s sound is one that is slick and well thought out and I’m excited to see them climb the billing in subsequent shows they play, which i’m sure they will.

8/10

Petrichor

The second band of the day, blackened doom act Petrichor, are a band I hadn’t encountered before and for me unfortunately were the least inspiring band of the day. Their commendable commitment to a traditional doom sound undercut with black metal influences unfortunately relied heavily on paint by numbers doom metal riffing and passages of lacklustre black metal. Vocals were a mixture of traditional black metal shrieks and cleaner epic metal vocals that felt heavily inspired by the vocal stylings of King Diamond but nowhere near as dynamic. A lot of the stage persona and atmosphere felt somehow miscalculated, missing the mark slightly. Bones hung from a stage mic and black body and face paint mixed with cartoonish nihilism all felt slightly off and a piano sample towards the end of the set thrust the sound into realms of symphonic black metal. Having said that, all of this can be put down to personal taste and the set was well played with tight instrumentation. For me though Petrichor were the one band on the lineup that felt out of place, with musical ideas that felt somewhat primitive next to the evolved sounds offered up by other bands on the billing.

5/10

Tides Of Sulfur

Next up cardiffs blackened sludge act, Tides Of Sulfur, were another band I was looking forward to finally catching live and another band that didn't let me down. Their sound was a fantastic mixture of dark technical mid paced riffing, face melting break neck black metal and slow heavy tones all held together by a brilliant drummer keeping time of all the twists and turns. Their bass tone was truly punishing. Their crunchy guitars were well balanced with a mixture of duel vocals offering up throaty shrieks and guttural growls. They even had time for a scattering of groovy riffs that never felt out of place amongst their sound. Their use of samples throughout their set felt well thought out, only ever adding the the misanthropic atmosphere and intense stage presence. Tides Of Sulfur have an incredibly nasty sound and delivered a tight, well performed set.

8/10

Khost

Khost took the stage with something that was a little more challenging than previous acts of the day with their blend of industrial and drone metal. With a stage almost devoid of light bar a projector shining flickering animated clockwork images revolving around their logo onto the wall, it set the tone for their set. Khost were dark. Booming electronic drum beats, Howling industrial ambience and crackling buzzes were paired with uncomfortably slow rumbling guitars. The atmosphere was oppressive, shrill feedback cutting through harsh industrial sounds leading to crushing drones. Graveling distorted vocals could be heard beneath the sound often played off against vocal samples that added tension. The sheer volume of their set was overwhelming. However, their set may have been filled with some great ideas but it did lack a variety of sound, in places some ideas overstaying their welcome. On the whole a great set.

7/10

Groak

Leeds three piece Groak delivered exactly what I’ve come to expect from them in the few times I’ve seen them so far. A fantastic mix of bleak chugging sludge metal interlaced with rough and ready grind mayhem. All this tied together with horribly piercing shrieked vocals. For me Groak are the type of band I've been wanting to see for a long time, mixing two genres of music that I love and doing it a way that works. Although there set had moments that were a little bit looser than they could have been they played a great set and are a band that keep getting better every time I see them. Groak are definitely a band i’m going to continue to keep a close eye on.

7/10

Gnaw Their Tongues

Dutch industrial noise act Gnaw Their tongues gave a set that truly put me on edge. With a sound that draws heavy inspiration from black metal it's one of the most punishing aural assaults my body has ever been put through. Rumbling walls of harsh noise. Scratchy electronic drones. Erratic electronic drum beats invoking a blackened edge. Grim distorted vocals. Physically overwhelming volume. Any moments of respite presented in softer passages were soon ripped away as the all out barrage of noise commenced again. Gnaw Their Tongues were able to create an incredibly uncomfortable atmosphere with ease, pumping dogmatic sounding religious samples into their sound. At one point employing a truly disconcerting sample of of a child's voice with a sound close to a nursery rhyme. Everything about Gnaw Their Tongues was utterly frightening.

8/10

Space Witch

For me the biggest revelation with psychedelic doom band, Space Witch was the new addition of howling epic vocals in the opening track. I’ve got to say it works for them perfectly, adding a new facet to their sound that felt fresh. This didn’t feel like a new gimmick that was overused though and Space Witch definitely delivered bags of what people have come to expect from them. Rolling proggy riffs and drumming lead to crushing tone heavy doom drops. And the psychedelic synths and yawning ambient drones conjured apocalyptic cosmic imagery. Despite some unfortunate stage malfunctions (fixed by hero sound tech Emloin) it was the most interesting set I’ve seen Space Witch play in a long time.

7/10

Downfall Of Gaia

Finally, the crowning jewel of the evening, Germany’s Downfall Of Gaia. Downfall Of Gaia are the kind of black metal band I can really get behind, mixing in bags of atmosphere and a heavy injection of post metal. Sprawling spacious riffs lead perfectly into unrelenting speed driven black metal. The drums were a scathing barrage of the double bass pedals and blast beats exactly when they needed to be, but kept perfect timing into every change in tempo. Raspy pain stricken vocals and animalistic howls added to their terrifying stage presence. Both sides of their sound gut wrenchingly powerful with palpable amounts of atmosphere; but their sound allowed for moments of reflection as monolithic building doom or grim black metal would break for softer, beautiful, introspective passages. On more than one occasion I found myself getting lost in their music as it washed over me. With a very long set that clocked in at around fifty minutes it never seemed to overstay its welcome. For me, Downfall Of Gaia are a band that display everything that is interesting

and enjoyable about black metal.

9/10

All in all Black Cloud was a great day of extreme music that was pretty busy despite the fact Deftones were playing across the other side of Manchester. excellent debut from a pair of promoters that I can see making waves in the Manchester scene if they carry on with what they have started.