Local Edinburgh five piece, Atragon, kick off the proceedings. They suffer a bit due to the show starting late and have to make do with a hurried line check, when they could have done with a bit more time to soundcheck and warm up. This results in the first song sounding like a scrappy roadhouse blues number and the vocals sound weak. Thankfully, they hit their stride with the next song, the singer has a stentorian bellow and an adept way with audience engagement. The whole band kick it up a gear and tear into a heavy, doomy metal style… right down to the guitarist’s bell-bottoms, 70’s jacket and big metal cross pendant. Talk about wearing your influences! Thankfully, they back it up musically. Next, they launch into a more psychedelic groove and keep it locked on through a fairly lengthy instrumental mid section. It always stays pretty well riff based thanks to two guitarists. A last song comes and goes pretty much in the same vein as the second track and they’re done. Definitely worth checking out their EP on Witch Hunter
Witchhunter Records | Bandcamp
Glasgow’s Headless Kross take the stage next and have no teething problems, going straight into an extended psychedelic stoner instrumental section that sounds pretty spacey but never loses it’s groove. They build a slow burn tension until finally the vocals come in the form of a crazed howl. This just adds to the dynamics and we’re all locked into the groove. With no let up and not even a vague acknowledgement of the audience, the band slide into the second song… or maybe a different section. It’s hard to tell. Any pause for reaction would probably just detract from the tension they’ve built. The drumming is absolutely stand out, fluid, dynamic, propelling the song forward. Elements of space rock come swirling into the equation in the form of shimmering phasing, but still heavy, HEAVY sludgey stoner riffs. They launch straight into the third and final number/section, again starting out with a slow burn that uncoils into some wild necksnapping tempo changes, sometimes almost verging on power-violence. Martial snare and two floor toms, the drums create a dynamic trail that the guitars follow, perfectly. Over too soon!
Headless Kross | Bandcamp
Coltsblood are an interesting prospect, their demo tape combines a couple of disparate elements to create a mournful, icy funereal doom. Live, it’s maybe more than three people can fully recreate, but they manage to hit moments of it. The most obvious doomy elements here are the fluid but oh so heavy drums, like a river of lead, and the monstrously downtuned bass. It’s an incredibly heavy, bleak sound. Morbid bass! Combined with an anguished, irate yell of a vocal, these elements combine to shape an inconsolable howl of rage at the universe. The element that seems to be harder to recreate live is the incredible guitar leads that are such a stand out feature on the demo. Coming into the sound at a strange tangent, they sound reminiscent of 4AD. More akin to the early days of Goth, Joy Division etc. The usual adjectives apply – icy, spindley, cold shards of glass. Live, they are just too elusive, too fleeting to create the same impact as the recordings. Which is a shame, because live they absolutely crush, but knowing that they can bring that whole extra dimension is slightly frustrating.
Coltsblood | Bandcamp
Ommadon. Ommadon are stunning. A lazy comparison would be Sunn O))). Not in terms of theatrics but in terms of the immense unholy riffage they create. It’s a testament to the two guys that make Ommadon that there’s no hint of struggle to create such a full sound. The drummer sets up a laptop and a midi controller and leaves it running a big crunchy droning chord and some trebley chirps and burbles, then takes his own sweet time playing with the amp settings until he get these elements sounding just right before taking up position behind a stripped back minimal kit. The guitarist starts cranking out a massive chunky chord, swimming in a filthy rich stew of distortion. The pace is impressively slow, the dynamics building from the shifting harmonics in the distortion. Riffs are clawed down from the Moon and ooze through the amp at a glacial rate. Huge, almost-dub like chasms loom out of the haze, while the drums dash to and hither, perilously close to collapse into the abyss, but then taking off at tangents to the edge. Again, as with Headless Kross it’s impossible to tell if there are a number of songs or one massive extended track, but it doesn’t matter. I have to take off about three quarters of the way through Ommadon’s set to catch my train back to the rural hinterlands. This is disappointing as I’d love to feel the collective pressure release when they finish. I spend the following day sitting in the sun, drinking cider, with the gig still ringing in my ears.
Ommadon | Bandcamp
All in all a pretty decent and varied cross section of the current state of play for doom and stoner scene in Scotland. Three of the bands hail from the Central Belt of Edinburgh and Glasgow and if there’s enough of a vibe to attract Colts Blood to come up from Liverpool for a couple of dates then it would seem to indicate a reasonable state of health.
Words: Gordon Cameron.
Witchhunter Records | Bandcamp
Glasgow’s Headless Kross take the stage next and have no teething problems, going straight into an extended psychedelic stoner instrumental section that sounds pretty spacey but never loses it’s groove. They build a slow burn tension until finally the vocals come in the form of a crazed howl. This just adds to the dynamics and we’re all locked into the groove. With no let up and not even a vague acknowledgement of the audience, the band slide into the second song… or maybe a different section. It’s hard to tell. Any pause for reaction would probably just detract from the tension they’ve built. The drumming is absolutely stand out, fluid, dynamic, propelling the song forward. Elements of space rock come swirling into the equation in the form of shimmering phasing, but still heavy, HEAVY sludgey stoner riffs. They launch straight into the third and final number/section, again starting out with a slow burn that uncoils into some wild necksnapping tempo changes, sometimes almost verging on power-violence. Martial snare and two floor toms, the drums create a dynamic trail that the guitars follow, perfectly. Over too soon!
Headless Kross | Bandcamp
Coltsblood are an interesting prospect, their demo tape combines a couple of disparate elements to create a mournful, icy funereal doom. Live, it’s maybe more than three people can fully recreate, but they manage to hit moments of it. The most obvious doomy elements here are the fluid but oh so heavy drums, like a river of lead, and the monstrously downtuned bass. It’s an incredibly heavy, bleak sound. Morbid bass! Combined with an anguished, irate yell of a vocal, these elements combine to shape an inconsolable howl of rage at the universe. The element that seems to be harder to recreate live is the incredible guitar leads that are such a stand out feature on the demo. Coming into the sound at a strange tangent, they sound reminiscent of 4AD. More akin to the early days of Goth, Joy Division etc. The usual adjectives apply – icy, spindley, cold shards of glass. Live, they are just too elusive, too fleeting to create the same impact as the recordings. Which is a shame, because live they absolutely crush, but knowing that they can bring that whole extra dimension is slightly frustrating.
Coltsblood | Bandcamp
Ommadon. Ommadon are stunning. A lazy comparison would be Sunn O))). Not in terms of theatrics but in terms of the immense unholy riffage they create. It’s a testament to the two guys that make Ommadon that there’s no hint of struggle to create such a full sound. The drummer sets up a laptop and a midi controller and leaves it running a big crunchy droning chord and some trebley chirps and burbles, then takes his own sweet time playing with the amp settings until he get these elements sounding just right before taking up position behind a stripped back minimal kit. The guitarist starts cranking out a massive chunky chord, swimming in a filthy rich stew of distortion. The pace is impressively slow, the dynamics building from the shifting harmonics in the distortion. Riffs are clawed down from the Moon and ooze through the amp at a glacial rate. Huge, almost-dub like chasms loom out of the haze, while the drums dash to and hither, perilously close to collapse into the abyss, but then taking off at tangents to the edge. Again, as with Headless Kross it’s impossible to tell if there are a number of songs or one massive extended track, but it doesn’t matter. I have to take off about three quarters of the way through Ommadon’s set to catch my train back to the rural hinterlands. This is disappointing as I’d love to feel the collective pressure release when they finish. I spend the following day sitting in the sun, drinking cider, with the gig still ringing in my ears.
Ommadon | Bandcamp
All in all a pretty decent and varied cross section of the current state of play for doom and stoner scene in Scotland. Three of the bands hail from the Central Belt of Edinburgh and Glasgow and if there’s enough of a vibe to attract Colts Blood to come up from Liverpool for a couple of dates then it would seem to indicate a reasonable state of health.
Words: Gordon Cameron.