The view that Scene Point Blank has been afforded for tonight’s performance is beautiful, and the sea of heads below on the floor is all the more astonishing seen from the balcony area of the iconic Kentish Town Forum in London. Neurosis make a much welcomed and desperately sensual appearance as part of the All Tomorrow’s Parties series of events that are now held throughout the year and this time around they are joined by the industrially crushing tones of the mighty Godflesh.
Neurosis appear on the back of the slowly fired sounds of Honor Found In Decay, a record that saw them bring to the table a somewhat gentler side to the Neurosis palette whilst simultaneously overwhelming their audience with true and clear concepts of desolation. Godflesh are here to engulf those present with majestic beats and cries of pure disaster and Justin Broadrick shouts his way through a set list of wild and imposing pulses of sound and clamouring wails of guitar and drum machine.
Godflesh (8) suffer some regrettable sound issues at the beginning of “Love is a Dog from Hell” and those problems seem to continue and follow the duo through most of their layered set. Broadrick never sounds quite loud enough, although even from way up here, it looks as though he is savouring every tortured second. The screen behind Broadrick and bassist G.C.Green flits from disturbing and uncomfortable religious imagery to stark images of breakdown and Godflesh tailor their monumental rhythms to fit the disquieting atmosphere that curls around the Forum in shadows and throbs of motion. “Like Rats” is a massive and obvious fan-favourite and the band drop it into their set early which serves to heighten the tension as to what may come next. Godflesh are far from disappointing, which is made evident due to their time being cut short by their own hand as many attendees are still waiting to even get into the venue at the time Godflesh were billed to start. It’s a noticeable delay but “Streetcleaner” is as delightfully huge as “Crush My Soul” is wonderfully frenetic. “Christbait Rising” rages, “Weak Flesh” destroys and Godflesh dominate.
Neurosis (10) take to a stripped back stage, the band shrouded in darkness for much of the time having recently parted ways with their visual artist Josh Graham. Steve Von Till and Scott Kelly twist their words around harsh and often beautiful lines of guitar, their voices rough and edged with a distinct and powerful knowledge and the newer songs from Honor Found In Decay weave their way around older classics with a deadly and bittersweet melody. The vast sounds of “Times of Grace” punctuate the deep and affecting aura surrounding the band, their audience moving as one entity, completely entranced by the moments of pure and brilliant catharsis emanating from the stage. “At The Well” is gorgeously rendered and swirls with a heart-breaking melancholy, the lamentations falling from great height with sadness and utter hopelessness until it becomes almost too painful to continue. Neurosis are desperately heavy tonight and the repetitive passages of noise soon dig deeply into the subconscious. “We All rage in Gold” melts whilst “Given to the Rising” closes the evening on disgustingly drawn out screams of feedback. Neurosis leave the stage to cries of total agony – at their departure and at the dreadfully overpowering noise that flows from the instruments left to their own devices. Neurosis are supremely commanding tonight and prove once again that they are masters of their doomed destiny. Extraordinary.
They decided to jump back to Domestica with "The Casualty." It's nice to see a band jump that far back into their catalog as a supporting band. I was pleased when I finally got to hear the band perform one of my favorites from, Mama, I'm Swollen--"Caveman." It was another one of the better performed songs from their set. They continue to promote I Am Gemini with one of its stronger tracks, "Drunken Birds." Cursive appease the fans in the crowd with "Art is Hard." The only downside was it was one of the songs where Kasher decided to overdo the vocals with a more guttural performance. After taking a shot, they go on with the show by playing the fast-paced "From the Hips." Of the songs they played, it seemed they enjoyed themselves most on this one. Maybe it was the shot or maybe they just love the song, haha. Either way, it was the most enjoyable moment of their set. Unfortunately, it was countered with one of their weaker songs, "The Sun and Moon." After playing The Ugly Organ's, "The Recluse," Kasher put his mic stand into the crowd--with himself following--and ended their set with fan-favorite, "Big Bang"with Kasher playing in the middle of the crowd.
After some time, Minus the Bear came out for their fastest selling show of the tour. Despite the many chances I've had to see Minus the Bear over the years, this was going to be my first time. Unfortunately, I wasn't too familiar with most of the material. However, it was great to hear a couple favorites of mine like, "The Game Needed Me" from Menos El Oso and "Absinth Party at The Fly Honey Warehouse," from Highly Refined Pirates. It was a bummer to notice not many people getting that into it. It was a Saturday night and the show was sold out. However, most of the crowd was standing around and hardly singing along. Minus the Bear put on a great show, but if that's how the fans are at their shows, I'd probably be more inclined to see them again in a venue with some seating. The tour is almost over, but if you're in the Northwest, you've still got a chance to catch it. It's a stacked line-up with some great musicians, so don't miss out.
Frontman, Adam Turla, attempts to get a little crowd participation going as he introduces the next song, "The Curse of Elkhart." He demonstrates how the audience can get involved by singing the backing wails sung during the chorus. Fortunately the crowd decided to join in. Murder by Death then broke out Red of Tooth and Claw's lead single, "Fuego" before jumping into Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon's ardent track, "Hard World." Turla announced that they hadn't played the song very often, but I hope they get a bit more attached to it as it's a great song in a live setting and bound to become a fan-favorite. They continue to promote their new album with "Straight at the Sun" before jumping back to In Bocca Al Lupo's classic, "Brother."
Up until now, Murder by Death have ignored half their catalog. They decided to go back to Who Will Survive... for one track and play "Until Morale Improves, The Beatings Will Continue." It's not much of a surprise that they pulled Like the Exorcist tracks out of their set, although it would have been nice to hear "I'm Afraid of Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe." Surprisingly though, they hadn't played a single track off their last record, Good Morning, Magpie. Just before they reach the end of their set, they play one more off Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon--"My Hill." It wasn't a song I expected them to play for the pop-punk crowd, but they didn't seem to be turned off by it. Even if they were, I'm sure they were brought back when they closed the set with "Comin' Home."
Of course, the band couldn't leave without first doing the track that really put them on the map, "We Are Young." It's no surprise that the crowd went wild. After the band had left and returned for their encore, they blared out, "One Foot." Personally, a song I had been looking forward to the whole night. The crowd was causing the ground the shake, but not like they did as when they closed the show with "Some Nights." I've expressed my distaste for the autotune in the past, so I won't get into it, haha. A small highlight of the night was when Nate decided to hit the high note in the bridge on, "oh, come on!" As they closed out the night, balloons rained down, and some fans even decided to take some home as souvenirs. 
