On an unseasonably pleasant Monday evening, I made the short journey to the city of Norwich in Norfolk for a night of doom metal. A normal Monday evening for me consists of doing the weekly food shop and then falling asleep on the sofa in front of the TV so a deviation from the mundane was largely welcomed.
Liverpool based three piece doom metal legends Conan formed in 2006 yet this was their first time playing in Norwich. So, a first for us both as this was my first time seeing Conan live. The Waterfront Studio is a smaller room above the bigger Waterfront gig venue so nice and cosy. The gig was sold out as well which is always a good sign. The UK leg of this tour kicked off on the 12th March and playing with Conan as main support were Wallowing from Brighton. Every city or town visited supplied a local opening act to kick the night off.
Our local support band for the night were the awesome Norwich based three piece, Acid Throne. For me, and for the fact that it was a Monday, they were the perfect opening act. Their dark, heavy, booming sound gave the night a promising start. I found them quite serene and zen whilst producing some quality bass heavy doom/stoner metal. Acid Throne have come a long way in a short space of time having won the opportunity to play The New Blood stage at Bloodstock festival a mere 6 months after forming. A little understated in stage presence but their adept attitude and no nonsense approach at their craft is great to watch. Their dual booming vocals add depth but sometimes it was a little hard to differentiate between the two. Their debut album Kingsdom's Death released in November 2023, was produced by Conan's former bass player Chris Fielding, so it makes sense that they should be there.
Out of all the bands playing this show the only one I had previously seen were Acid Throne. Conan are a band I have listened to before and at least knew of them beforehand. The second band of the night, Wallowing, were completely unknown to me. Before they came on, a friend commented, saying that he had heard they were a kind of scfi/experimental metal crossover which peaked my interest. What happened next was a set that you had to see in person to fully get the true experience. Dressed as a bunch of futuristic bee keepers complete with smoke machines and flashing lights, Wallowing, ascended the stage to one of the longest intros I have heard. They are a five piece consisting of drums, bass, guitar and two vocalists with a sampler. Their music is a bizarre combination of avant-guarde/improvisational noise with on stage theatrics and a fuck ton of shouting. Are they pioneers of this interesting crossover? I would say no. Did their music inspire deep existential thoughts and transport me to a higher plane? Also no, but they did have a great stage presence and most of us in the crowd just stood open mouthed throughout their entire set. Perhaps it is because I don't know their songs but it seemed to me like they were a bunch of people all playing an instrument but not necessarily playing the same song. It was all a little bit too freestyle for me interspersed with random shouting and at one point I think one of the singers may have had a break down of some sort. The crowd really did seem captivated by them though and the band were giving it their all. I think the sound tech was having an absolute nightmare. They were fighting a losing battle trying to get the instruments to cut through the noise of the samplers whilst making the dual vocals understandable and more often then not it was just a muddy mess of white noise. I can honestly say that Wallowing are not for me but I am glad I got to experience them live.
After the surrealism of Wallowing it was time for the band we had been waiting for. Conan hit the stage in style with drummer, Johnny King making the other drummers of the night pale into insignificance... this guy has unbelievable power behind the kit, to the point of distraction. That kit was absolutely hammered yet he made it look so effortless! Being a three piece, guitarist/vocalist Jon Davis and new bassist/vocalist David Ryley flank King on either side so the crowd can experience the whole picture both physically and visually. Conan have been labelled as "caveman battle doom" which is funny and pretty apt but even so they are more technical then that. Conan are never going to be described as monotone either. The contrast between Davis and Ryley's vocals is just how it should be. To me, Davis has a kind of Ozzy Osbourne/Tony Forests high pitched quality that cuts through the bottom end sound and accentuates the low growl of Ryley perfectly. There is definitely doom/sludge metal elements at the forefront in terms of structure but they also have a huge hint of good ol' fashioned metal too. Their song pace is just that little bit quicker, a bit more powerful and their tracks are around 4-5 minutes which I guess would be considered relatively short. After the muddiness of Wallowing, Conans sound was clear and refreshing to start off with. I think everyone's hearing was giving up by the time Conan were in the last quarter of their set so again everything did start to blend together again but for a while it was great. I'm not hugely up on Conans back catalogue and I am only familiar with a couple of their albums; Revengeance (2016), Existential Void Guardian (2018) and Evidence Of Immortality (2022) so there were a few tracks that I was not particularly familiar with but I did recognise some key tracks, "Volt Thrower", "Levitation Hoax" and "Satsumo" to name a few.
The whole set went down incredibly well with the sell out crowd who were a mix of early twenty somethings to us oldies over forty skulking around in the background. A mosh pit activated almost as soon as Conan hit their first chord, before that it had been non existent which I am blaming on the fact that it was Monday, Acid Throne were quite chill and no one had a clue what to do for Wallowing so it was kind of a relief to see some movement! A few brave souls fashioned a circle pit of sorts and heads were being banged in various stages of enthusiasm throughout their set. The band certainly seemed to enjoy their first show in Norwich and stood at the door to thank patrons for coming and talk shop. The merch stands were reasonably priced and there were a lot of really awesome hoodies, t-shirts, posters and CD's to take home. I think the line up complemented each other well and we as the crowd experienced something unique with it being Conans first Norwich show and who they brought with them. I think this was my favourite Monday night of this year.
