soilent green live

Before I start this review properly I need to say a few words about the actual venue because it has quite possibly the worst layout of any venue that I’ve ever been to. The stage, which itself is far too low, is offset to one side of a wall meaning that it’s entirely possible to be “at the front” and not even be able to see the band, there’s several pillars right in front of the stage and just behind them, because the venue is essentially a basement / cellar, is where the fire exit staircase is. All in all this means that if the venue is even vaguely full most of the people in there won’t be able to actually see the band!

Sadly for the bands tonight though that isn’t really an issue – because there’s barely anyone here. You’d think that with a headline band featuring members of Crowbar (who recently packed out the 300 capacity Academy three hundred about ten minutes walk down the road from Moho), Eyehategod and Goatwhore making their first appearance in the UK for a decade or so, combined with a tour support featuring members of Ted Maul and Labrat there might at least be some interested observers amongst the dedicated few but sadly it’s not to be and if there’s any more than forty people in the venue tonight then I’d be surprised.

Opening tonight’s proceedings was Jacknife Holiday, a band I must admit I’d never previously heard of. Their mix of groovy sludged-up 70s rock riffs (I swear they played the God of Thunder riff at one point) and shrieked vocals reminded me somewhat of bands like Charger and early Raging Speedhorn and whilst they’re not exactly startlingly original they know how to lock into a groove and their enthusiasm was certainly infectious. Ones to watch for sure.

Main support for this tour is Dripback, a new band featuring former Labrat bassist Adam Sagir and Luca from Ted Maul on guitar. Dripback are somewhat more straight ahead than either of those two bands though with a clear influence from old-school hardcore / crossover bands like Discharge and D.R.I. with their punk-fuelled thrashy riffing garnished with just enough death metal and grindcore to stop them being a ‘retro’ band whilst skilfully avoiding all of the nasty clichés of most modern ‘deathcore’ bands that try and mix death metal and hardcore but fail miserably. Once again the band are clearly enjoying themselves onstage which is great to see, particularly considering the small size of the crowd here tonight. I’d like to hear some of their recorded material to see how they come across on record but they’re certainly very entertaining live and are a great warm up for tonight’s headliners.

The reason why we’re ‘all’ here tonight, of course is to see Soilent Green’s first appearance on these shores for a very long time indeed and they certainly don’t disappoint.  Perhaps unsurprisingly approximately half of the twelve song set is drawn from the band’s most recent album, 2008’s Inevitable Collapse in the Presence of Conviction but there’s still room for old favourites such as Slapf*** and the title track to Sewn Mouth Secrets as well.

If there is an upside to the poor turnout tonight it’s that there’s no-one here just to be seen here and everyone is a fan of the band so while there’s not many here tonight there’s a lot more reaction to the band than I’ve seen at gigs with much higher attendances. The band themselves seem to recognise this too and the faithful few who are here are treated to an unbelievably tight set. Guitarist Brian Patton, who looks for all the world like a character from legendary German U-Boat film Das Boot has a huge guitar sound that fills the venue and he’s ably backed up by the rhythm section of bassist Scott Crochet and Crowbar drummer Tommy Buckley who switch between slower grooves to grinding blastbeats with ease and Ben Falgoust proves himself not only a powerful vocalist but also a surprisingly affable frontman too.

All in all though this was a great gig with immensely enjoyable sets, hopefully it won’t be so long before we see Soilent Green on our shores next time – but let’s hope a few more people turn up next time they do eh!

by Neil Woodfin