Doom Over The Deck III | Live Review

The Lower Deck in Dublin’s Portobello: quaint, hospitable, and almost dangerously cosy. It’s difficult to leave the session and the decent pint for the unbrained noize under the stairs, but these are the sacrifices we make for art, aren’t they? As a venue it’s adequate for this type of local or otherwise niche gig, and with a bit of effort, it could turn into a pretty cool place to go given its nice environs.

Wretch opened this, although the aforementioned comfort factor upstairs sadly means missing them on this occasion. Refraction are next, and though it’s a little difficult to get at what they’re doing on first listen, their own description of riff driven instrumental assault seems accurate. Given that there’s no lyrics, they owe it to themselves to make that music do some assaulting - with its technical style, experimenting time signatures and overall fondness of Tool, Meshuggah, Mastodon et al, the bandmates really should be making up for it with alot of movement. They’re concentrating too hard on their instruments, and while it sounds like it would be excellent on CD, it’s apparent that at this early stage, it’s all about the playing rather than the audience. Still, it’s tight.

Siorai Geimhreadh’s ‘November Eve’ demo is a good one, and they’ve caught that damp, forest dwelling black metal sound that’s been popular for the last five years or so with its open chords and bending drones. Tonight though it’s a bit of a let down. This is largely because onstage they look stoned, and a little unsure of what they should be doing. Similarly, they go through at least three different distinct sounds, leaving one wondering which Siorai Geimhreadh they’d most like to be. The muddy, soundscaped one, the churning black metal one, or more frequently, the band just muddling through unsure about precisely what derivation of BM they are at all? It is far from bad - but then it’s hard to say what it actually is, and unfortunately their lack of coordination means that punters’ attentions are visibly wandering by the end. Oddly pleasant, but the wheat in their music needs sorted from the chaff if they’re to get any further.

They must learn from the headliners tonight, who deliver an honest, blunt, utterly authentic and therefore brilliant demonstration of what it means to even be an extreme metal band. Altar Of Plagues dont give a shit about anyone except themselves. They know their game, they know what they want to communicate, and they know exactly how to do it. You dont tour with Mayhem and learn nothing: and if the mutterings on the ground are to be believed, they probably showed a flaccid Mayhem how things were done on more than one occasion anyway.

A single red bulb glows in front of an old Hiwatt amp. It would remind you of the old catholic votive lamps that flicker in many an Irish house. Nice touch. I used to wonder what would happen if that light went out. There was something terrifyingly irreligious about the idea, and the same atmosphere is down at the front of the stage when Altar Of Plagues let rip. Dressed without pretension, saying nothing, coming out only to do what they intend to do, they sound absolutely fucking collossal. I’ve always said that this band are ahead of their game in how they own the controlled, angry chaos so essential to real black metal, yet fuse it with the sense of release and wave-like crashing that makes great post rock what it is. Theory would suggest these shouldnt be seen dead together. But that’s what Altar Of Plagues do, and it’s in a class of its own.

‘Twisted Structures Against The Sun’ is an obvious and anticipated highlight. But in truth one song could be another throughout this set. It’s not really about the tracks themselves. It’s about a band so sure of themselves and their agenda, brilliant at their music (nb: fantastic blastbeats, total vocal commitment, unremitting stage energy) and not sopping to anyone - not even a hello - and about being in the audience and taking that in. Catch this band while you can. Not because one day they will be big, or something, because in all likelihood the will be the very opposite. But rather because they write, and even better PERFORM, music that spews from the very pits of black metal’s furnace and is yet quenched by post rock’s walls of water. It’s an awesome thing to be in front of.

- Ciaran Tracey ::: 15/01/08