Asomvel, Live in London

UK metal veterans ring the changes once more

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If you’re normally all about the headliners, it’s easy to get jaded and lazy when it comes to support bands, but you never know what’s going to sneak up behind you and smack you upside the head.

RIDDLES [7] lurch onto the stage, blasting out planet-sized bolts of epic space rock that lift your head far from the confines of the venue. You’ll be hearing much from them in 2015.

Having originally started some 20 years ago by guitarist Lenny Robinson and singer/bassist Jay Jay Winter jamming on a Harrogate pig farm, ASOMVEL [7] have been plagued by endless lineup changes and, in 2010, the tragic death of Jay Jay in a road accident. Lenny, determined not to let the band die with him, pushed on with a new lineup and spewed out the venomous Knuckle Duster album in 2013.

But the lineup issues didn’t end there and tonight’s performance features yet another new incarnation with Larry Patterson on drums and Ralph on guitar and vocals. This is their live debut and it’s raw and frazzled around the edge but fuck it, so were the bands they emulate so well.

Tank, Venom, Motörhead: these bands rattled with a rough punk energy that Asomvel so perfectly encapsulate. Here’s hoping this is the lineup that sticks and allows Asomvel to do the damage they deserve./o:p