Ne Obliviscaris, live in London

Support: Xerath, Brutai

You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

It certainly is heartening to see a healthy crowd queueing outside The Boston Music Rooms on a rainy Wednesday night during a tube strike, all here to see some unique and challenging music.

That’s the good news for openers Brutai [7], the bad news is that it would appear the soundman is stuck in the chaotic public transport system as, for the first few songs at least, they sound like an incoherent soup of noise. It improves dramatically as their set progresses luckily, and the more it does the more Brutai begin to impress. Shimmering keys, pummelling riffs and a very nice line in instantaneous choruses are all present in their sound, and, for a band very much in their infancy, you have to say that they are definitely worth keeping tabs on. If the stars align they have the potential to come across like the love child of Ihsahn and Devin Townsend, at the moment it’s the roar of that child emerging from the womb. Let’s hope they get brought up properly.

And Brutai are in pretty good company when it comes to being robbed of their maximum sonic impact. As the same fate awaits Xerath [8]who only receive fifty per cent of the bass, and therefore fifty per cent of the gut punching power, of their sound. It’s a real shame as Xerath are capable of truly exceptional live performances, and are one of UK music’s best kept secrets. Their meld of futuristic technical metal mixed with old school groove is unlike just about anything else doing the rounds at the moment. Guitarist Conor McGouran is a shredder in the Dimebag mould and an obvious focal point of their live experience. And, even not firing on all cylinders, watching them in full flow is like seeing Fear Factory playing a set of ZZ Top covers. A proper chin stroking, beer swilling wonder.

After the PA problems of the night so far you fear that Ne Obliviscaris [8] will have a torrid time trying to recapture what is an incredibly dense and complex sound. As it is the Aussies are so tight, so taut and so precise that they captivate throughout their 90 minute set. It’s a set of mass depth and total contrasts; the smiles and pumping fist of clean vocalist and violinist Tim Charles is oddly juxtaposed by frontman Xenoyr, every inch the seething antagonist and a dead ringer for Satyricon’s Satyr. Plus there is the wild musical shifts, from double paced, kick drum driven black metal stylings to beautiful passages of clean, beautiful, folk style guitar and violin interplay – usually within the same song!

Most songs pass way over the ten minute mark, and the cheers that eruptwhen Ne Obliviscaris glide into the twelve plus minute Forget Not is proof that this totally engaging band are not in the business of appealing to, or coaxing out casual music fans. This is for obsessives only, the sort of obsessives that would be willing to brave a wet Wednesday during a public transport blackout. And, with the amount of care, love and intelligence Ne Obliviscaris put into their work, it sure is good to see the numbers growing.

GALLERY: Ne Obliviscaris live at Soundwave 2015

Stephen Hill

Since blagging his way onto the Hammer team a decade ago, Stephen has written countless features and reviews for the magazine, usually specialising in punk, hardcore and 90s metal, and still holds out the faint hope of one day getting his beloved U2 into the pages of the mag. He also regularly spouts his opinions on the Metal Hammer Podcast.

Latest in
Vera Farmiga in 2021
The Conjuring star Vera Farmiga announces debut album with her heavy metal band The Yagas
'Emo' Ed Sheeran busking
Watch Ed Sheeran cover Chappell Roan's Pink Pony Club on the New York subway while disguised as an emo busker
A close-up shot of the Marshall Major IV on-ear headphones on a turquoise, blue and black background.
I’ve never seen the Marshall Major IV headphones this cheap before - get them for half price in Amazon’s big spring sale
Evanescence in 2025
Evanescence release new song Afterlife from Devil May Cry TV series soundtrack, have their next album in the works
Tony Banks
“You only have to hear the opening sweep to reach for your lighter and wave it in the air”: Tony Banks' greatest Genesis moments
The Horrors
Ghouls Aloud: The Horrors come back from the dead with "a dazzling nocturnal spectacle of sombre reflections and oozing catharsis"
Latest in Review
The Horrors
Ghouls Aloud: The Horrors come back from the dead with "a dazzling nocturnal spectacle of sombre reflections and oozing catharsis"
/news/the-darkness-i-hate-myself
"When the storm clouds clear, the band’s innate pop sensibilities shine as brightly as ever": In a world of bread-and-butter rock bands, The Darkness remain the toast of the town
Sex Pistols at the RAH
"Open the dance floor, you’ll never get to do it again." Forget John Lydon's bitter and boring "karaoke" jibes, with Frank Carter up front, the Sex Pistols sound like the world's greatest punk band once more
Arch Enemy posing in an alleyway
Arch Enemy promised they'd throw out the rule book for Blood Dynasty. They didn't go quite that far, but this is the boldest album of the Alissa White-Gluz era - and it kicks ass
The Darkness press shot
"Not just one of the best British rock albums of all time, but one of the best debut albums ever made": That time The Darkness added a riot of colour to a grey musical landscape
Roger Waters - The Dark Side of the Moon Redux Deluxe Box Set
“The live recording sees the piece come to life… amid the sepulchral gloom there are moments of real beauty”: Roger Waters' Super Deluxe Box Set of his Dark Side Of The Moon Redux