Loads of good shows on tonight and as I discovered getting through Wembley some that are far from on our radar. Finding out it was Harry Styles that a massive throng of colourful youngsters were about to subject themselves to, it was a relief to get through them and up to Tufnell Park. Once there, further entertainment was provided by two street boxing matches. The first went several rounds and was pretty impressive, the second over in a couple of punches. From the madness outside it was time for more of it in The Boston Arms where Esoteric were celebrating 30 years of warping minds and melting brains with their brand of scary doom, a unique sound all of their own.

First support is one of the many musicians who passed through the doors of the headliners over the decades, Gordon Bicknell with his Lysergene project. This involves just him manipulating a bank of futuristic controls bathed in green lighting. We are transported down space-age ambient paths which at times are reminiscent of Krautrock pioneers moving onto the sounds of artists like Scorn & The Orb. The rhythm of a pulsating heartbeat monitor goes from the speaker through my ribs and I was slightly concerned that if it suddenly stopped, we might all go into cardiac arrest. Sudden electronic barrages suggest electro recovery is at hand to reanimate though.

From here sampled voices and beats remind of old favourites Astralasia pitching us up on the edge of reality and looking around the audience is rooted to the spot, possibly wanting to dance to the more upbeat moments but certainly not wanting to find themselves being the only one to do so. Synergy is definitely flowing and at the right sort of festival or a Hawkwind all-nighter, that is exactly what everyone would have been doing. Has anyone got a purple om?

Back down to earth a bit it is UK doom death act Consecration next. Having just reviewed their new album ‘Cinis’ and spent a good week with it the music is fresh in my mind. We are promised plenty of songs from this new release and the first of these ‘The Dweller in the Tumulus’ is thick with mournful guitar sound and has a hefty stomp about it. The quintet fill the stage and make use of their space, singer Daniel Bollans vocals are extreme and coarse and have plenty of authority about them.

The rest of the band surrounding him seem totally in the grip of their tortured craft and even if the music is new to most, the audience seems to have quickly got into it. Like the title of the song, we are ‘Ground To Ashes’ and its actually quite the experience witnessing these songs being born into flesh right in front of me.

I enjoyed this in the same way as a doomsayer addicted to attending funerals and at times found myself completely in the “Embrace of Perpetual Mourning.’ However, we are brutally snapped out of this later and thrown headlong into the grave by the deathly gallop of ‘The Charnel House’ and finally spooked by ‘A Sentient Haunting.’

This was a suitably crushing first live encounter with Consecration and I have a feeling that as a live act they will flourish. They would certainly be a particularly good match supporting My Dying Bride for those able to cope with a double dose of abject misery.

Naturally Esoteric are going to take us through the many years of their doom dementia with an expanded set of classics, some we don’t get to witness that often. That said we know there is no chance of reaching double figures as we would be here all night. For those not in the know they don’t exactly do short songs. First to be unleashed in all its gibbering lunacy is ‘Dissident’ from 1999 album ‘Metamorphogenesis.’ The guitars make sounds like fluttering bats and moths amidst the heaving quake of the somewhat terrifying number. It’s the stuff of nightmares and I notice one of my companions this evening has headed for the door not be seen again. Greg Chandler’s vocals warp, roar and attack whatever senses we have left and the lighting is particularly vivid moving from purple and red to blue and green over the course of the tumultuous set. It seems busier and more intense than the recent show at The Underworld and the motion from slow passages to maddening speed pumps through the veins and almost causes a few heads to explode.

Having plunged early depths, we suddenly find ourselves coasting on a sea of tranquillity, motioned by the Subconscious Dissolution of a ‘Grey Day.’ Strange sounds, strange fruit, the landscape becomes increasingly alien as the vocals resound and reverb. Eyes are fixed on the drummer who casts a formidable backbone to proceedings and as heft is added becomes a focal point to watch. The bassist contorts himself over his instrument, on knees in front of speaker making things throb.

With no less than 3 playing guitar and banks of effects peddles at times the sound is beyond comprehension pushing us to the limits. I was glad I had made the decision to (shock horror) move to water for the duration of the set, seriously nothing stronger was necessary. We move to latest album ‘A Pyrrhic Existence’ and from the wet to the arid as a desert landscape emerges. What will emerge from the sand will cause tremors along with bamboozling guitar parts.

Everything begins to blur. At one point the bassist invokes organ sounds via a keyboard panel on the floor and we have literally moved into a ‘Stygian Narcosis’ from way back in 97. Six songs are played in all, the last announced at 11PM is I believe a restrained 10-minute one ‘Cipher’ and it leaves those of us to survive the course staggering out somewhat dazed and confused. This is as memorable a gig as one’s memory allows from Esoteric and congratulations go to them for having such an illustrious and defining career, long may it continue. Of course, the journey home consists of running the gauntlet of singing fans from the aforementioned Wembley show (I’m not mentioning that name twice) and I had to wonder just who had the most horrifying time tonight?

Pete Woods