This intriguing line-up on a wet and dismal Sunday evening in Camden was certainly an enticing one and is the last of a select few dates throughout the UK. First up are the mysteries of synth wizard The Oracle, a one-man band project all the way from the USA helmed by Patrick Murphy. I had recently been attempting my best to decipher his new split album with Reign A.D. but nothing could quite have prepared me for his performance tonight.

He is hooded and face painted behind a bank of controls including various effect boards, PC and small keyboard. I noted rather alarmingly that with his make-up complete with a downturned grimace of a painted on moustache he looked a bit like the Samurai in disturbing Japanese faux snuff film Guinea Pig 2 Flowers Of Flesh And Blood. Oh my, we were about to be tortured by sonic levels hitherto unknown to most of our ears. The whole room reverberates to dark ambient sounds that are throbbing and disconcerting. Programmed drums thud out and it all sound fantastic. This is music to absorb more than anything else and it enters your body and treats it a bit like a sponge.

Radiophonic sounds reminiscent of the experimental Delia Derbyshire see tentacles snaking out and monsters loom from crevices with mystery abounding. Shards of shimmering ice are strangely warming as we step inside a crystal cavern and flow gradually into a dungeon synth canvas similar to the sounds of early Cold Meat Industries artists. I don’t think I was the only one in a complete and utter trance. Counterpoising some humungous levels of distortion with delicate keyboards was a bit of a cruel trick. No two ways about it, deafness beckons tomorrow. This was a compelling 30-minute set and one I was really pleased to have caught. It will probably be a one-off considering distance involved and won’t be forgotten in a hurry.

Strangely entitled band The Sun’s Journey Through The Night had swapped places with Spider God, I’m assuming this was due to the fact Patrick from The Oracle needed a break before joining SG as drummer. This UK group are new to me but I had seen photos of their weird looking front-man No One and they had gone down well when they played Fortress Festival earlier this year.

As they absolutely smash into things with the audience hemming towards the front to worship, they unleash an absolutely decimating sound. The opening of their Black Pyramid is both confrontational and macabre. The band dig in sinisterly furrowing away in masks and the singer takes control at the front, looming of the audience like your worst folk horror nightmare.

His abrasive barking delivery kind of gives the style of black metal on display a bit of a hardcore (post or otherwise) slant which I had noticed checking the group out earlier. Although abrasive and uncompromising there are moments of bleak ambience between tracks simmering away and allowing the front-man to contort himself into strange shapes. There’s also some faint underlying symphonics down in the mix although that could be my ears playing up.

Moving into slower crushing territory followed by an indignant screamed curse, the wheels come off again and deranged lunacy spills out once more. The blue lighting and white strobe effect adds to the disorientating hostility of it all and leave us stumbling around to caustic attacks such as Orion. This was again an incredibly impressive and destructive set from a band who are certainly ones to watch out for in the future.

A tough act to have to follow and it was up to Spider God to tackle that unenviable task. Still they can be a fun band despite tackling grizzly murders as a theme in their music. Unfortunately, just before they came on news trickled through of the shocking death of Killing Joke guitarist Geordie and anything in way of happiness was sucked straight out. We do not have joy! It was also obvious as the band launch into ‘The Fifty Second Murderer’ that sound wise this was going to be a rough and ready display far different from the production found on recorded material.

I kind of expected this having seen them play at Incineration Festival but tonight the line-up gathered around frontman G was quite a different one than on that night. I’m pretty sure he had the previously mentioned Reign A.D. player Neil on bass but they had a different guitarist and as stated Patrick Oracle on drums. This can’t really have helped as far as consistency is concerned.

The thrashy and gnarly chops are slewn out and the group are exuberant in their approach despite the fact that it is not as busy now with some evidently taking the option for an early night. Sampled keys weave in and out in the background but the melodicism the group are capable of is lost in the mix along with the vocals which are far too low and obliterated by the kick-drum. It’s suitably chaotic as they romp along to songs such as ‘A Thousand Lonely Spiders’ and with alcohol having well and truly kicked in many headbang along and dance away clearly having a good time.

The catchiness and snarls of Horrible Forces’ thankfully sees some form of clarity and the band succeed in getting some pumped out fists in appreciation of their gung-ho sense of spirit and determination. ‘StarCrusher’ is introduced as a song from the new album and is totally unfamiliar. I guess it’s an upcoming one and something to look forward to. I have to admit as they reached the end of their quite short set with one of their cheeky cover songs, namely Genie In A Bottle (Christina Aguilera) I made my escape rather than being ensnared in its web.

(Review and Photos Pete Woods)