Eyehategod - Live at The Well, Leeds, 7th April

"Heroin and pussy...HEROIN AND PUSSY!" Mike Williams drawled into his mic, backed by dirty discordant guitar noises. If I haven`t sold this to you already I think you`re in the wrong place, because for an hour an a half on that Wednesday evening this is what the New Orleans sludge legends typically coughed up in a surreally beautiful manner.



Thanks to a well documented natural disaster, the resurrection of one of guitarist Jimmy Bower`s other bands, Down, and Mike`s affinity with needle related activities, this is the first time since 2002 that Eyehategod have hit these shores.

Playing an awesome greatest hits set with a few new numbers thrown in, the crowd at The Well went sufficiently mental, and for me it was one of the best gigs that I`ve seen in quite a while. Bower and fellow guitarist Brian Patton of Soilent Green fame were on fire, while Mike delivered his drug fuelled misanthropic rants to awesome effect. Its hard to believe that dude`s clean, his eyes looked a million miles away and a shard of glass from a bottle he smashed nearly took my eye out - he played a brilliant frontman mind.

Last gig review for some time - might be popping over to Portugal for Barroselas Metalfest, featuring Dying Fetus and Immolation, at the end of the month.

Jack

Baroness, Islington Mill, Salford

Truth be told, Salford is a bit of a dump, but it will be fondly remember for what Baroness did at the Islington Mill on the 20th January.

Beginning with the divine instrumental "Bullhead's Psalm", they effortlessly oscillate between the ethereal and the formidable. It's fucking exquisite, and it's easy to forget they're in their infancy. They play for a seamless hour before frontman John Baizley bashfully thanks the crowd for its enthusiasm and the band round the night off with "Tower Falls".

These bearded folk seem to have the knack of knowing when to have a bit of a wank about with tricky time signatures and when to nonchalantly slam out a big fuck off riff that has us maneheads headbanging like its 1984.

With two sophisticated albums out, rather humbly named "Red Album" and "Blue Record" (Pokémon, anyone?), along with a tight and honed live sound, theyre set to "Do-A-Mastodon" and launch themselves into the upper echelons of the metal world. Coming soon to a stadium near you....maybe.

Yours tr00ly,
Jack and 'Meshuggahpuffs'