VESTINDIEN, BERGEN
If you’re only going to watch one hastily arranged live-stream during this horrific fiasco, it might as well be this one. A lot of bands look awkward in these artificial situations, but Vulture Industries’ intrinsic oddity is an instinctively visual fit - a four-man embodiment of Bergen’s progressive rock obsession, via the deeply wonky urges of BM’s avant-garde and a generous sprinkling of mischief. The band sound great, especially given the circumstances, and frontman Bjørnar E. Nilsen is on top form, simultaneously lost in noisy reverie and in precise control of his immense voice. The songs’ theatricality effortlessly meets the moment, turning what could be a sterile practice session into a mesmerising 60-plus minutes of prime Norwegian weirdness. Songs from 2017’s Stranger Times provide the meat of the show, the unbearable tense As The World Burns an obvious standout, but nothing quite tops unhinged finale Blood Don’t Eliogabalus. A psycho-metal clown-pour of epic proportions, it feels far too big, imaginative and wild to be squished into this transient digital realm, but there’s something oddly thrilling about witnessing it this way, like tech-savvy flies on the wall. A captivating distraction at all times, Vulture Industries appear to be having a tremendous amount of fun tonight and, at the risk of being insensitive, it’s highly infectious.