Employed To Serve are on worldconquering form
DEREK BREMNER
Woking metal idols helm an evening of enthralling new blood
OH, FOR GOD’S sake! Who left ZETRA’s time machine on shuffle again?! How else do you explain a band who look like 90s Mayhem, sound like 80s synth rock and seemingly lifted their instruments from a 70s Doctor Who set? This duo are a hodgepodge of batshit bullshit that shouldn’t work, yet their 30 minutes hypnotise Milton Keynes all the same. On top of heavy electro beats, the pair both flaunt spectacular pipes, sustaining stretched-out notes again and again and again. The only chink in the otherwise unforgettable armour is their melodies. With some bigger earworms in their arsenal, they could easily overcome their conglomeration of gimmicks to be serious dark pop darlings.
Zetra want to woo you with their alien ambience. BURNER want to fucking kill you. The elevator pitch for these South London greebos is ‘What would happen if Bolt Thrower and Converge shagged in a skip?’ They balance the beatdowns and rampaging rhythms of hardcore with death metal’s muscular riffing so expertly that the fact they haven’t even dropped their debut EP yet blows the mind. Turns out this is their first ever tour, too – not that you’d tell watching them. Frontman Harry Nott leads his wrecking crew through an authoritative barn-stormer of a set, traipsing through bruisers from the impending Vision Of The End and their first album, slated for 2023. If you somehow survive their live onslaught, give this band your money.