ELECTROWERKZ, LONDON
With a name like PANZERFAUST, it’s obvious what they sound like, right? Turns out they’re a revelation – adark, twisted, crawling mass of discordant riffing and crushing, doom-laden noise. With a set drawn from their recently completed war-themed album trilogy, The Suns Of Perdition, the Canadian quartet are simply incredible. Their take on black metal is forward-thinking and progressive, but in the dingy Elektrowerkz their bloody faces and claustrophobic riffing is the stuff of nightmares. If there’s any justice they’ll be huge. Portland black metallers UADA are just as revelatory. Theirs is a more epic take on black metal, fusing Cascadian soundscapes with triumphant Swedish melodic BM. Backlit in white and all clad in black hoods, they make an austere presence, and their facelessness serves to emphasise the vast storm of their music. By turns hypnotic and stirring, they are as majestic as black metal gets. Tonight offers an incredible pairing, and we can but hope they will both be back to these shores soon.