By Sarah Collins

The Purple Turtle, Camden, Tuesday 2nd February 2010

—————————————————-

PT! Live offers emerging metal bands the chance to show the world that they mean business. For most of them, backstage riders full of Grey Goose Vodka and cold cuts will remain a distant dream, and a lot of them clearly lack that frontman charisma that is oh so necessary in an industry where your customers buy into your image rather than buy your records. But tonight’s showcase is a treat nevertheless. Admittedly, the first band on (name unknown, but you probably wouldn’t be scrambling on to Myspace music to have a listen anyway) seriously don’t fit in with the scene and have that “Look at me! I look like a girl, but actually I’m a boy!” type vibe. And their playing abilities are, at best, agricultural.

In The Absence of Light are second up. In an impressive visual gimmick, guitarist Matt’s hand lights up in the blacklight to reveal the bones in his hand. The morbid screaming, hypnotic slap bass and the sonic booming drums are combined with the surprisingly soothing melodic tones of the guitar. Next to take the stage are Hail of Abuse, and they not so much own the stage as wrestle the wretched thing from the previous band and impale it with their own flagpole. Other than singer Rob, who seems oddly intent on racing around the floor area growling, entangling the crowd in the lead from his microphone. This is only their third gig but, damn, you wouldn’t believe it watching this set. They are tight as an anorexic virgin, and they are heavy in the best sense of the word, mixing sounds from thrash, death and a dollop of punk into a sonic cocktail that makes the crowd roar like wolves in heat.

Annero are on last, and they have the unfortunate disadvantage of not being known in the area. A whole load of people have left – sucks for them, because Annero pulled a load of dead cats out of the bag. They mixed heavy riffs and excellent timing with brutal singing – that’s singing, not screaming. The lyrics are beyond what you’d expect from such an unknown band – in “Downfall” they repeat the line: “This is not a threat/ It’s a god damn promise.” In a style so similar to “Decapitated” they offer tunes that the crowd would love. If only more of the crowd were here.