Dutch math-metallers, Textures, chose to play a one-off show in London as the final show in support of their Silhouettes album. Hugh Platt went along to do the words; Paul Caudell was there to do the pictures.
As far as opening acts for Dutch tech-experimentalists Textures go, we’re finding it hard to think of someone less suited to the task than Anger Management. While their half an hour or so of boxy hardcore was far from incompetent, it wasn’t exactly tickling the avant-garde fancy of the few people who turned up early doors.
The tech-polyrhythms of No Consequence are definitely a step closer to the tastes tonight’s audience. Kaan Tasan and Phil Winterbottom certainly go all out in their energetic display of dual frontmanism, and it raises some polite applause and a micro-mosh pit. Tasan doesn’t seem to have the lungs tonight to fully emulate the more melodic passages of In The Shadow Of Gods, and the asthmatic PA system does it’s best to suffocate the band’s subtler nuances, but No Consequence have definitely earned their status as a One To Watch.
Romeo Must Die’s blunt-force-trauma approach to metal was so muscular it made the entire Underwold take a step back. Frontman Adam Frakes-Sime’s calls for circle pits and for the “fuckers to take a step forward” fall on reluctant ears, the nervous-looking crowd exchanging worried glaces in the face of such fist-throwing chest-beating metallic aggression. Romeo Must Die remain one of the UK metal scene’s most under-appreciated live acts – playing to crowds like tonight might be part of the reason why.
While The Underworld is far from sold out, when the Dutch sextet take to the stage the crowdswarm to the foot of the undersized stage like a horde of night-insects drawn to the light and heat and noise. Even from the back of the crowd, it’s clear to see that Textures are enjoying tonight – with the band preparing to head back into the studio to start work on their next album, tonight the pressure is off. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a band look – and sound – as effortless as this.
That doen’t mean they’ve rolled up half-cut to offer up a half-arsed performance though. The terminally lazy have in the past described Textures as Meshugguah-lite, but unlike the tightly-wound Swedes, Textures tastes for the ambient widens their palatte in ways not open to the ’shuggah. Despite the many, many obstacles a PA like the Underworld’s throws at Textures, the fact that they’re playing to loyal converts on the least-pressurised show they’ve done since the release of Sillouettes gives tonight a feeling of being almost like a night out among old mates. We don’t know about the rest of the crowd, but we want to get up, sling an arm round Eric Kalsbeek’s shoulders and join in with a beery singalong to ‘Awake’. That fourth album can’t come soon enough.
Watch the video to ‘Awake’ by Textures