Last year, extreme progressive metal contortionists Ne Obliviscaris took their maiden voyage to the London at the Boston Music Room, just prior to their appearance at Bloodstock Open Air festival. That tour was financed by their incredibly devoted fans and now the Australians are playing the larger Dome, a particularly well-earned reward.
The sole support tonight is Houston's Oceans of Slumber an extraordinarily gifted progressive metal assemblage formed in 2011. Having appeared in London earlier this year supporting doomsters My Dying Bride, this year sees them release sophomore album 'Winter' on Century Media Records, having caught their attention. The album's title track opens tonight's show, beginning ethereally with crystalline guitar leads and the soothing vocals of Cammie Gilbert before torpedoing into heavier riffs similar to Enslaved's later efforts accompanied by growls from the remainder of the line up. After this first song, the openers have effortlessly succeeded in winning over the audience with a weighted applause greeting them.
Their intrigue is that they play a particularly well-written form of metal that cleverly masks its influences to the point where it is challenging to define them individually. Their contemporary prog metal frequently dips its toe into black and death tangents. All of the musicians are keenly technically proficient while Gilbert's vocals and the aforementioned guitar leads equip the music with emotion often presumed dead with other tech artists. Ploughing through 'Winter' songs 'Suffer the Last Bridge', 'Devout', and their delectable Moody Blues cover 'Knights in White Satin', the band conveys a collection of emotions while evading the clichéd. When they evacuate the stage, they are dwarfed by the applause from the audience so it is safe to assume they made many converts tonight.
Ambitious Australian metallers Ne Obliviscaris strike the stage with intro 'Painters of the Tempest (Part I): Wyrmholes' leading into 'Painters of the Tempest (Part II): Triptych Lux' from the 'Citadel' album, propelling themselves into a maelstrom of hard working metal. Their progressive metal incorporates a plethora of musical styles including black metal, death metal, classical, flamenco and jazz. The third movement of 'Painters of the Tempest' completes the trilogy and the crowd are ecstatic. The talent of each of the members can never be understated as tempos and time signatures change frequently but not in a jarring manner. Variation is what the Australians proffer best, refusing to allow their compositions to grow stale or wade into the predictable in spite of the long-lasting durations of the songs, which allows them sufficient time to ripen fully. Melodic guitar leads and violin are paired against death metal riffs and blast beats while Xenoyr's growls are side-by -side with Tim Charles' clean singing. Moments of concentrated brutality are paused for meandering exploratory guitar work and off-beat drumming. It is effortless for the band to have the audience either moshing or letting their jaws fall to the ground.
Charles frequently thanks the fans for their support throughout the night, recognising that Ne Obliviscaris would be nothing without them. He comes across as a humbling individual and the entire line up appear delighted to perform in the capital again tonight. 'Devour Me, Colossus (Part I): Blackholes' and the older 'Tapestry of the Starless Abstract' found out the set with more progressive leanings. Given the complexity and oddity of the headliner's music, the sound in the live environment is difficult to engineer and so the six-piece do not attain the level of clarity that their recorded outputs exhibit but the music remains stellar. The blistering 'Phyrric' ostensibly finishes the set and as the band vacates the stage swiftly, an encore is presumed. Before too long, Ne Obliviscaris return, first to wish a happy birthday to Xenoyr and then for a rendition of the first song off debut album 'Portal of I' - 'And Plague Flowers the Kaleidoscope'. The crowd's reaction to this twelve-minute onslaught is nothing short of thunderous as they journey through the punishing and the melodic with the band for one final time. Concluding their set, Charles thanks the attendees once again and informs them the band will be happy to meet anyone after the show.
Once again, Ne Obliviscaris have left behind an unforgettable spectacle that the audience will remember for a great length of time. The music is innovative, talented and emotive; metal is a titanic genre nowadays and it is heartening to see bands still craft something unique with limitless ambition, a fist in the face of those who criticise the genre as growing stagnant or devoid of new ideas.
FUTURE GIGS
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