Himsa, A Life Once Lost, Too Pure To Die, and Ted Maul At Camden Underworld
Whoever put this tour together deserves a fucking big, shiny medal. Usually the more bands you get the more chance there is that you’ll find something to hate, counting the minutes through at least one of the sets. This, however, was a completely filler-free lineup with four bands each bringing something slightly different to a quality night.
Providing some English presence on the bill are Londoners Ted Maul. If Enter Shikari are the cheeky cousins and Mindless Self Indulgence the smiling toddlers of the genre-twisting family, then Ted Maul are the warped monster relation kept chained at the back of the cellar. Mixing ferocious grindcore with elements of full on drum and bass it’s an impressive wall of noise. If anything the live version is easier to follow than the recorded and they tread on just the right side of the line of chaos, where you can’t quite find constant rhythm to bang your head to. TM also aren’t afraid of one vital element that many bands overlook: dicking about. If the band are having fun on stage the audience will relate and this set comes complete with cockups, tripping over and some quality graceless somersaults. Thirty minutes is way too short but my ears are already stinging.
Iowans Too Pure To Die bring a change to a more regular pace, putting aside the chaos and stamping their feet firmly into the Hatebreed/Throwdown line of heaviness. You know the drill - it’s all big, heavy riffs with angry shouting and a rhythm you can just bang your head to without worrying about missing a beat. It’s perhaps a shame that after the spectacle of Ted Maul something relatively ’simplistic’ perhaps brings the energy down for a moment, but helped by a few avid fans and the fact that vocalist Paul is like a metal gym instructor - complete with headband, swinging towel and (hopefully) tongue-in-cheek muscle pumps - it doesn’t take long to restore the crowd to full alertness. Also, full credit for a pure genius metal cover of Eye Of The Tiger.
Third band on and the crowd’s slowly packing in. A Life Once Lost are completely new to me but definitely one to keep track of. The sound falls somewhere between the heavy metalcore of Lamb Of God, but with a twist of stoner blues of the likes of Fu Manchu or Kyuss. The songs seamlessly blend from blisteringly impressive aural assaults into groove-laden, riff-heavy breakdowns. I get the impression they’re possibly the quieter, more ‘artsy’ of the bands on the tour with vocalist Robert reminiscent of a younger (hairier) Neil Fallon - drawing the crowd in with an earnest passion and gratitude rather than a shouted demand. Without exaggerating, I’d say they’re one of the most impressive new live bands I’ve seen in the last 6 months. If you like metal you need to see them.
It’s all well and good to have new, experimental, boundary shattering bands in your life. They help expand your horizons, keep track of what’s incoming and inform your own future tastes. But sometimes all you need is a good, solid hit of honest, fucking brutal metal and Himsa provide in spades. I’ll admit the only track I know by name is the epic Sleezevil but that stands as a prime example of what’s to love about them. The vocals are like the battle roar of a whiskey-soaked Spartan and the riffs are as mosh-friendly as you could ever hope for. Continuing the ‘dicking about’ theme from earlier vocalist John is in fine form, like a twelve year old boy stealing people’s hats, wallets and backpacks, taking cameras from the crowd for his own shots and going on all fours to provide a launch platform for stage divers. All this without missing a single line from what ends as a stunningly well rounded set with both John and A Life Once Lost’s Rob in a pile amongst the crowd. It’s great to see a band that want to interact with their fans that much, hanging around for a good twenty minutes afterwards to chat and take photos. More please, and soon.
