Illuminatus / Evil Scarecrow
20 March 2008
The Purple Turtle, Camden, London
Tonight’s show was the London stop on the Awesomsauce Tour presented by Riot Promotions and Pure Rawk. The shows were marking the 30th Birthday of Jaimz Riot, from Riot Promotions, and as Illuminatus frontman Julio Taylor put it “Most people throw a party, whereas Jaimz organises a tour!” The show also featured The Pleasures, Disarm and Dead Identities, however, we were here to check out Illuminatus who are about to release their debut album The Wrath Of The Lambs.
First we were in for a spooky treat in the form of Evil Scarecrow. Hailing for Nottingham, the five piece have described themselves as Iron Maiden meets Black Metal meets sticky back plastic, which is actually pretty accurate. In an array of home made horror costumes, Evil Scarecrow take to the stage and hit us with Dead Things, before unleashing the Hell Dog. Frontman Dr Hell informs us its time to go mental, as in “Putting your arm up a dog and chasing women around mental!”
We’re invited to sway along with the band to Vampyre Trousers, who then indulging in Status Quo like posing. Mid song Papa Bongo leaves his kit to hold up numbered signs for each of the 4 notes in Dr Hell’s solo. The biggest laugh though, comes when Dr Hell cheekily quotes Cradle Of Filth’s The Forest Whispers My Name and that name turns out to be “Brian!?”. Despite all the comedy, the songs are actually well crafted.
Sixty-Six Minutes Past Six is so evil it causes The Pleasures backdrop to collapse and the call for out of time clapping during Morbid Witch is well observed. In fact, so absorbed are this crowd that Dr Hell does well to get a good section of them robotic dancing to Robototron. Evil Scarecrow’s tongue resides firmly in cheek, but they are highly entertaining and very metal!
Evil Scarecrow set list:
Dead Things / Hell Dog / Vampyre Trousers / Sixty-Six Minutes Past Six / Morbid Witch / Robototron
It had been a while since I’d last seen Illuminatus, but it didn’t take long to be nodding along to the big chords of opener Captive State. The band seem to have had trouble securing the right bass player to move forward, but at his first gig tonight, Leo Giovazzini seems to be that man. More so than I’ve seen before, the four piece seemed united and moved as if one living organism as the song built.
The emotionally charged Wait was up next, with Felix Rullhusen ticking out the verse as Julio Taylor’s sorrowful vocal mutated into a pained wail. The song melted into feedback then into the Sabbath heavy riffing of instrumental and album title track The Wrath Of The Lambs, with the whole band headbanging.
The rich harmony guitars riffs of Black hit us with heavy as hell riffs, Taylor’s melodic vocal with just the right amount of rough edge to it. Of course, these songs are familiar to followers of the band, but the arrival of Giovazzini has apparently inspired a bout of song writing and one of those compositions is next. The quality of The Rising Tide really bodes well for Illuminatus’ future, with the song punctuated with excellent accents from Jon Martin on guitar.
Wargasm with Martin’s gorgeous Floydian guitar refrain closes the set, slipping into that bands Comfortably Numb mid song. Certainly this was the most complete performance I’ve seen from Illuminatus and I look forward to the release of their debut.
Illuminatus set list:
Captive State / Wait / The Wrath Of The Lambs / Black / The Rising Tide / Wargasm
LINKS:
Illuminatus
Evil Scarecrow
Riot Promotions
Pure Rawk
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