Home Gigs Gig Review :Terror at The Patriot – featuring Black Lakes with special guests Lesbian Bed DeathThe Patriot, Crumlin, Newport

Gig Review :Terror at The Patriot – featuring Black Lakes with special guests Lesbian Bed DeathThe Patriot, Crumlin, Newport

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Review by Gary Spiller for MPM

Feathers of the deepest purple and black the stately raven, lonesome atop his perch of death, caws to himself. Scalded whites and yellows of the lightning tree sear in contrast to the approaching night.

Daylight floods out of the valley to be replaced by the obsidian tones of the coming dark. Above the moon nears its monthly fullness as the calendar advances ever closer to All Hallow’s Eve.

Lights flicker in their pumpkin shrouds and the once living begin to rise; their memories ensured to live on. Spiders have spread their silken webs and await, poised, for the unwary to stray. A skeletal hand creeps from its coffin lair, all the while The Patriot gears itself, resplendent, for a night of living terror! The fortress defences tremble in acknowledgement of what’s to come, the raven observes awaiting the metalliferous pestilence.

The first wave of the horror onslaught is fronted by the punked up gothic contagion of Stoke’s Lesbian Bed Death. Having recently had them recommended to me I’m stunned to learn that the band, in one form or another, has been going for twenty years! Not only that but this evening is their very first incursion into Wales!

With three tracks and associated videos, all featuring this spooky evening, released in the run-up to the December launch of ‘Midnight Lust’, their eighth studio offering, this is an outfit gaining significant traction. However, there’s also a keen eye within on their past too with respect paid to all bar one of their previous albums.

The forthcoming album will represent the first recorded output with the current lineup. One which was completed, just seven months ago, with the addition of the expressive JJ, our front and centre, on vocals. With the tight knit rocksteady pairing of Aimee Violet on drums and Leisl Heath (bass) alongside the powerhouse of founding member Mr Peach (guitar) this is a strongarm quartet that have much to offer, make absolutely no bones (rattling or otherwise) about it.

Gothic chimes precursor LBD’s arrival, thunder cracks and rolls as the seething cauldron radiates a fluorescent hue. The coffin lid creaks as a distant lupine howls moonwards. Last year’s single, a snarling obsidian shaded beast, ‘The Antichrist’ sets the tone. “You got me hypnotised” offers JJ; the nightmarish being casts glowing eyes upon the devilish scene.

The pages of the tome are flicked back over a decade with a crash of Aimee’s cymbals. Throttle right back the elevator descends, the slick conduit to the underworldly realms. ‘Designed By The Devil, Powered By The Dead’, the title of the 2010 album, is swift accelerating, hard-driving gothic rock. JJ a whirling dervish with Mr. Peach testing the integrity of the rafters.

The creative coffin creaks open further with the muscular ‘Roadkill’ thrown into the fray; one of several offerings from December’s release placed upon the sacrificial altar throughout a mayhemic eighty minutes. With overtones of The Cure at their very finest ‘The Witching Hour’ bears witness to Lucifer calling and the falling of angels. Siren-like JJ, skull and dramatic headwear, presents a beguiling figure with Leisl’s bass resounding with a serious nod to Sisters Of Mercy. Darkened overtones achieve maximum contagion.

Sarcophagi spill their contents, ‘The Mummy’s Tomb’, one of the trio of tracks released in advance of ‘Midnight Lust’, hollers from the dank catacombs with a bat-like Judas Priest immersed in gothic dimensions. Alongside the haunting, yet highly driven, ‘Satanic Suicide Sex Cult’ and the hair-raising experience of ‘Horrors Of The Crown Hotel’ the new material goes down a total storm. “No-one checks out with their soul intact” informs JJ, so reminiscent of young Siouxsie.

There are touches of Iron Maiden in the bone crunching ‘Evil Never Dies’, goth metal if you like, and sprinkles of prog-ish elements in ‘Bela Lugosi’s Back’, all the while with the essential ethereal nucleus. The things that comprise glorious nightmares. Right through to the dying Kiss-stomping notes of the Rob Zombie fringed ‘Pretty But Mental’ we’re taken on a terrorising rollercoaster ride. Invited to partake in ‘Breakfast at Tisiphone’s’, a vengeful invocation from the hellish depths, or spooked witless with the seasonal ‘Halloween’, that shamelessly melds Rainbow with primetime vampiric hellraising, a meteoric impact has been made.

The reins, for the second aphotic tsunamic wave of the evening, are taken up by Welsh alt-metallers Black Lakes. Still riding high following their debut release ‘For All We’ve Left Behind’, in early 2022, this industrious local quintet is hard at work putting all the building blocks together that will comprise their, as yet untitled, second long-playing release which is due for release early next year.

The stage darkens and an apparitional orchestral intro runs magnanimously amok, skittering across the rooftops, darting between the chimney stacks. White spots scan and the band’s logo flickers hauntingly; the scene is well and truly set with a vibrancy that alloys The Lord of Rings and the Living Dead in a colossal manner.

‘Exordium’, a haunting coruscation, ushers the masked and cowled band upon stage with oracular vocalist Will Preston forcefully emitting the time-honoured enquiry “Patriot are you fucking ready?” For a brief moment Will’s vocals shut down, but the venue’s techs are on to it and the issue is swiftly resolved.

Raw and bleeding the heartfelt ‘Avarice’ stokes the conflagrant pyre, burning wildly its flames stretching fiery tendrils towards the Hunter’s Moon, just one night from its lunar wholeness. Herein heads nod, unified by the warrior call from the Valleys. Frenetic fretworker James Rowlands raises his horns as his partner-in-riffage, Scott Bradshaw questions “Have you had a good night so far?” furthering “Are you having a good night now?” Naturally it’s a positive response.

Embracing the core ethics of Linkin Park (more of which later) the haunting and truly anthemic ‘Verity in Flames’ ably demonstrates why it has become such a live favourite. Roaring in its approach this track ascends, tightly powering I’m left in no doubt this is an outfit that has risen several notches since I last caught them live at Love Rocks in the summer.

“I want you to sing with us. We don’t need a practice run, gonna do it dry!” Will instructs ahead of ‘Fragments’ coming crashing down through the roof, structural integrity challenged at an early juncture. The adoring Patriot crowd lap every anthemic moment of this furiously charging track. The raven, ravenous, seeks its adrenalized carrion.

There’s an unwritten and strong connection between band and fans “We love you more!” express the crowd as James offers a collective appreciation of the support shown. Swooping in for the kill the Celtic resonance of ‘Deathrone’ outputs a pulverising phantasmagoria, the raptor feeds voraciously.

New track ‘White Cliffs’, now firmly ensconced in the set, is ‘dedicated’ to the Tories and their troubled leader Rishi Sunak. With its poignant message it receives a raucous reception; this is an outfit that does not shy tackling head-on challenging subject matter. ‘Landslide’ tears the inner soul asunder, the wreckage floods downstream. Exudation from the liquid morass into the very fabric of being, a potent elixir.

The phantasmal ‘Ghosts (Of Our Memories)’ scribes the tone with unseen nib; still-cowled bassist Lee Harris stalks low-slung rhythms accompanied by the talented percussive element of Dafydd Fuller whilst Scott imbibes a volcanic solo.

Holding up an outstretched hand Will, almost in disbelief, observes “Five years ago this song was released!” Debut single ‘The Divide’ is chockful of Welsh plangency with the dual riffs, supplied amply by Scott and James, wielded atop of an earth-quaking rhythm. ‘Break the Silence’, restored to the set for tonight, coruscates in the void; great to hear this number after so long.

A completely unplanned cover of Linkin Park’s barnstorming debut single ‘One Step Closer’ further examines the Patriot’s structure; walls quake whilst the roof elevates.

Brand new track ‘Rapture’ steamrollers mercilessly, the band is a well-oiled machine delivering an atomizing despatch that bodes so well for the new release. With a call of the clans ‘Dissident’ is set to close up proceedings with Will declaring “I reckon I’ve got one more in me before my voice goes.” It’s nu-metal effulgence bounces insanely as the Patriot faithful follow suit.

“You greedy lot!” Will smiles broadly as the crowd playfully demand one further song. Mercifully there’s one more in the tank and we’re treated to a further new one; a first live outing for the rampaging ‘Hurricane’, as its working title, which reaches stratospheric levels with consummate ease capturing those dreams of yesterday whilst screaming for silence. There’s a serious quake predicted for the new year, and it’s guaranteed that Black Lakes’ second album will be right at the epicentre of it!

Photography by Kelly Spiller for MPM

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