Review & Photography by Andy Payne for MPM
Hidden away down a small side street in North East London there is a quaint and unsuspecting pub called The Victoria which holds a dirty little secret.
Disguised behind a fake bookcase lies a secluded music venue just large enough for a hundred or so punks to squeeze themselves in for a rowdy night of hardcore. Riding the success of their recent tour with Body Count, the German funk rockers Slope are back in London for a headline show and they have brought a spectacular selection of support acts with them.
Opening proceedings tonight are Forager from Manchester (as the singer is at pains to point out between each and every song). Taking influence from emo and metallic hardcore bands of the early 00’s, Forager dives head first in a frantic set of heavy hardcore riffs and blistering harsh vocals reminiscent of a young Chino Moreno.
The opening run of The Knife into Runt is a stellar introduction to the band and as the room begins to fill it is clear to see that the crowd are enjoying what they see.
The lead bass riff of Runt in particular has everyone nodding their heads and a couple of moshers begin to flail their arms around.
There is a shift in tone midway through their set as their vocalist puts it “This is us pretending to be Oasis.” Converse is the one clean vocal-led song of the set and although it’s not exactly Wonderwall it is a welcome palette cleanser and a chance for the band to show off their more diverse creativity. More than anything, though, this respite leads us into a false sense of security before the extremity of the following song Real Me kicks off with the band’s best vocal hook of the night and one of the most headbang-inducing riffs in their collection.
The Mancunians are clearly relishing every moment of their set and do an excellent job of warming up the crowd as the moshers multiply with each breakdown.
We even get a cheeky David Draiman styled “ooh ah ah ah” at the start of Temper and the singer joins the rabid crowd in the pit for the final song shouting that he wants to see “the best two steppers in London” This is the third time that I have seen Grove Street, but the first time since the release of their highly acclaimed album “The Path To Righteousness” and this is comfortably the smallest venue that I have seen the band play.
As the quintet walk onto the stage, the 80’s synth-wave style intro track from the album plays out over the PA and a mosh pit is prepared before the band have played a note.
Jumping straight into the Slayer worshipping Hunting Season, Grove Street whip the crowd up into a frenzy with their thrash crossover riffs and obnoxiously aggressive hardcore vocals.
Formally known as The Grove Street Families, Grove Street have a number of years under their belt by now, and it really shows.
The intimate venue may be a bit of a contrast to the Sophie Lancaster Stage at Bloodstock, but the band strut around still as though they own the place. The gallop at the end of Ulterior Motives has the whole room two stepping and the more energetic moshers begin bouncing themselves off of the front of the stage. By the time vocalist Ben Sullivan has introduced the next song Caught Slipping the floor has become Bedlam.
In keeping with the GTA theme for which the band were originally named, the set is interspersed with random lofi instrumentals between songs as if scrolling through radio channels before returning to the intensity of their specific brand of thrash and hardcore.
Born II Lose is a masterclass in creativity as the song leaps between Metallica riffs to almost Pink Floyd(esque) dreamy guitars before the breakdown. Likewise, the vocals range from deranged screaming to the more grounded and punchy style, which Sullivan usually keeps to.
The penultimate song T.Y.D.O., somehow manages to generate a circle pit, and once the title track off of the album, The Path To Righteousness kicks in, fans start frog leaping off of the stage. The set closes with one more breakdown, which is accompanied by ferocious blast beats winding up the energy as much as possible before the bands final farewell.
The new album Freak Dreams by Slope has been on regular rotation for me ever since its release back at the start of the year.
A wonderful call back to early Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Beastie Boys they have a sound that couldn’t come from anywhere else except for the USA so I was absolutely floored when I first discovered that the quintet are actually from Germany.
Tonight is the bands first ever London headline show and the Germans are determined to stake their claim as the new up-and-coming group to see.
The band open their set with brand new single Fury Funk which was released earlier in the week and has one of the hardest hitting punk riffs in their back catalogue. In a live environment, the choice of support acts for tonight makes a lot more sense; with a guitar tone similar to bands like Turnstile and riffs to match, the hardcore side to the bands sound comes to the fore.
Track three takes things back to their 2017 EP with the ravenous Goodbye Mr Dandy and the mosh pit becomes a frenzied mass of crowd killing, stage diving and flying bodies which doesn’t let up for the rest of the bands set.
I’m Fine brings back the funk and at this point the Chili Pepper comparisons become unavoidable, but considering the Californians haven’t sounded like this in almost 30 years, nobody is complaining. The second half of the track switches to a thunderous bass riff, never letting the energy levels dip.
The dual attack of both rappers continuously switching lines means that they both take equal standing as frontman once again calling to mind groups such as Beastie Boys and the more contemporary Joey Valance & Brae.
It is a set that covers all of Slopes career to date, picking tracks from new album Freak Dreams but also 2021’s Street Heat and the 2017 Losin’ Grip EP with short breaks separating the more funk-leaning songs from the bands faster punk material.
They may not have played the UK much, but the crowd are lapping up every song, and when it comes to the band’s newer material, it is clear that there are some die-hard fans here tonight. The crowd singing back the chorus for True Blue is a particular highlight followed by the Faith No More sounding Movin’ Losin’ which blurs the line between rapping and screaming.
Album opener Talk Big is an anthem which really fuels the party atmosphere and closes with a phenomenal bass solo.
As the band approaches the final few songs of their set, they ramp up the hardcore with Truth Machine, a track littered with offbeat stabbing guitar chords like a hip-hop-inspired Dillinger Escape Plan.
Deep-cut Bark n Bite from the bands 2014 EP is comfortably the heaviest song of the set with screamed vocals, Black Sabbath styled doom riffs and a slow creeping bass breakdown it goes to show that Slope can go as hard as the next man. Freak Dreams is saved for the bands encore and it is well worth the wait as the crowd sings along to the highly infectious pre-chorus and then headbangs in unison to the chorus riff, the guitars switching from Frusciante to Hettfield at a moments notice.
The band then bid farewell with one more song dedicated to “anyone who hates their job.” 9/5 is one of the most thrash sounding songs, but once again switches to a relaxed Funk atmosphere for a melodic guitar solo which precedes a colossal Slayer styled outro.
It is a magnificent end to an incredible performance and the bands all stick around afterwards to speak with fans. Hopefully we will be seeing a lot more of Slope in the coming years.
