Dragged into Sunlight / Bossk

A sweaty dive bar in hipster-fied Dalston is the place of worship for the mysterious Dragged into Sunlight. Despite being an England-based formation, this is their first UK tour in three years and during these years, the band's popularity has rocketed considerably. There is a curiosity surrounding them due to their refusal to state their identities and their overall lingering in the clandestine. Their level of recognition apparently meets the criteria to have post-rock household name Bossk support them rather than the other way round, as would be expected. And all this in a tiny basement venue on a warm Saturday night!

Formed in 2006, Ashford's Bossk take a post-rock formula and imbue it with sludge metal and progressive wanderings. In 2008, the quintet called it quits before releasing a full-length release but they regrouped in 2012. Thick in atmosphere and thoughtful introspection, it comes as no surprise that these musicians endorse a stage presence devoid of traditional metal theatrics or calls to rally the metal troops (not least because of the limited stage size either), whom form most of the clientele tonight. Melodic ambient passages and an ethereal voice are juxtaposed against harsh metal riffs and coarse growls, enough to motivate some into headbanging. Cycling through a myriad of emotions from sadness to curiosity, in some strange way Bossk compliment Dragged into Sunlight, despite both representing differing corners of a musical spectrum. With such an intriguing sound, one can only pray Bossk have the intention of touring more.

Temperatures soar as Dragged into Sunlight take the stage behind an ornate candle stand with three burning candles, adorned with a goat skull. The venue is clouded with intrusive dry ice, completely concealing the drummer. Living up to their obsession with declaring their identity, the band plays the set with their backs to the audience (although vocal duties usually require facing the audience but does little to detract from the ritualistic feeling), inverting the live experience substantially. The entire atmosphere is incredibly apocalyptic and honours the band's oppressive take on black/doom metal.

This tour is in promotion of last year's 'Widowmaker', a differing step compared to the debut full-length 'Hatred for Mankind'. However, the primary core of the set is derived from the first album, including such lengthy and caustic tracks as 'Boiled Angel / Buried with Leeches', 'I, Aurora' and 'Volcanic Birth'. The sound of the venue muddles the guitar work initially - merging it into a wall of sound format that does not do the music justice - but as the set progresses, this issue is improved upon. Tempos alternate between death metal blastbeats and doom metal crawls, yet both are as sinister as their opposite. The music takes to the live setting commendably but due to the over-crowding of the venue, views are fairly limited. The audience do not seem to mind though as those nearer the front engage with headbanging and even a miniscule mosh pit.

The band vacates the stage promptly without an encore and the venue's music informs the congregation that the black mass has indeed concluded. Given that the band has played for much less than an hour, many doubt the show has reached its end only to be. Nonetheless, Dragged into Sunlight are not a band whose primary focus is to please their audience. Rather their objective in the live environment is to recreate the terrorising atmosphere they committed to tape and they have done it extremely well. This act deserves more tour dates in less suffocating venues. But that might harm the sincerely evil potency of their music.

FUTURE GIGS

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