Rockfreaks.net

support Between The Buried And Me + Cryptodira
author AP date 30/03/23 venue Pumpehuset, Copenhagen, DEN

Concert season is in full swing, and on this unseasonably cold Thursday evening, it has brought a show I’ve been looking forward to since it was first announced back in September. Tonight’s co-headlining bill features two bands who were unable to tour in support of their newest albums from 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so for their Danish fans, it is the first opportunity to experience material from them in the live setting. And considering the credentials of both Haken and Between the Buried and Me, it is no surprise that Pumpehuset is verging on sold out, with a long queue that spills out into the street snaking out of its entrance, when I arrive 30 minutes before the opening act is supposed to be playing. I just manage to get myself inside as the first notes of their set start sounding from the venue’s upstairs room, so I hurry up the stairs and find a good amount of space near the front from which to take it in.

Cryptodira

Cryptodira, which is Greek for hidden neck and refers to the order of reptiles known as Testudines and includes most turtles and tortoises, instantly strikes me as the perfect choice of a support band for Between the Buried and Me in particular. Their opening track, “Dante’s Inspiration” taken from their 2020 offering “The Angel of History”, is like a page out of that band’s first two albums: dissonant, mathematical, and at times verging on grindcore, and with growls by frontman Scott Acquavella that sound exactly like those of Thomas Giles Rogers Jr. The group’s performance is an accurate reflection of their songs, too, with Acquavella and lead guitarist Mike Monaco both headbanging, spinning around, stomping their feet into the floor, and jabbing their axes into the air in jagged, abrupt movements. It is an energetic and captivating show, albeit one that is hindered in its heaviest and most aggressive moments by a muddy sound mix that makes it hard to distinguish the individual instruments from the cacophony of noise they generate together. One really needs to push one’s earplugs in deep in order to figure out what is going on in those passages… which is probably why it is the more muted likes of “The Blame for Being Alive” that end up as the standout tracks in Cryptodira’s 30-minute set. It is a moody, and at times balladic piece that contains a slight influence of blues; an influence that is however shredded when the four musicians once again unleash a tornado of grinding noise which sends Monaco twitching and shaking like a mental patient much to the crowd’s satisfaction. The quartet’s concert is brought to a conclusion via the likewise excellent “Something Other than Sacrifice”, which, at over 8 minutes of intriguing progressions, feels like a teaser of what will follow when BTBAM takes the stage shortly after. This has been a good introduction to Cryptodira, for whom this is their very first time playing in Denmark, even if the subpar sound quality has done its utmost to subdue the experience.

Between The Buried And Me

In customary style, BTBAM’s concert begins without any unnecessary frills or build-ups, with a minute-or-so of ambient sounds enveloping the darkened room while the four musicians (guitarist Dusty Waring is sitting out this tour in order to focus on rehabilitating a long-time injury) man their positions on stage. And as the band’s first song, “Extremophile Elite” off their 2012 album “The Parallax II: Future Sequence”, kicks in, vocalist Thomas Giles Rogers Jr. explodes forth, charging from side to side and waving his arms in his usual, domineering style. Although it would be a stretch to claim that Waring’s absence is not felt in the overall performance, I’m very impressed by how well the rest of the band tackles this stumbling block by changing up some parts and using backing tracks featuring pre-recorded guitar by Waring in others. I think for someone without any prior knowledge of the group’s music, it would be nigh impossible to tell that something is amiss, such is the elegance with which this song, with its dynamic song structure, quirky keyboard interlude, and groovy, yet off-kilter percussion, is delivered. No wonder that, as Rogers triumphantly raises his arms toward the ceiling when it ends, the audience erupts into a roar of applause and cheering, giving the band a heroes’ welcome.

It will never cease to take my breath away how tight this band’s deliveries are in the live setting, as the second track “Revolution in Limbo” off their latest album, 2021’s “Colors II”, also goes to show. The gloomy, harmonised clean singing by Rogers and guitarist Paul Waggoner sounds dreamy in the dim, blue lighting that floods the room during this segment, while the lounge jazz-inspired instrumental passage seems to leave almost everyone around me speechless. The song then blends seamlessly into the subsequent highlight “Fix the Error”, in which drummer Blake Richardson becomes the focal point, nailing not only his own, but also all of the guest percussion spots in this wild and unhinged piece of music. Richardson is one of those refreshing drummers who actually performs instead of simply laying down the rhythm, contributing his fair share into BTBAM’s overall showmanship, which mimics every twist and turn in the group’s convoluted creations perfectly. Steered by the antics of Rogers, the four musicians, completed by bassist Dan Briggs, are rendered into a blur of movement when the songs are at their fastest or heaviest, and when things are slowed down, the quartet swiftly assumes more introspective, shoegazing stances in reflection of the more subdued atmospheres that are introduced in these parts. Indeed, their 23 years of experience have built them up into a veritable masterclass in musical performance.

Those 23 years have also trained BTBAM into masters of composition, with an unmatched penchant for deconstructing, and then piecing back together songs like “Never Seen / Future Shock” by virtue of wildly unexpected transitions. These sudden changes help keep the audience on its toes throughout — except, of course, when some people are possessed by the urge to crowd surf during “Famine Wolf”, taken from 2015’s “Coma Ecliptic”. This is a rare sight, as the prevalent posture seems to be one of crossed arms and an expression of not bad, looking around the room. That song is followed by one of my personal favourites, “Bad Habits”, which is more or less the essence of BTBAM distilled into a single track. It is technical, disjointed, and features one of the most memorable choruses in the outfit’s repertoire — finished off with an otherworldly, psychedelic part that leaves Briggs doing stretches with his right wrist afterward. There is still more work for him, however, as the show winds to its conclusion through the deviously jazzy “Voice of Trespass”, which releases the crowd from its spell at last and witnesses the evening’s first moshpit forming. “We will see you next year! Have a good night!”, Rogers exclaims in its wake, hinting at the band’s imminent return for their own headlining show in the not too distant future. Here’s hoping!

Haken

Haken thus have their work cut out for them, if they hope to surpass their co-headliner’s show. This prog band from London, United Kingdom also have the predicament of having released not one, but two full-length albums since they were able to tour Europe last time in 2020, so naturally their fans are hungering to hear material from both of those efforts tonight. But as the first two tracks “Prosthetic” and “Invasion” hint at, the six musicians have elected to treat this more as the “Virus” tour than one promoting “Fauna”, which came out earlier this year. The sextet is wearing identical Hawaii shirts that match their floral backdrop, cementing themselves as a little bit looser and more accessible than the elusive BTBAM. This is true in their music as well, which, despite segments of heavy, djent-y instrumentation in the style of TesseracT, contains a wealth of inspiration from mainstream music. One supposes this is what makes Haken such a popular unit, and as expected, the audience is now expending energy much more readily than was the case during the first two sets tonight. There is bouncing, moshing and singing along galore, with “The Alphabet of Me” in particular inciting a strong reaction from the crowd by virtue of its rampant R&B stylings. It looks like virtually every pair of arms in the room is swaying side-to-side as people join in on the whoa-oh chants just before the chorus. Much of the response is without a doubt thanks to the tireless effort and antics of vocalist Ross Jennings — a charismatic and super expressive frontman, who nonetheless ensures that his five compatriots get their chance to shine as well by exiting the stage during the longer instrumental segments in songs like “Falling Back to Earth” off their 2013 album “The Mountain”.

It is one of the best moments in the set thus far, and exemplifies well the sheer joy exuding from this six-piece when they’re performing. They’re smiling through the entire 75-minute set and manage to form an undeniable connection with their audience — this despite the fact that, if you ask me, their songs are far from extraordinary most of the time. From a technical standpoint, everything is in order, and particularly the vocals of Jennings impress time after time. But there is a distinct lack of variety in the music that lulls me into a daze at times. That is, until the magnificent, 10-minute epic that is “Carousel” arrives and woos my prog-loving heart with its heavy foundation and steady build-up toward a grandiose finale. It delivers an ideal teaser of what’s to come: namely the five-part “Messiah Complex” off the aforementioned “Virus” played in its entirety as the grand conclusion to Haken’s show. The nerve and intensity of this piece, with all of its twists and turns and eruptions of metallic extremity, is just so much more interesting to listen to than those R&B-influenced cuts like “Lovebite” or the TesseracT idolatry of tracks such as “Taurus”. It is an unexpectedly monumental ending to a somewhat uneven performance from these British djentlemen.

Setlist:

• 1. Prosthetic
• 2. Invasion
• 3. The Alphabet of Me
• 4. Falling Back to Earth
• 5. Taurus
• 6. The Endless Knot
• 7. Lovebite
• 8. Carousel
• 9. Messiah Complex I: Ivory Tower
• 10. Messiah Complex II: A Glutton for Punishment
• 11. Messiah Complex III: Marigold
• 12. Messiah Complex IV: The Sect
• 13. Messiah Complex V: Ectobius Rex