Since it’s massively disco-balled rejuvenation a couple of years ago, KoKo is ostensibly more suited to the likes of last night’s Guilty Pleasures disco than ravenous Viking metal, but with a hugely bass-heavy sound, it remains the venue of choice for the discerning – or half-deaf – metal fan.
Never let it be said that we only cover gigs in London. We find ourselves on the South Coast in a pub where it cost only £1 to see Death Metal in a multitude of forms, drinking jagermeister and avoiding a pair of dudes who seem to have got naked for some reason.
First up are Hampshire’s Bloodshot Dawn. They play something between deathcore, thrash and techy death metal, or at least I think they do, because missing their second guitarist, plagued by technical issues and (at the risk of sounding like sound quality wanker) having a bloody godawful mix, it’s hard to tell. I’d like to give them a proper review, but it would be unfair to judge them on this performance, because this was a shambles.
Urrrrrghhh. Ruuuughhhh. Repeat.
“Umm, yeah, this song is called RAGUGGGELLWUGH!!!” Says the tubby funster fronting opening act Fleshrot. Ah, yes, the calling card of bloody boring brutal death metal – a lack of any personality. Yeah, the songs have some cool blasts, and I’m sure the solos are all fine, but a muddy sound and no real tightness produce something that rarely can distract from the fact that the Purple Turtle smells like cthulhus arsehole. A big meh to them.
