Pitchshifter, Norwich Waterfront
I had been really looking forward to watching SIKTH tear the living fuck out of the baying crowd at the Waterfront tonight, but instead of the Dillinger-meets-Amen assault I was treated to an altogether larger-sound than expected. It goes without saying that they’re scarily tight and that when they turn on the style (see ‘Pussyfoot’, rendered in shades of black and white by the stunningly technical guitar work) they’re genuinely exciting, but tonight there was an element of frantic power missing. The sheer weight of their songs is undeniable and when they bring out ‘How May I Help You’ the place goes mental, but I wanted a bit more craziness to set them aside from the pack. (6)
With PITCHSHIFTER you know exactly what you’re going to get. A brutal collision of torn-up guitar and laminated beats subtitled by JS Claydon’s sneering tones that is both numbingly-heavy and hugely catchy at the same time. The roars that greet ‘Genius’ and ‘Microwaved’ show how much this band will be missed and JS plays up to the fact that this might be the last time a lot of people see the ‘shifter by leaving them wanting that little bit more. He’s not overly reticent or chatty but he has about 500 people eating out of his hand and watching Mark Claydon stomp around the stage in a blur of dreadlocks and as he throws out his trademark metallic bass riffs is great to watch simply because it looks like he’s loving every minute. They’ve honed their set to almost laser-like precision over the years and their confidence in ‘WYSIWIG’ and ‘Hidden Agenda’ is proved to be wholly justified as they rip out classic after classic with more than enough style to spare. I never fell in love with Pitchshifter, but when they can turn in a performance like this after being a band for so long they can’t fail to impress (8).
Ben
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