THE QEMISTS | LIVE REVIEW
Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, Thu 12 March
Having been conceived (most notably) by Pendulum and the Prodigy, the combination of rock/metal and drum & bass is no longer revolutionary. Despite this, the energy oozing sound of the Qemists has nonetheless injected a new lease of life into the genre of recent. Fresh off the back of their European tour supporting KoRn, and with one of their latest releases featuring Enter Shikari, the Brighton band are certainly rising up the ranks as well.
Warming up the drum & roll (this is what I have dubbed the drum & bass/rock ‘n’ roll, or rather metal, combo) enthusiasts was French duo Algorithm. To say it was hard to pin down their style would be an understatement; mixing everything from house, techno, hardstyle and even reggae, with extreme heavy metal (which, for any metal aficionados, loosely resembled the sound of Sybreed). It proved a rather strange, very intense, but nevertheless interesting mash up. Of course, I tip my proverbial hat to Algorithm for their unrivaled experimentation – although it would have been slightly more impressive to see a smoother transition into the metal aspect of their music, as at times it seemed incredibly abrupt, as if they just signaled to each other, “fuck it, chuck in an intense guitar riff… NOW”.
As expected, the Qemists immediately restored the slightly more traditional drum & roll theme of the night. It was certainly a cleaner sound from the offset, and the lighting was also vamped up a notch; turning each band member into little more than a silhouette, which proved a nice, atmospheric touch.
There was certainly a greater hype amongst the audience by this point, largely as a result of the frontman – who, at one point, even jumped off the stage to encourage a half-hearted mosh pit amongst the dedicated front rowers. The latest addition to the band, a new vocalist that added a more metal influenced scream, was also introduced after the opening song. Having played numerous tracks from their new album, which proved rather infectious when performed live (as expected), the band finished on their all-time classic, Stompbox, which successfully got the crowd jumping in every direction possible.
words DAN MULLER