The people of Birkenhead were blessed this month with a visit from the legendary Japanese noise rock duo, Melt-Banana, with a suitably loud and abrasive show in Future Yard for the UK leg of their ongoing ‘3+5’ tour, in promotion for their new album of the same title.
They were joined on stage by two supports; underground DJ, VX, as well as the gloriously named Horsebastard.
VX opened everything up, with an electrifying set of lengthy noise passages, played from behind a keyboard stand peppered with various synthesisers and a drum machine.
The set was layered, expansive, and crushing, with VX introducing new sounds, vocal snippets, and odd drum machine grooves when least expected.
While certainly not a visual experience, his set was undeniably entrancing, concluding when VX suddenly produced an electric drill, which he used on a sheet of steel to deliver a suitably disorienting peak of noise and harshness.
After VX came Liverpool grindcore band, Horsebastard, with a set just as loud and chaotic as VX’s, albeit entirely different in how they achieved it.
Their set essentially consisted of grindcore played lightning-fast, with frontman Chris Reese screaming his brains out over the chaos.
Their songs constantly shifted tempo, groove, key, and pretty much anything you could think of, leading to an unpredictable avalanche of sound over which Chris consistently switched between piercing shrieks and guttural bellows.
The only word you could make out were his yells of ‘Horsebastard’ between every song which helped drill the name into everyone’s head by the end of their set.
On top of their heaviness, the band also displayed a great deal of humour during their set to counterbalance the audio onslaught, leading to a set that was an overall highly enjoyable thrill-ride.
Finally came the headlining stars, Melt-Banana, who most certainly delivered.
They kicked off their set with ferocity, playing multiple songs from ‘3+5’, as well as picking songs from their back catalogue.
No matter which song they played, they brought a consistently overwhelming energy, with their programmed drum machine clanging away underneath lead-singer Yasuko’s piercing shrieks and lead-guitarist Agata’s heavy riffing.
Despite being a duo, Melt-Banana brought a serious level of noise that was evident even through my earplugs.
The set concluded with a medley of short songs (just before their biggest song), and by short, I mean no more than thirty seconds each.
This was most definitely a highlight of the whole experience, with Yasuko taking minimum time between songs to shout out the titles, which was usually the only lyric each song possessed.
They rounded the set out with a killer performance of their biggest song, ‘Candy Gun’.
In conclusion, Melt-Banana delivered a highly impressive gig, with opening acts, VX and Horsebastard, that matched the wild energy and a level of intensity only a band like Melt-Banana can maintain.
Most definitely would recommend if you like your rock as loud as it can get.
