October 30th, the night before Halloween, also known as Devil’s Night or Mischief Night. A night where there is something of an urban tradition for youths to commit pranks and acts of vandalism to create a disquieting sense of chaos.
You would be forgiven for thinking something of this sort was occurring down in the confines of The Foundry on Thursday night, as gremlins ensured local metal prospects The Mirimar Disaster found a whole host of technical issues throughout their set at the union’s Bleach Halloween special.
Opening the night, Calvinball emerged in togas to rousing film score and proceeded to entertain the crowd with melodic punk that could have come straight out of Southern California rather than Steel City.
Sporting proton packs and boiler suits, The Mirimar Disaster took to the stage to the Ghostbusters theme, showing a sense of humour which usually lies deep beneath their moody soundscapes. Things start well, holding the full attention of the crowd with the Mastodon-esque riffery of ‘Volumes’, the title track of their latest EP release. But it isn’t long before things fall apart, instruments cut out and the band are forced to take a lengthy break in the middle of their set to reorganise themselves.
After the break, the band had lost a little of their momentum and were obviously frustrated, but their potential still shone through, particularly in their display of post-rock influences, building and swelling to reach epic crescendos in the style of Isis and Cult of Luna.
Alas, the set was tragically short and continued to be dogged with sound complications. The lasting impression left was generally of all that could have been on this Halloween party night. The ghosts, ghouls and zombies were reasonably entertained, but having seen them supporting Devil Sold His Soul, I knew what these guys are capable of. It is unfortunate that they could only show glimpses of that to the uninitiated on the night, but at least the costumes were a success.
Thursday 30 October 2008
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