Nomad – Mower – Rainbow Grave – Coventry – Live Review

RAWK_Presents_Rainbow_Grave_16092016_Fighting_Boredom-10

Nomad – Mower – Rainbow Grave – The Phoenix Coventry – 16th September 2016

Rawk in Coventry have put on a dark slice of sludgy doom noise and Fighting Boredom were there, read what we thought below.

There’s perhaps twenty five people here, and you think that may well be how Rainbow Grave like it. Their promotion for the gig on Facebook merely said ‘More bad news…’ They start the set with a mass of feedback and Nic Bullen stating ‘We are Rainbow Grave, here to ruin your evening.’ They stare out into space and look either blank, indifferent or just plain livid. 
The music is slow, enormous and very bleak. It moves forward relentlessly as Nic seems to do little more than abuse the audience. Ten Million Tons of Shit is just loathing made visceral as he tells you everything that he hates about you,  I hate your shoes, I hate your life..
The song that tells you just how pathetic your life and dreams are is matched to a funereal drum beat and a wall of bleak sound. It’s an ode to you getting out of your boring life and wiping clean your existence.  
There are more and they are just as abrasive and nasty. Rainbow Grave are billed as ‘Low Rent Caveman Hate Music’ and have come from Napalm Death, Scorn, Sore Throat and Doom. Rainbow Grave is where Punk and Hardcore have ended up, they lost all hope and just ended up as angry as fuck. It’s got a huge amount of black humour and sarcasm too, like laughing at ambulances or sitting swigging vodka in the middle of a riot, the attitude is to just fuck it all, nothing’s worth anything.
RAWK_Presents_Rainbow_Grave_16092016_Fighting_Boredom-9
Mower look like a bunch of mates playing Doom. It’s angry, grinding and cold with just guitar, drums and vocal. There’s more than a nod to classic grindcore. They have a proper roaring rock vocal and he looks alternately pained and happy, very expressive. The black clad guitarist spends most of the gig bent double and the drummer is  a true powerhouse, battering the sound into your head. They say they are ‘grooved up sludge metal’ and the crowd appreciate them. 
RAWK_Presents_Mower_16092016_Fighting_Boredom-11
Nomad are looser, they have more of a sixties psych feel and are altogether looser and laid back. One of them sports the first Rainbow teeshirt I’ve seen for years. They have a big kind of Classic Rock groove going on, they radiate good times and are friendly to the crowd. The music leaves itself room to move and the psychedelic interval they move into is great. The vocal is low and growling but oddly fits with the music. Less Doomy than the rest of the evening but no less good.
RAWK_Presents_Nomad_16092016_Fighting_Boredom-2
At two o’clock in the morning after dissecting the state of the world and drinking more than we have for weeks Fighting Boredom head home, still blown away by Rainbow Grave and still shouting at each other to be heard.
Nomad

Mower

Rainbow Grave

Nomad are on Facebook and Bandcamp.

Mower are on Facebook

Rainbow Grave are on Facebook and Twitter.

All words by Adrian Bloxham, all photos by Martin Ward.

Adrian Bloxham

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *