‘The Browning’ received an enthusiastic welcome on the Bristol date of their current tour, accompanied by ‘Within Destruction’ and ‘Abbie Falls’. These three bands together made for a fantastic cohesive heavy yet extremely upbeat evening, they had one of Bristols coolest venues bouncing.
‘Abbie Falls’ opened the show bringing some obscene breakdowns and face melting riffs. The band hail from Czech Republic, Prague and found a comfortably full room waiting eagerly for their unique blend of relentless modern metal. It was as atmospheric as it was filthy, and my god was it filthy. There was a haunting groove to it and the crowd absolutely devoured it. They got a nice old school pit going, rough but friendly and with a decent amount of women present. They even treated us to a wall of death.
‘Within Destruction’ picked up where they left off. The three piece from Slovenia gave a solid set and kept the crowds energy buzzing throughout. They ramped it up to circle pit during which the guitarist joined, whilst still playing before he disappeared off into the crowd. I absolutely eat up these sort of antics, as did the audience.
Headliners ‘The Browning’ smashed it out of the park with their Rave Metal offerings, the crowd doubled instantly filling the ship. They came prepared to make people bounce! There was an energy, I’d go as far to say an urgency to their performance. The vocalist brought his wife out to accompany them for a song, she totally brought the vibe. They even treated the crowd to a cover of ‘Blue’, yes that Blue, and it worked so well. As the evening came to an end they were gracious enough to give in to the crowds plea for “one more song” and treated us to an encore.
I have to note that I was incredibly impressed by the quality of the sound itself, it was so well balanced, considering how heavy the bands were and the size of the venue. It was genuinely notably worth a mention, whoever was behind the desk my hat is off to you, that is some of the finest work I’ve witnessed. Not just the sound the lighting too was on par if not better than some of the larger venues I’ve been to. I saw a couple of people had come prepared and donned sunglasses. A pretty smart manoeuvre.
The venue itself is incredibly cool, the Thekla is a former cargo ship (built in 1958) and now moored in Bristols floating Harbour. It boasts parking just outside, incredibly friendly staff, a coat room, a nice dingy, atmospheric venue plus more toilets than you could possibly need. It’s only a 10 minute walk from the train station. The layout takes some getting used too, you might get lost a few times, you might also really enjoy watching other people get lost a few times. Do absolutely check it out. It’s nights like this, bands/venues like this and most importantly crowds like this that absolutely restore my faith in live music.