Review: Therapy?, Thekla

To be honest the Membranes played a sensational support set: the first few numbers were a post-punk / post-metal funk fusion and then everything went dub. Drawing from their critically acclaimed latest recording Dark Matter / Dark Energy the band delivered an uplifting pummeling set of songs about “The universe, sex and death”. John Robb is a compelling front man, drawing the crowd forward to the stage front and encouraging them to “…dance like Higgs Boson particles” (surely the most bizarre on stage pronouncement in the history of music). Audience assisted on stage bass repairs failed to disrupt the set and by the end of the set the crowd had filled the floor, entranced by the band’s punishing and strangely groovy sounds. Killing Joke are held up as the epitome of tribal / industrial post punk and PiL have recently released two of the best LPs of their career, but on current form this band is giving them both a run for their money. Buy the record and go and see them at your earliest opportunity.

Therapy? performed Infernal Love in full to the delight of the capacity crowd. The recording is a well-paced eclectic set that lends itself to a straight run thorough; the sound of a band that can’t make up its mind whether it’s a metal band playing punk rock, or a punk outfit crunching out metal riffs – so they do both but filtered through a dark pop sensibility that ensures catchy tunes at the heart of the riffola. The lyrics are dark and flirt with nihilism & self-loathing but never has such bleak subject matter been played with such joy nor received with an equal amount of singalong glee. Diane was performed to the accompaniment of prerecorded strings and probably the best crowd singing of the night; Bad Mother was preceded by a hilarious tale about the song’s reception chez Cairns and we were instructed to enjoy the keyboard led Bowels of Love to the max or be subjected to an hour of poetry. Message received, this coke inspired ballad (almost a dirge to be fair) was received with such overwhelming love that we were spared the poetry slam.

After a short intermission the band returned for a hits, rarities and new material strewn second set with a ton of highlights: Couplet of the night – “I’m bitter, I’m twisted, James Joyce is fucking my sister” from Potato Junkie; best on stage announcement – “Buy the merch or the dog dies” (unexpectedly high vet bills for Snoopy) and most pogotastic headbanging moment of the night – either Teethgrinder or Screamager. Deathstimate from the latest album Disquiet is easily the best Black Sabbath song of the 21^st Century – a tribute that avoids both pastiche and plagiarism and sounded absolutely epic.

Therapy? really are an under rated and underappreciated band; there are dozens of critically acclaimed acts that fail to match up to these boys live and band’s catalogue is splendidly diverse and challenging – no LP sounds like the pervious and yet they always sound like Therapy? You need them in your life.

Photo Credit: John Higgins