{"id":79156,"date":"2019-05-15T11:00:45","date_gmt":"2019-05-15T10:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?p=79156"},"modified":"2019-05-14T19:11:54","modified_gmt":"2019-05-14T18:11:54","slug":"live-review-pagan-and-sick-joy-the-star-garter-manchester-13-05-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/live-review-pagan-and-sick-joy-the-star-garter-manchester-13-05-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Live Review: Pagan and Sick Joy \u2013 The Star & Garter \u2013 Manchester \u2013 13\/05\/2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The \u2018Evil Eye<\/em>\u2019 tour rolls into the UK bringing Australia\u2019s Pagan<\/strong> to these shores for the second time this year. It\u2019s a Monday night and The Star & Garter is quiet, but buzz surrounds the band and there\u2019s the anticipation in the air.<\/p>\n

You can count the crowd on two hands when Brighton\u2019s Sick Joy<\/strong> (3\/5) arrive on stage. They quickly establish a powerful sound, opening with a rollercoaster of enormous bass riffs.\u00a0 It\u2019s a scuzzy sound, driven by frantic drumming and a monumental bass tone. There\u2019s solid energy to their set. It\u2019s heavily indebted to Nirvana without ever needing to fall back on a hooky chorus. The band put on a simple and effective performance What they lack in inspiration, they make up for in confidence and you can\u2019t fault them. The set lacks any really killer material, which is a shame because they could be really dangerous.<\/p>\n

If blackened rock \u2018n\u2019 roll was not a thing before, it is now. Pagan<\/strong> (4\/5) own it. Playing off the back of debut album \u2018Black Wash<\/em>\u2019,<\/em> they don\u2019t have a lot of material to work with, but they make it count. Riffs are thrown back and forth with abandon. Being young and energetic they seem to have been perpetually on tour. You can tell. It\u2019s all very slick.<\/p>\n

With only 20 people in the crowd, it\u2019s an intimate show, but the band really give their all. Vocalist Nikki Brumen has an amazing stage presence. Her voice is stunning. Easily going from a deep growl to a scream and back again. Throughout the set, she captures every subtle variation you hear on the record and more besides. A real performer, when she\u2019s not dancing or gyrating, she\u2019s lying on her back cycling an imaginary bicycle. She\u2019s both fun and powerful. One minute she\u2019s smiling, the next she stares as if re-enacting The Exorcist. At the mid-point, she even anoints the air with beer declaring \u2018Monday night mass\u2019 before launching into a frighteningly powerful rendition of \u2018Holy Water<\/em>\u2019.<\/p>\n

Drummer Matthew Morasco deserves a special mention. His playing is both ferocious and shapes all the songs.\u00a0 Attacking the hi-hat in a way that is fascinating to watch. Meanwhile, bassist Danny Basso basks in effortless coolness, pounding out the enormous riffs and adding counterpoint vocals. Live the contrast between the band\u2019s two voices is more pronounced and it works extremely well.\u00a0 Guitarist Xavier Santilli is quietly restrained in his performance but is a solid player. He\u2019s somewhat hindered by the terrible guitar mix, which is only apparent because the support bands was so good, but he makes his point, throwing riffs and shapes whenever he gets chance.<\/p>\n

The nine-song set passes all too quickly. Getting the arresting riff of \u2018Death Before Disco<\/em>\u2019 out of the way three songs in seems an odd choice, but all their songs hold their own. \u2018Year of the Dog<\/em>\u2019 is perhaps the highlight with the massive bass riff driving the song as Brumen and Basso trade screams in the most terrifyingly powerful way. His deep and slow, hers sharp and spiky. Finally, they close out with the atmospheric \u2018Blood Moon<\/em>\u2019. It\u2019s an excellent performance more than worthy of the material. Leaving you hungry for what they create next.<\/p>\n

3.5\/5<\/p>\n

Sick Joy<\/strong> links: Website<\/a> | Facebook<\/a> | Twitter<\/a> | Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n

Pagan<\/strong> links: Website<\/a> | Facebook<\/a> | Twitter<\/a> | Instagram<\/a> | Bandcamp<\/a><\/p>\n

Words by Ian Kenworthy (@WhisperingSand<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pagan left hungry for whatever they do next in Manchester.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":79145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[15621,5881,1233,15640,487,10368],"class_list":["post-79156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-live-reviews","tag-ian-kenworthy","tag-live-reviews","tag-manchester","tag-pagan","tag-sick-joy","tag-the-star-garter"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLive Review: Pagan and Sick Joy \u2013 The Star & Garter \u2013 Manchester \u2013 13\/05\/2019 - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pagan left hungry for whatever they do next in Manchester.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Live Review: Pagan and Sick Joy \u2013 The Star & Garter \u2013 Manchester \u2013 13\/05\/2019 - 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