Another Friday means another night at the Tap & Tumbler for an evening filled with some great music in a intimate venue with a great atmosphere. I always find that Fridays at the Tap & Tumbler are a great way to unwind after a busy week at work and it always puts me into a great mood for the weekend. Live music enjoyed with good company is always a great way to unwind in my opinion.
This Friday had a bit of a quieter start to the evening, but still a good mix of happy metalheads who were ready to enjoy some live music over some drinks.
The evening was proudly presented by Mangata Music & Ike Productions and would cover music from the industrial, electronic and trap metal genre.
The line-up for tonight were ALT BLK ERA, Hangingskeletons & Fleisch.
ALT BLK ERA kicked off the night with some unapologetic, fierce and strong trap metal. The sister duo of Nyrobi and Chaya seem to just belong on stage, sharing their powerful music with the world and driving change along the way with their impactful and hard-hitting lyrics. Combining traditional metal sounds with dark, twisted and powerful rap make this duo entirely unique and they are a breath of fresh air to the Nottingham music scene.
On stage, ALT BLK ERA are just a brutal force and combined with their drummer Sam Brooks (medrum_aoa) for that night, they left everyone in the pub wanting to join in and headbang in front of the stage. Both girls are so powerful on the mic and are just on fire, I felt like they could have generated enough heat to burn down the house with their performance that night. However, Chaya and Nyrobi are not just powerful on stage, they also have the ability to make you feel empowered with their music and charisma. My favourite songs from their set that night was “Mosh Girl Summer” and “Obsession : Lunar”, go check them out!
Personally, ALT BLK ERA’s passion remind me of the Riot Grrrl movement of the 90s and I am excited to see what the future holds for them. Make sure you keep an eye on them as I think we are going to hear a lot more from and about them in the not-so-distant future.
Solo artist Hangingskeletons was second up on stage that night and certainly knew how to raise the bar. The self-proclaimed blood thirsty British vampire mixes aggressive electro sounds with brutal vocals and if their aim is to not fit into any genre, they very much have accomplished just that. Genres like trap and avant-garde metal come to mind but nothing seems to fit quite right.
Hangingskeletons comes as a full package artist who lives and breathes their art and you can see that on stage too. Their lyrics, sound and vibe on stage just ooze creativity and that combined with their powerhouse attitude makes their live show one hell of an experience. Having recently released their new EP “Hangingaliens” shows the wide range of their abilities when compared to last year’s release “Skeletons”. However my personal favourite is still “Moshpit B*****b” from the album “Skeletons” which just hits the nail on the head with sick lyrics and an unstoppable beat and sound.
Headlining the night were Fleisch and I was really excited to see these guys after I had stumbled across their album “The Kite” not too long ago, but has been part of my every-day playlist ever since. Their sound is a delicious mix of Rammstein like metal, industrial electro goth like Method Cell and a sprinkle of fetish. In fact, while doing some more research on them I came across someone describing Fleisch as “Rammstein’s kinky little cousin” which is also rather fitting.
Live some band’s sound nothing like they do on record, however Fleisch are absolutely not one of those bands. They are unquestionably good on stage and purely orgasmic to listen to. One of my notes from the night was that Fleisch were just delicious to listen to from start to finish.
Delicious is also the band themselves – these guys are eye-candy on stage, and I am sure they know it too. Any band that gets to play Club Antichrist in London knows that their sound and look is just on point. But let me stop drooling over these guys for a moment and return to their music.
Fleisch are a band to keep an eye on if you are part of the goth scene. Already booked to play in Erfurt next month, I am waiting for them to get invited to play one of the German big 3 (WGT, M’era Luna or Amphi) at some point in the future as their sound fits right in the midst of the usual line up of those festivals. Their perfectly balanced sound of heavy riffs, hammer-like drums and electro mixed with no nonsense lyrics and some really tasty vocals is pure perfection that has you hooked in no time.
Overall, the night was amazingly well put together. The bands just simply complimented each other and I am so grateful that we have Mangata Music & Ike Productions in Nottingham who put these evenings together for us to enjoy. If you find yourself in Nottingham on a Friday, make sure you check if the Tap & Tumbler has any live music on, it’s always worth popping in for a drink and to listen to some new music!
As always - all photos in this post are shot by Luke Agger-Joynes
Ruby