Isak @ Ivory Blacks, Glasgow (12th October 2019)

with: Volcanova, Fuz Caldrin and Aye-Aye


Hosted by: Red Crust Promotions

Photos: Joanne Gray

WORDS: Joanne Gray

Being a fan of the slower kinds of heavy music, I was pretty up for seeing Isak when I heard they would be playing Ivory Blacks. I hadn't seen any of the bands on the bill before but I had heard great things about the headliner and had heard bits and pieces of the other acts on the lineup from the few things the bands have uploaded online. With that in mind, I was very much looking forward to checking out some new bands that night. 

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Up first were the Glasgow based doom/space rock band Aye-Aye, who formed in 2012 after the disbanding of previous local metal band Evil Kin Evil. Named after a type of endangered species of lemur from Madagascar (and an appropriately Scottish sounding species there too), the trio of self-proclaimed "hairy hippies" have a mutual interest in animal conservation which was very prevalent in their music amongst more occult and expansive themes. These two seemingly disparate topics were brought together most succinctly in one song which was about humans causing more damage to the planet than any alien species could ever hope to do. Pretty apt for the style of music they were playing, I've got to say... 

Evoking influences from bands such as Black Sabbath, Red Fang, Type O Negative and Hawkind, the band delivered some pretty cool doomy riffs alongside some clean, but dramatic and slightly theatrical vocals from singer and bassist Iain "Spawn" that really worked well for the sense of dry humour that exuded from the trio's grounded performance. Guitarist Mac pulled out some awesome blues licks and chunky riffs while Spawn's rolling low bass kept the unit sounding suitably ominous. Over on the drums, Del was similarly straight to the point, but made sure to smack the kit when the moment called for it. All in all, this was a cool opening act. Although the band would definitely not be the most energetic band on the bill, the more static performance actually suited Aye-Aye's sound nicely while getting some heads to bop as their set went on. 

Speaking of the audience, the fact that there was only about a dozen or so people watching the first band was probably the only real negative aspect I could glean from their performance to be honest. The pin-drop silence that any unlucky opening band receives from a crowd when they aren't playing will always be slightly awkward unless the band are talking or singing all the way through their set, so this more restrained band did have a few moments which were slightly uncomfortable. But this is so often the case for opening bands that it's hard to say that Aye-Aye did anything wrong here, other than not having a large crowd in front of them. 

Overall, I had a nice time watching them, and I'll definitely need to check out some more of this band's material that's out there already. I'd really like to see them in front of a larger crowd too in the future. One to keep an eye on for sure. 

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Fuz Caldrin

Up next was the more casual Fuz Caldrin (named in a tongue in cheek manner after Buzz Aldrin), a young rock band from West Lothian who had more of a garage/desert rock feel to their sound. As the band came on, it is clear that this is a band just starting out, as they had brought a fair few friends and family members to watch their set. 

With three different vocalists on rhythm, lead guitar and bass/keyboard, the vast majority of vocal lines during this five or six song set from Fuz Caldrin came from the middle guitarist (apologies for the lack of names here). Although I felt like his vocals were rather low in the mix and could have been a bit punchier in its delivery, it was clear that he of all the members of the band was outwardly enjoying himself the most as he joked about with the audience. 

Over on the left, the other vocalist had a lower timbre and the slightly heavier songs he sang on actually reminded me slightly of Mastodon's more radio friendly The Hunter material, which I can definitely get on board with. That left the bassist and keyboardist to take the reins for a more spacey track that utilised some slightly eerie extra terrestrial blips and blops to give things a more interesting flavour. The laptop here was also used to help with a similar slight sense of awkwardness the band experienced between songs to pretty decent effect. 

As the music was a bit less impactful for me on the whole though, the vocals could have been more forceful- perhaps having more interplay between the three vocalists rather than singing individually. I also though that the band were best when the pace was upped and the more dirgy, desert sounding Queens of the Stone Age influences were most prominent. One of the faster and more driving heavy songs was a new one that the band played towards the end of the set and this was the highlight of the performance for me. After this song, it appeared like the band had ran out of songs with around five minutes to go. But the subsequent suggestion to do a jam session seemed to all just be a joke, as they then wrapped things off with a last song that hinted that more grooving and chunkier things were to come from the band in the future. 

Fuz Caldrin weren't so much my cup of tea, and were definitely the odd band out on a bill which put great stock in those heavier vibes. However, there is definitely potential for the band to build on their confidence, tone and delivery in the future with more shows under their belt.

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Having a lack of confidence was something which certainly couldn't be levelled at the next band on the stage however. Coming all the way from Reykjavík, Iceland, the southern fried stoner/desert rock band Volcanova (who formed back in 2014) oozed with showmanship as soon as they took to the stage. Infectious playing and an energetic delivery was clearly on the table from the word go as Volcanova grooved and bounded along with the hip-swinging, joyful material that was reminiscent of bands like Orange Goblin, Clutch and Corrosion of Conformity. 

Drummer Dagur Atlason (who was humorously shirtless) was a whirlwind of energy: drumsticks flew through the air at a hundred miles an hour while he would gurn away and hype up the crowd throughout. He actually reminded me of Arejay Hale (Halestorm) due to his centrality in creating a sense of tight vitality in that band. In between songs, he would utter simple statements out to the audience like "so this is a song" before he would pause and smirk with a loose sense of humour that felt utterly charming, due to the level of engagement that was on show here. Adding to this, bassist Þorsteinn Árnason would occasionally grin from behind his mop of hair with so much joy that you would have to be emotionally void to not be invigorated by the sight. In comparison, the main singer and guitarist, Samúel Ásgeirsson was the more calm, more straight-faced figure in the band. But his vocals were effectively soulful and gritty, and he would cut loose at exactly the right times too. 

And that brings us to the sheer sound of this band. What a tone Volcanova have. Immediately noticeable and most prominent was the red hot, but equally fat guitar tone that sounded far more powerful and tight than a band of this age and size have any right to have. Bluesy, chunky riffs were delivered in such a raucous manner, all the while still managing to be carefree in a way that was reimiscent of Every Time I Die. Much of the beauty of ETID in the live environment is in the fact that the whole band sounds tight as a unit though, and Volcanova shared similar qualities here. The wonderfully fuzzed up basslines rumbled through my full body like I was standing right next to the amps. Atlason's wild, but rhythmically tight drumming patterns were also loaded with flourishes of technical excellence that were similarly awesome to listen to and watch.

In fact, the whole band was enough to leave me seriously blown away from the first song, and this would only continue throughout the entirety of their short set. Thankfully the rest of the crowd- which would be the biggest size it would be all night- seemed to agree with me, as I could see most people in the room banging their heads or swaying away to the infectious grooves. I'm so glad the crowd was great for this band, as the quality of the performance here was totally deserving of it. 

I'm honestly not sure I've been quite as impressed by a support band in years, especially one that I've not really been that familiar with before. But now I will certainly be keeping an eye on Volcanova, and I'll be waiting for the great day that they can come back and play their own show once they release their album (which is apparently coming soon). Get on this band and, if possible, see them live whenever they are back on these shores.

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Another change in pace and musical style was then evident once the Glasgow-based headline act Isak took to the stage and started playing immediately after their sound-check. Influenced by bands like Indica, Bacchus Baracus, Tosca and Dune, this progressively minded stoner group (which formed back in 2012), are still very much a local band playing to smaller audiences. This became clear when looking around, as more than a few people decided to leave after the previous band. A real shame considering the fact that Isak have a really interesting sound in their cannon. 

Pulling out some seriously dirgy sounding doom riffs to begin with, this was immediately a more straight-faced affair than the last two bands. Totally appropriate for the more progressively minded stoner material the setlist would consist of though. Noted by vocalist and guitarist Joe McGarrity, the shortest songs here would still be around 4 minutes long, so this was a set of around 4 or 5 longer songs that mostly drew from the band's upcoming third EP. And it was this material which especially highlighted a more progressive edge to their work than the existing material out there on Bandcamp already. 

Utilising a large and rather intricate guitar pedalboard set-up, McGarity would jump from clean shimmering lines to tight fuzzed up distortion to expansive whooshing soundscapes to nearly everything in between. An appropriately fuzzed up, earth shaking bass sound from Mark Tait complimented this excellently (particular shout out to that one song that saw ascending and descending movements draw my eyes over to the bass' fretboard). Bringing a sense of pace to proceedings to tie everything together sublimely though was the technically excellent drumming from Robert McLean which would bounce between time signatures seamlessly. All together, this meant that the band could move from beautifully delicate tones to mind altering, hypnotic Tool meets Kyuss esque pulses of psychedelic spacey desert rock goodness while McGarrity's clean, but characterful vocals rode the wave of the rhythms nicely. 

Well, for most of the time, that is...

Unfortunately the sound, which had bugged some of the previous bands at times, made things a bit difficult for Isak here as well. Unwanted squeals of feedback and background noise punched through the guitar amp during one of the later songs. Thankfully, this was something that only happened briefly, but as is particularly the case with such intricate music, it did clearly create a moment where the band was taken out of the zone as McGarrity would fix the issues on his board or over on the amp. In addition to this, the vocals sat slightly too low in the mix at times as well. To the point where the frontman asked the sound tech to change the levels for the few moments that utilised vocals... midway through the song. Thankfully, these inconvenient moments were few and far between, so that one could truly enjoy the intriguing music on display here for the majority of the time. But it definitely put a *slight* dampener on the band's performance as a whole, unfortunately. 

It must be said as well that it took a little while for the crowd to grab onto the sound and ride with it. This is no real surprise considering Isak are a band that require you to give your attention to rather than expect them to smother you in it. The bassist would spend much of the time here facing the drummer to lock into those off kilter time signatures and the guitarist would often be looking at his feet to capture the right tones. Other than briefly introducing some songs and thanking the people involved in putting on the show for doing so, there was very little chat from the band to the crowd between songs as well. This all meant that the real focus of the band's performance was on the music. Due to the overall quality of the band though, the hypnotic nature of the songs thrown out to the smaller audience meant that by the end of the set (where the band made the smart choice of pulling out a groovier, heavier doom laden track from one of the earlier EPs), I could see more heads bopping along to the slabs of excellent riffage on stage. 

And as the set ended as suddenly as it started, I found myself feeling pretty damn impressed by Isak's performance here. Even if the sound issues seemed to take the wind out of their sails towards the middle of the band's set. I'll certainly be keeping an eye on this band, and I hope to see them play live again with a sound that matches their clear levels of skills and craftsmanship. I also really want to hear more material from the band on record too. Get it done, Isak!

And that ended an awesome night which displayed some of Glasgow's talent within the doomier side of metal. Be sure to check out all the bands on Bandcamp and Youtube (as they aren't on Spotify and the like yet). There really is a bit of something for everyone to get their teeth into if you like some slower rock and metal. And be sure to check out future events from Red Crust Promotions in Glasgow and beyond for some awesome riffage (and who I would also like to publicly thank for getting me guestlist for this show!).

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Thanks to you as well for checking out this review of Isak! Feel free to leave a comment below or help support RWEI by giving us a like/follow on the socials, or send us any submissions/contributions if you like. 

Cheers!