Five bands over one Monday evening at The Underworld in the heart of Camden is enough to blow the post-Christmas blues away with style. Skilfully curated, the Motocultor Festival brings together Infected Rain, Semblant, Elyose, Skin On Flesh and Miruthan. This quintet of disparate international acts is its own rock ‘n’ roll circus, safe in the knowledge that there is truly something for everyone here as young guns rub shoulders with established acts.
Motocultor Festival
Infected Rain – Semblant – Elyose – Miruthan – Skin On Flesh
The Underworld, Camden – 13 January 2025
Words: Paul Monkhouse
Photography: Natalia Kasiarz
There is a lot to squeeze into a scant few hours, so each band play tight sets, chat is kept to the minimum, and their best and newest material is played in order to truly showcase what they do. It all works well, and a packed The Underworld bears tribute to this thirst for music played up close and personal.
The whole experience is a million miles away from a soulless stadium show.
Skin On Flesh: A Rabble-Rousing Set
People are still wandering in from the streets as punk upstarts Skin On Flesh hit the stage to kick things off with a rabble-rousing set of vibrant and vicious tunes. The young Berlin-based outfit certainly have an untamed energy, fired by youth and a passion for being noticed.
There is an immediate charm that works its spell on an audience who have come for an escape from work and the world outside. With her striking green hair, singer Laura Jiménez is a whirlwind onstage as she tears into You’ll See Me, co-founder Michiel Sybers and the rest of the band attacking their instruments with an unbridled animosity.
The whole is thrilling, and with punk-pop bangers like Ur Cute Let’s Hang, Para Mi and Terrible And Sad in their armoury, there is an obvious crossover appeal here that should see them pack places like this out as headliners in the not-too-distant future.
Miruthan: Crushingly Heavy
All the way from Australia, Miruthan weave an entirely different atmosphere with their performance. Theatrical in execution, the cloaked and masked Blackened Death Metalllers bring their crushingly heavy numbers with more than a touch of ritual, the whole as dark and thick as treacle.
Embraced warmly, beyond the spectacle and aural barrage as guitars wail and vocals are growled, there’s a humour here that is juxtaposed with the blistering nature of the material. Leader Nzambi points out that they sell merchandise and encourages people to buy some so they “can afford the flights for the long way home.”
As dense as the music is, there is still a thread of melody that runs through their structure. The choir-like vocals bring an added layer to the sound, the whole an intoxicatingly heady brew for those who like their music pitch black.
Elyose: A Touch Of Refined French Class
Making a very welcome return back to these shores, Gothic Industrial Metal Hellraisers Elyose brought a touch of refined French class to proceedings, the siren-like presence and voice of singer Justine Daaé radiating glamour and power combined.
With huge riffs courtesy of the ever-kinetic Anthony Chognard and soaring vocals, the stripped-back spectacle captured something of the atmosphere of the wasteland warehouse feel of the venue, the music speaking loud.
With a new album released three days before, there was a lot to celebrate, and the Parisians were certainly in buoyant form as the sound blasted out with clinical precision as La Veuve Noire and Vendredi Noir mixed both older and newer material to great effect.
Obviously thrilled with their reception, Daaé found herself wreathed in smiles between numbers and the praise was more than justified as they found themselves spoken in the same glowing terms as those showered on legendary countrymen Trust and Gojira.
Theirs may be a slow and steady climb, but Elyose are destined to go supernova. Their set at The Underworld is destined to be one of those “I was there” performances when they are selling out arenas.
Semblant: A Shot Of Adrenaline To The Senses
Capturing the raw spirit of Metal, Brazilian outfit Semblant were like a shot of adrenaline to the senses, perfectly balancing the brutality of their full frontal lobe attack with soaring melodies and choruses. The blend of Sergio Mazul’s growled vocals and the pure voice of Mizuho Lin is intoxicating, the two swapping roles throughout as the fretwork of Sol Perez and Juliano Ribeiro slices and dices.
With sophomore Lunar Manifesto now ten years old and the set cherry-picked from their quartet of full-length releases, old favourites mixed with deeper cuts, city block flattening numbers Incinerate and Scarlet Heritage sound as fresh as ever.
Full of light and shade, the gorgeous dizzying heights of Mere Shadow and Enrage highlighted the band at their best, and when a smiling Mazul promised they would be back soon to play a two-hour set, the prospect was nothing short of mouthwatering.
Infected Rain: Certainly Out To Kill
Closing the night, Infected Rain are certainly out to kill, hitting the stage hard in a flurry of boiling riffs and flailing dreadlocks. Having built their reputation on incendiary live shows, the quartet give everything during their hour-long set. The aptly titled The Realm Of Chaos kicks things off with its Rammstein-like industrial guitar, quickly giving way to something much more feral.
As singer Elena Cataraga prowls the stage, there is no escaping the sheer force here and with the snarling and eviscerating barrage battering the audience, the whole is akin to being strapped to the engine outlets of a rocket. It is all certainly exhilarating, and with the video screen at the side of the stage providing a dazzling set of images that match the ebb and flow of the music, there is a lot to take in.
Matching Cataraga’s energy and hairstyle, guitarist Vadim Ojog throws himself around with little care for his own personal safety, seemingly utterly possessed by the music, while bass player Alice Lane and drummer Eugen Voluta are equally absorbed.
Again, dynamics play a huge role in the sound here. The switches between guttural howls and skyscraping clean vocals during a magnificent Vivarium perfectly illustrate that the band is more than a weapon of blunt force.
Despite having lost one of her dreadlocks due to the low ceiling when last playing here, there was never a sense of Cataraga holding anything back. The Answer Is You, and The Earth Mantra become statements of intent that draw the packed crowd in, the sense of community breaking down any barriers, something the Moldovan heavy hitters have made their own.
Impossible to beat, the fighting spirit and sheer passion shown by Infected Rain show that Metal’s future shines as brightly as ever, and they remain a potent factor that holds the banner high.
It may have been a cold, dark night in London but this is music to change the world, several decibels at a time. Magnificent.
