Camden Crawl 2009: S.C.U.M, The Black Cap

The hype surrounding S.C.U.M does not appear to be dampening whatsoever. The audience they draw at the Camden Crawl is divided between the loving and the simply curious. Add a sizeable number of who are just too inebriated to comprehend the goings on and that’s the audience. The latter group should certainly regret their intoxication as tonight’s show is scintillating. The crowd, packed tight into the venue which seems shoebox in size, savours every minute of S.C.U.M’s mind-blowing set. Live, they stop short of nothing but brilliance.

The band, snug on the stage, deliver their performance with sinister aplomb. Bassist Huw Webb in simple black and white attire cuts a haunting figure from his lofty perch next to Melissa Rigby’s drum kit. Thomas Cohen’s passionate and politically charged vocals rain down like a reverb blitz and bring all this together with space-like synthesizer effects as well as the almost constant pounding on the strobes by the light engineers, and this is the nearest to describing in words not only the visual but also the aural delights that are concocted by S.C.U.M. Although the group seem more suited to playing in churches, the compact nature of the venue certainly adds a touch which S.C.U.M work on with much success. Their versatility in different environments continues to impress.