OFF Festival 2012: Death In Vegas

Standing at the edge of a forest, bathed in green and purple ambience, whilst being caressed by gentle Polish rain: without a doubt the perfect setting to enjoy a set from Death In Vegas. Clothed head-to-toe in black, their figures merely silhouettes against a backdrop of two-tone stage lights, Richard Fearless and Tim Holmes look wonderfully sinister. As the opening bars of ‘Dirge’ kick in, there are bound to be numerous shivers travelling up numerous spines, with synthesiser noodlings meeting ethereal vocals, before being smashed head-on into a wall of guitars.

The band possesses a lengthy and varied back-catalogue, so could have sent their set down a variety of musical avenues. Tonight, they flit primarily between the more raucous side of their guitar-work and those tracks where they use ethereal female vocals to devastating effect. ‘Dirt’ and Rekkit’ cover the first base nicely, with the former drowning the crowd in guitars so loud that I’m sure a few would have been lost in the psychedelic rock version of Narnia (which, thinking about it, would probably still contain a lion, a witch and some sort of storage device). ‘My Loft Your Acid’ is a haunting belter, with subtle synths giving the soaring vocals the foundations to pierce the heart of every onlooker lucky enough to be there in front of them.