Sulpher at the Scala

A non-stop ride that never holds back. Of course the lazy masses will (and have) labelled Sulpher a poor man’s NIN. But in the year 2002 Trent Reznor is heading down more musically diverse avenues and Sulpher are more than apt to further the discontented cyber wasteland that Reznor has abandoned.

However, perhaps part of the beauty with Sulpher is that success has come their way through old fashioned means- Playing live at regular opportunities, building a following and giving the fans exactly the atmosphere they want. If Sulpher suffer from any problem its that they sometimes give their fans too much, this being London gig number 5 within a mere 12 months. Couple this with singer Rob Holiday’s extra curricular activities with the Mission and Gary Numan, and you wonder exactly when these guys rest- if they ever need to!

Tonight’s show is a rescheduled event from the 8th of March, when a leg injury caused the band to cancel at the last minute. Although tonight offers an unusual situation, as this has got to be the first time yours truly has seen a guest list queue outside a venue that was longer than the paying queue! Support comes firstly from punky techno kids The Spires who suffer from either very bad equipment or a very poor sound mix, either way their brittle sound shows much promise. This is followed by the ever misplaced Greenhaus, a techno dance band better suited to supporting Orbital at Creamfields than industrial heavy hitters such as Sulpher.

One stage filled with bellowing dry ice and an eerie instrumental later and the Sulpher boys are once again upon us. If you can catch a glimpse of them of course, black on black is Sulpher’s colour of choice and the stage lighting reflects this appropriate low key image. For the most part all that can be seen upon the stage are four shifting shadows behind the smoke and the glowing torch hung from the chest of keyboard player Kevin Stewart.

However, in an age when overblown egos are all the rage, the fact that Sulpher are happy to play to the tastes of their gothic fan base is a refreshing change. But then even the band are a creed unto themselves, all dressed in black tattered combat fatigues with ebon dreadlocks flying in all directions. Know a member of Sulpher and know a different part of hell.

Tonight’s set is essentially a showcase for the ‘Spray’ album, hence we get ‘Misery’, ’You Ruined Everything’ and the epic LP version of ’One Of Us’. It may be a set of songs we’ve been hearing live for well over a year, but there’s a renewed vigour to proceedings. The sound mix is far better than past performances, highlighting the techno backing tracks that are usually buried under layers of feedback. There’s a clear-cut resonance tonight that Rob's former colleagues in Curve can only dream of. There aren’t many slow numbers but we’ll leave that area for the 21st Century Trent Reznor to play with.

However, at many points the band appear to be having equipment problems, cue lots of attitude and mic stand abuse from Mr Holiday, although we have seen similar occurrences before, so either the boys are stuck with some really shitty equipment or maybe it’s actually planned to create some aggression on stage!

Truth be told though, Rob is a lot less intense than at past performances- It may be his time in the Mission rubbing off tonight, but there’s a lot more interaction with the audience going on. Jesus, he even lets a young lady onto the stage to sing the last verse of the ’Burning Inside’ thrash-alike ‘Spray’. Who ever thought they’d see any Karaoke at a Cyber Goth gig?

However, it’s a moment that brings the gig as we know it to an end. The band storm off stage abruptly and the roadies begin dismantling the equipment. That’s it; No thanks, no encores, just sheer class. More of the same please.