November 30th, 2024. An immaculate trifecta of doom to welcome in December at an appropriately infernal venue.

Words: Leela Brunsdon

After a long and, honestly, torturous day of working in retail on Carnaby Street on Black Friday weekend, as the clock hit 6:30 it’s no doubt I was relieved to be let go knowing the night I had ahead of me.

My best friend and I make our way from Soho to Hackney to the infamous Helgi’s bar on Mare Street. I had been before, she had not. She was in for a treat. We arrive to be greeted by a surprisingly polite and personable bouncer who holds open a door so heavy if you told me it was made out of solid steel – I would believe you.

Instantly, we’re shrouded in darkness and a suffocating amount of incense but we look at each other and smile because it’s perfect. Borderline gimmicky, but sick nonetheless. The lights are low, the walls are black and dotted with assorted stickers, graffiti and various occult symbols, opulent candelabras are lit on every table, and the back bar is what can only be described as a goth hoarder’s dream.

We amble to the back where the gig will be and see a huge door painted with some sort of grotesque red goblin-zombie-creature-thing and gives the feel that you’re about to enter some sort of infernal dungeon.

Taking in our surroundings, I notice an unobjectionable abundance of carefully crafted battle jackets, long hair and eyeliner. Everyone was unique and happily chatting away to each other. A man with literal metal horns coming out of the skin on his temples walks past and shoots us a courteous smile and that was indeed the moment I knew this was going to be fucking awesome.

The bar announces that the first band are about to play, and people begin to trickle their way into the cavernous gig room.

The door is opened and I once again couldn’t help but gleam at the sight of it. More incense. All lights were off apart from Luciferian red lights beaming onto the stage which is packed up with the biggest amps I’ve ever seen, topped off with multiple Orange amps, which is always a reassuring sign when you’re in for a doom/sludge metal gig.

Enter Orme, a three-piece doom/psych metal band coming down from Hertfordshire. Tonight the drummer was in absence, so they performed as a two-piece but time shortly told that this was no issue for them. From the first strike of the guitar, the hairs on my arm stood up straight.

It was so heavy I literally felt like I was going to have a heart attack. A feeling you can only get at gigs and a feeling that makes me do exactly what I’m doing here. The guitarist had an epic presence and a booming voice, while the bassist had his back completely turned to the crowd the entire time, sufficiently feedbacking into the amps to create a sound that was so omnipresent it made me feel like I was high.

I’d best describe Orme’s music as monolithic ambience. The sound was unbelievably massive for just two people, but orchestrated in a way that was so enchanting and almost ritualistic. The crowd were totally captured and as I look around me it felt like everyone was in a trance, their bodies completely still but eyes glued to the stage watching these two craft their sound in front of our eyes.

Orme finish up and we leave the gig room feeling very satisfied. A 30-minute changeover for the next band leaves satisfactory time for grabbing a drink, some fresh air, some note-taking and buzzing chats about how much we’re enjoying ourselves.

Next up are Dungeön, a three-piece doom/sludge band from Bournemouth. My hometown! There’s an indescribable feeling of pride and excitement seeing a band from your hometown play a gig in London even when you don’t know these people at all.

I’ve seen Dungeön before, sometime last year when they opened for legends of the scene Mondo Generator (Nick Oliveri’s current project, former bassist of Queens of the Stone Age and Kyuss). I remember that they ripped and are definitely a big part of the reason for my attendance this evening.

They take the stage and the first thing I notice is their chemistry as a trio. By simply shooting a look at one another, it seemed as though they could hear what each other were thinking and it absolutely translated through their sound because they were tight.

Their sound was murderous, the kind where your face subconsciously screws up and your body has to move to it. The riffs were killer and the basslines were fuzzy and faultless, but the drummer was hard not to watch – he was so locked in and meticulous while thrashing about and evidently having a good time. It’s infectious, these three were totally indulged in their sound and you can’t help but be right there with them.

The vocals were for sure a highlight, the bassist being the vocalist which is something you don’t see too often so it’s always cool when you do. They were haunting, loud and exactly what you want to hear when listening to this music.

Dungeön announce their last song, and begin to play another ripper. A couple minutes in, the guitarist leans down and puts his guitar on the ground and takes a quick swig of beer. Cool – I think. No more guitar for the rest of the song.. must be near the end. I was wrong. He kneels down and starts modulating the feedback with his pedal and my friend and I look at each other, jaws dropped, and mouth “holy fuck”.  The sound trilled and oscillated around the room so much so you could feel it in your fingertips. I don’t even know how to describe how wicked it sounded. It was awesome and a frankly immaculate ending to their already epic set.

30 minutes. Drink, fresh air, notes, chat. Back to it.

The headliners are Goblinsmoker, a three-piece doom metal band from Durham. The gig room is noticeably a lot more packed and the heat is up. Now not only does it look infernal, it fucking feels it.

The band enter as the crowd cheer and raise their glasses and I spot a few people holding up the devil horns to hail Goblinsmoker as they begin. It’s instantly evident that these guys are masters at work. Their sound is tight, and they know how to orchestrate a crowd. There’s more theatrics but it’s perfect for a headline band and a crowd as receptive as this. Most notably, the bass sounded very tasty. It was distorted and muddy, I felt like I could hear all the electricity running from the string, through the amp and into my eardrums.

The crowd response was wild, I was positioned in the audience next to a guy who, granted, had clearly had a drink too many, was losing his mind, cheering and headbanging and viscerally growling along to the music which was strangely wholesome because you could tell how much he really was enjoying himself and that this music is his shit.

Shoved to the back, all I could think whenever I got a brief glimpse of the madness on stage was how entertaining it was that a band called Goblinsmoker were playing on a stage that was surrounded by black walls that had goblins, wizards and dragons painted on it in red paint. It felt like they’d designed this stage themselves, serendipity!

The rest of the set was sufficiently sludgy, I have no faults and I can vouch for everyone else in that crowd too as it was clear the collective were having an amazing time.

Leaving the venue I think to myself, with a few highly anticipated sludge metal gigs booked in for myself this December, I can confidently say that this night has started it off right and has been a (not needed but nice to have) reminder as to why I love music so much.

A huge thanks to London Doom Collective for letting LDN come along, and I encourage all to take the time to check out these bands as their studio music as well as their live performances demand for first-hand experience.

Find Orme @ormedrone / linktr.ee/ormedrone

Find Dungeön @dungeon_uk / linktr.ee/dungeonband

Find Goblinsmoker @goblinsmoker.doom / goblinsmoker.bandcamp.com

And find London Doom Collective @london_doom_collective / linktr.ee/londondoomcollective