What happened that Monday in Huddersfield Town Hall is nothing short of astonishing. You see, going to underground metal gigs is a pretty standard procedure – you go down to a dark basement as you’re received by that peculiar smell, you look around in hope to recognise some of the band members, you check the merch table, grab the cheapest IPA on tap, judge people’s t-shirts to realise that a Slipknot fan may have been dragged into the wrong hole. The opening band kick-starts the evening in front of ten enthusiasts and you think “hope more people turn up later” or, in the case of funeral doom metal gigs, “wow, they did a great advertising job!”.
However, this time it was precisely two bands from this often overlooked metal subgenre, Pantheist and Arð, who, for once, took us out of that basement and put us in a gorgeous Grade-II listed building, Huddersfield Town Hall. But, although the remarkable elegance of this venue is already a special occasion for us, it is the nature of the gig itself that made me read the advert more than twice.
I’m convinced that I’m not the only one whose secular visits to gothic churches in England always bring the cliché phrase “This would be a great venue for a funeral doom gig, imagine Skepticism or Pantheist through that pipe organ!”. Although rare, metal gigs in churches are events that your kvlt friend has witnessed “multiple times”. However, even in such events, rarely does the band touch the pipe organ. It makes sense, it’s not a bloody Yamaha keyboard! Big pipe organs are complex instruments that are better played by well-studied organists. Originally in operation in Newport, the magnificent 19th-century organ in Huddersfield Town Hall certainly requires a professional organist. Hence Pantheist and Arð got hold of David Pipe. “A man with the perfect name for the job” as Arð’s Mark Deeks described him, Pipe is Director of the Organists’ Training Programme and Cathedral Organist in the Diocese of Leeds. So here we have two obscure metal bands announcing they’re not only playing the fanciest possible venue, but they are also going to use its pipe organ to make many fans of the genre’s weird dream come true.
If you think this is enough for suspecting that this event is a hoax, hold on because things get more bizarre. Huddersfield is in West Yorkshire, mere twenty-five minutes by train from Halifax, the birthplace of the death/doom metal genre, hometown to My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost. The one and only Aaron Stainthorpe, frontman of My Dying Bride, seemed to have liked the idea of such an event being organised so close to his doorstep and accepted to participate as narrator for Arð. In addition, it was announced that former Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride drummer Jeff Singer was to replace Atavist’s Callum Cox behind Arð’s drumkit.
In summary, the advert goes: Pantheist and Arð will be performing in Huddersfield Town Hall, the pipe organ will be played by David Pipe. Aaron Stainthorpe of My Dying Bride fame will be the narrator for Arð, while ex-Paradise Lost and ex-My Dying Bride Jeff Singer will be drumming for them. All that for £10, that’s less than what Gojira charge you for a straw!
On the day, you’re not received by a frowning bouncer but by a chatty old chap in suit. In my t-shirt judgement ritual, I immediately spot a The Prophecy one. The Prophecy are a criminally underappreciated death/doom band from the same town of Halifax. Yes, we’re definitely in Yorkshire – You arrive there on a TransPennine service, the North England operator recently taken over by the government; and the only available ale comes from Black Sheep, the brewery from Masham. You can also spot famous people who probably live not far. Standing out is Arthur Brown, the legendary psychedelic rock singer from Whitby. Godthrymm guitarist and former long-term My Dying Bride member, Hamish Glencross, can easily be recognised. I may also have spotted a member of Huddersfield’s epic doom metal masters Solstice.
Although the all-seated gig didn’t sell out, the 142-year-old venue looked packed from the beginning. There couldn’t have been a more appropriate way to kick-start the show than with the organ playing Pantheist’s “1000 Years (intro)”, which is indeed an extended version of the organ solo in the intro to “1000 Years”. Being able to finally listen to such a familiar organ tune through an actual pipe organ was one of the most precious moments of the gig. Pantheist continued with “O Solitude”. The organ sounds majestic in the song’s middle section when it prominently accompanies Kostas Panagiotou’s introspective narration. To the disappointment of many, Kostas Panagiotou announced that their third song would be the last one. With 23 minutes in length, “Strange Times” progresses through its different stages which include an atmospheric passage where the organ sounds absolutely gorgeous. I totally appreciate the crowd’s behaviour – unlike in most of gigs I’ve been to in England, people remained quiet during the atmospheric sections, most probably due to their jaws dropping.
“This is so ridiculous, it’s so unbelievable that sometimes I had to laugh”, says Arð’s mastermind Mark Deeks in pure excitement as he first speaks from stage. A solo project in the studio, on stage Arð has a whole line-up consisting of Deek’s bandmates in Winterfylleth (Chris Naughton and Nick Wallwork), Mark Doyle, Pantheist’s Kostas Panagiotou, and, as advertised, Jeff Singer on drums. Deeks goes ahead and proudly introduces Aaron Stainthorpe, who is immediately spotlighted at the podium. Arð are set to play the whole of ‘Take Up My Bones’, the project’s only LP, a debut that I named last year’s best album. The album follows the enigmatic story of the Anglo-Saxon saint Cuthbert of Northumbria. The LP released by Prophecy Productions contains liner notes accompanying each song. Aaron Stainthorpe reads these liner notes introducing each song. So we hear that very voice that can be found in My Dying Bride’s narrative sections – a key element of modern My Dying Bride sound.
A theological debate can easily spark at the pub while discussing ‘Take Up My Bones’. Deeks’s historical approach to a Christian story in the liner notes to his debut may scare off some of the most orthodox metal fans. In reality, Christian imagery and themes have been part of doom metal since its very incarnation with Black Sabbath and resurrection with Candlemass, a fact that Aaron Stainthorpe is clearly aware of. Thus he spoke eloquently as he read St. Cuthbert’s story. A bit contrasting, indeed, to the dark and miserable poetry in first person that we usually relate him to. The mysticism that Deeks exploits from St. Curthbert’s legend was emphasised on stage by the pipe organ’s sound, prominent in “Only Three Shall Know” and “Take Up My Bones”. Such a heavily religious sound was appropriately accompanied by the monastic chants interpreted in duo by Deeks and Winterfylleth’s frontman Chris Naughton. At the right door to backstage, Aaron Stainthorpe could be seen headbanging to Arð’s slow riffs and mournful solos.
An unforgettable night from the first hair-raising notes of “1000 Years” to the moment Arð and Aaron Stainthorpe bow goodbye to a crowd that stood up to applaud them. However, if a complaint is to be raised, that would be the short length of Pantheist’s setlist. Of course, in funeral doom the number of songs that you can squeeze in a show is highly restricted by time. If you go to see Bellwitch , for example, and the first song isn’t your favourite, you’re already doomed, as they can only fit one song in a one-and-a-half hour performance. Indeed, with three songs, Pantheist was on stage for about 40 minutes – a fairly standard time for an opening act. However, a longer slot for one of the metal bands that, along with Skepticism, most emphasise the use of church organ would’ve been welcome. The imposing sound of songs like “Time” being played through such a magnificent organ will remain in our imagination. Understandable, nevertheless, that a venue of the importance of Huddersfield Town Hall must have tight time restrictions.
This event is truly a triumph not only for funeral doom, but for doom metal in general. The fact that the gig was supported by the University of Huddersfield as part of the Kirklees Year of Music festival in order to enjoy «the richness and diversity of music today» brings hope to the exposure of such an underappreciated metal subgenre.
– PABLO CUSTODIO
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EDIT: After this review was published, Kostas Panagiotou, Pantheist‘s frontman and Arð‘s keyboardists, commented the following on my concern about the length of Pantheist‘s setlist: «This event started as an idea to record the Ard album with the accompaniment of a church organ. It only became a public event retrospectively, when the engineer Mark and the organisers figured out they might as well open it up to the public and make a proper concert of it. It then snowballed into the extravaganza it became involving Aaron Stainthorpe and Pantheïst. To be clear we were added afterwards to the equation when Mark Deeks kindly reached out to us offering us a support slot as this felt more appropriate with a public event rather than just one band on the bill. However due to the logistics with rehearsing with an organist plus transcribing scores for organ etc, our set couldn’t be reasonably too long. We are extremely grateful for the experience and of course if we ever get the opportunity in the future to play a longer set with a church organ we will definitely grab it, as it was without a doubt an event we will cherish forever»
