There is something compelling about music that will make people jump into a vehicle and travel the length and breadth of their own country and, if they are lucky, play their music to a packed venue or the classic cliche of one man and his dog. Yet a bass music project is breaking into the metal and Industrial world like no other. This duo is sadistic, terrifying and utterly original. Antania is blurring the lines between bass music and blackened metal.
The flip side to that is that fans of music will also readily do the same and having racked up thousands of miles in my lifetime traveling to see bands great and small in some of the most prestigious concerts halls and some of the most pitiful, so when I was told that Dr Luna was going to be making the 2,091 mile trip from Joshua Tree CA to bring his Antania project to Milwaukee WI for three live dates (including Chicago) the 5 hour car journey from Detroit seemed a paltry undertaking in comparison. The first half of the trek passed in a blur of beautiful countryside and sunshine, high tempo catchy music on the stereo, distracting the key to stop me talking out loud to myself. The second half of my journey, in preparation for the evening I threw on Antania’s recent album ‘The God Complex” and followed this up with previous effort ‘Lividity” (only on bandcamp), one thing I have to say is that as much as I love it, for me, Doom Bass is not the best driving material. I can get lost in the constant, repetitive bass lines and forget where I am at. I love bass music and I love seeing a bass music project blowing apart the industrial Metal scene, and for good reason. This is bass music’s only real chance to appeal to a blackened metal audience. It’s working!
As the skies darkened and threatened rain, the oppressively atmospheric mechanised music can give the mind too much time to wonder, becoming acutely aware of my own dependence on technology at that moment; the purring of the engine, the contours and textures of the road and the sheer wonderment at what abominations people will do to perfectly good cars in the name of ‘style’. Either that or this was the point I remembered just how fucking boring motorway driving is!
Never-the-less the change in atmosphere was palpable as I left Detroit behind and headed towards a city that was famous for industrial mills, football and beer, in turn leading us to the towering slabs of Doom laced Metal that Antania owe a debt, carving out sounds that are the bastard offspring of Black Sabbath and the machines that gave them both inspiration.
The main room where the bands are is tight, warm and claustrophobic, offering a contrast to the peaceful fundraiser going on for the Anti-Hunting Brigade out in the beer garden. From the art galleries of Paris to squats in Germany, Dr Luna has taken his brand of frightening biomechanical Doom Bass across Europe already, earlier 2024.
As someone who has helped set up their fair share of gigs, just watching the set up was an event, no heads and cabs wheeled into place, no drum breakables being assembled; instead what looks like a futuristic gun on a caterpillar track and an array of knobs and wires that look more like a power station control centre rather than the prelude to a musical performance.
The anticipation in the room was palpable as Kali Mortem took to the stage behind the veil and wrapped her fingers round the sure microphone with the number 8 ablaze, teasing the crowd and asking for more volume from the sound guy and then; Boom. Or rather Doom.
The sounds that are created are WAY more vertigo inducing in a live setting as they are on record, a mind bending warp of The Prodigy and Slayer colliding with Godflesh and Ministry in a decaying factory, kicking the shit out of each other as the building comes crashing down around them.
Melding aspects of their two releases together, it is possible to pick out moments like ‘In the Fire” and ‘The God Complex” from the previous album mixed in with squealing electronic freak outs and rib crushing bass; all the while the nature of the way the music is crafted means that the performance from Antania is visually captivating and physically demanding as he pounds the bass hammer on the front of his facade like Actuator and slides and twists the other sound manipulating devices and Kali Mortem has a voice that sounds like your being ripped apart.
Video: The God Complex https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGdfgmVw-gE&pp=sAQB
More dark and brutal than on record it is no less an entertaining show and with a pumped up crowd which contrasted with the oppressive, claustrophobic, pulsing sounds, the robotic duo conjured the air of Philip K Dick and a thousand other science fiction writers’ worst nightmares. Even a brief hiatus due to some technical problems arising from a less than sturdy playing surface couldn’t dampen the mood and the audience were left baying for more even after the last bruting bass drop disappeared.
It seems the wider world is finally waking up to the genius of Antania and to see the show up close and personal in a tiny, sweaty, packed room was a treat and something that may never be replicated. Quite unlike anything you have heard or seen, it was well worth the 10 hour round trip.
Catch Antania live as direct support for Psyclon Nine and Ventana
💀Antania Live💀
1-31 San Diego, CA
2-2 Portland, OR
2-3 Seattle, WA
2-5 Lincoln, NE
2-7 Detroit, MI
2-8 Toronto, ON
2-19 Tampa, FL
2-20 Orlando, FL
2-22 Austin, TX
2-23 Dallas, TX
2-25 Denver, CO
2-28 Mesa, AZ
3-1 Las Vegas, NV
3-8 Los Angeles, CA
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Pics by Ricrdo Herrera
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