Blood Ceremony - Plymouth Review

This was not the first time that my first gig of the year took place at The Junction in Plymouth. 2017 started with Fragile Things playing to a small crowd at the Plymouth venue, and 2019 also started in similar fashion. The band playing there this January that interested me was Blood Ceremony, a Canadian four-piece that fuse progressive, folk, and doomy rock sounds together to create a retro vibe that sounds like a bit of a mix of Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, and Curved Air. They are a band that I had been aware of for some time, thanks to some articles that a fellow blogger friend posted quite a few years ago, but I had never made much of an effort to check them out properly until they announced a slightly random one-off headline show in my hometown. The show at The Junction fit in to a larger UK trek which saw the band supporting Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats. I assume that the tour had a bit of a gap in the schedule, so Blood Ceremony took the opportunity to fill it with a show at The Junction. The Junction is a well-used venue in Plymouth, which probably only fails to get more gigs that I would attend due to its size. I have lived in the centre of Plymouth for three years now, and have only visited the venue a handful of times in that period. The last time was for a packed, sold out show in November courtesy of Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons which proved to be an excellent evening of live music. I was looking forward to returning but assumed that the turnout would not be quite as strong this time! Usually the turnout at The Junction is either awful or excellent - but Blood Ceremony managed to attract a reasonably strong crowd. Compared to the 15 or so fellow gig-goers that I have been joined by in the Junction before, the 60/70 odd people that turned out to see the fairly obscure Canadian band should be considered a success. Those who turned up and packed the front of the stage during the evening helped to create a strong atmosphere that helped 2019 get off to a good start as a gigging year.

Before Blood Ceremony took to the stage, the growing crowd was treated to a strong support set from the Cornish psychedelic three-piece Cybernetic Witch Cult - a band who I last saw at the same venue back in 2016 supporting Purson. There is a big Black Sabbath and Clutch vibe to the band's sound, with busy basslines, fuzzy riffs, and somewhat howled vocals. The band's songs all seem to be based around Sci-Fi films and books, which gives their lyrics a fun, schlocky vibe. It seemed to take the crowd a few numbers to really get into what Cybernetic Witch Cult were doing, but by the end of the set everyone was down near the front of the stage and headbanging. The early portion of the set did suffer from slightly muddy sound, with the vocals buried under the band's heaviness, but this seemed to balance out as things progressed. I remember casually enjoying the band in 2016 and my feelings were much the same this time around. The dialogue clips from various films that are spliced into the band's songs help to create a quirky vibe, and the band's energy helped to whip up a strong atmosphere in the crowd. The band received a strong reception as they left the stage, and I would not be surprised if they had made themselves a few new fans with this performance.

After a pretty quick changeover, Blood Ceremony took to the stage to perform a bit of a soundcheck and then just launched straight into their set without much fanfare. I am only familiar with the band's first album, so was unfamiliar with much of the material, but I enjoyed the band's rocky, powerful sound. Sadly however it seemed the band were battling with some technical issues throughout their set, with Alia O'Brien's (vocals/keyboards/flute) keyboard often playing up. From signals that she made on stage during the first number it seemed that the keyboard was actually smoking at one point, which is never a good thing! As a result she seemed a little on edge throughout the set, which is certainly understandable, and there was sadly no encore as a result. Despite these issues, the band managed to still put on a strong show with the single Goodbye Gemini and Half Moon Street standing out early on. When the keyboards were working the songs were able to take on a bit of a Doors-come-Uriah Heep vibe to really fill out their sound, with Sean Kennedy's (guitar/vocals) bluesy, organic riffs and subtle guitar leads taking over at other times. Some of my favourite parts of the set however were when O'Brien and Kennedy teamed up to duel with their flute and guitar respectively. Some of the flute playing was very much out of the Ian Anderson school of rock-based flute melodies, and the way the two musicians teamed up to create a haunting, melodic sound. Other songs that stood out for me were the new single Lolly Willows which had a jauntier sound than much of the rest of the set, and the heavier Oliver Haddo which - if anything - may be the best representation of the band's gothic tinged sound. It is also somewhat lengthier which allowed the band's more progressive side to show. The show came to a close with the folky I'm Coming With You - a song which is certainly more instantly accessible than some of their pieces. It featured lots of excellent flute playing and an excellent vocal performance from O'Brien as she showed off her slightly strange, witchy voice. Sadly the show came to a bit of a halting end due to the technical issues and it was quite clear that O'Brien did not want to come back on stage which was a bit of a shame. I can understand why though, and I am just glad that the band managed to solider on through the issues as best as they could!

Overall this was a fairly low-key, but enjoyable first gig of the year. It was great to see Blood Ceremony venture down this far south, it was just a shame that some technical issues hampered the night somewhat.