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Unyielding Love

Dec 15, 2024 By Nick Roseblade Photography by Nick Roseblade Web Exclusive

Hidden down a side street next to the Town Hall and a massive hotel is one of Brighton’s hidden venues. The Pipeline. It’s tiny and if you walked past it, you’d probably miss it was even there. But contained inside it one of the best places to see emerging bands in town. Predominantly a punk venue it was the perfect place for a night of post-hardcore, metal and noise. Plus, it has a fully working juke box.

Believe In Nothing kicked the night off. Opening with “Complete Desolation” they tore The Pipeline a new one. Adding a noise table to post-hardcore/metal isn’t anything new, but the way Believe in Nothing did it was interesting. Instead of making those motifs the focal point of each song, they drip feed the noise and distortion as and when. This meant that when needed to, the band could push the sound, and the audience, in a different direction. Throughout their short, five-song set, their singer stalked The Pipeline. Sometimes, he’s below the closed windows. Other he was thumping his head, as if hoping another bang would be clarity, but mostly he just shouted, screamed and wailed. It was a grand start to the evening. Up next was Healing Wound. Now, without a lie, they were one of the tightest bands I’ve ever seen. This was evident during their opener “Your Cross to Bear”. From the outset it was HUGE riffs and immense beats. When they started the singer Harry Huntington set his microphone facing the band. With his back to the crowd. I’ve always loved this stance. After a few moments he was cannonballing around, but his initial presence stayed with me. By the time they were halfway through their set, the band was firing on all cylinders. What was incredible was how the band didn’t really look at each other during their set but hit every mark. Their final song ‘Death is Birth’ was the strongest and the crowd roared back in delight when it finished.

Knifedoutofexistence was third on the bill. There is a habit of adding noise acts to metal/post-hardcore nights. I wasn’t sure how Knifed would fit, sonically, between the bands given that it’s a one-person project involving vocals, tape loops, pedals and chains. My fretting was premature because Knifed delivered the set of the night. The set started slowly. Was that a tape loop of the wind or was it something else? This is the beauty of Knifed sets. You have to pay attention to what is being played and why. Then there was a delightful bass hum followed by wood creaking? The shifts in sound were so precise, and measured, you could barely hear them happening. There was a section about 10-mins in when Knifed was almost motionless. Head down. Eyes on the pedals. Fingers moving so slowly you couldn’t tell, but the sounds shifted enough to know that he was doing something. I’ve been seeing Knifed for a few years now and this was, probably, the most textured set I’ve seen. The crowd was in quiet awe. Almost religious respect. Knifed was laying it all bare on his altar of noise. Vocally, as usual, it was hard to make out what was being screamed/shouted as the levels of noise were off the chart. At one point Knifed stood there. Arm stretched out horizontal. Mic dangling over the table. Everything was just in the red. Searing. Near the end of the set, it was just piecing feedback that gave way to blissful thunder. It’s hard to describe a Knifed show. It isn’t something you listen to, or watch. It’s something you feel. Deep down. And tonight, we all felt something. At the end Knifed gave an emotional thank you to the crowd and Unyielding Love for being the support on the 10th anniversary tour.

After the Knifed set there was a feeling in the room that wasn’t there before. It wasn’t awkward. It wasn’t unpleasant. But it hung there. Heavy. After a short break Unyielding Love took to the stage and obliterated. Opening with “Wards Vanquished”. Peels of noise, feedback, discordance, kicked off the set, then blistering guitars and drums while Richard Carson screamed, bellowed and thrashed about the stage. This was the order of the set. A barrage of noise and then some punishing hardcore/metal. Like Healing Wound, Unyielding Love were incredibly tight. With the guitarists never really looking at each other throughout their set. A standout moment was ‘Ardent Shroud’. Fierce guitars erupted from the amps. Carson contorted at the front of the stage and all hell broke loose in the pit. The noise Carson made was incredibly textured and worked perfectly as a prelude to each song. Near the end of the set Carson gave the microphone to Knifed who delivered some impassioned vocals. The final song of the night was “Pyrrhic Sons”. This was the one when everything just came together, and it REALLY went off. It felt like the band extended some of the heavier guitar riffs, but it was the breakdown that was next level. Slow. Menacing. Devastating and incredibly enjoyable. When it was over the crowd bayed for more. Pleaded for one more exercise in ecstasy. But that was it.

When I left The Pipeline town was oddly quiet. The rain was falling but I didn’t feel the cold. As I walked towards the Pav everything felt serene and peaceful. A few drunks stumbled into the night from places where they’d been listening to chart hits. I felt sorry for them. They hadn’t experienced music as it should be heard. Live in a small sweaty room above a pub with a jukebox. Each of these acts are exceptional and if they come to your town you need to see them.