Satans Hollow is a quirky venue to say the least and I was intrigued to see how the circular stage would work in such a small venue, the short answer is, it doesn’t. With the crowd settled in it was time for the main support DYNOISIS, singer Nel Cave stepped onstage to quote Black Adder ‘lit up like a Christmas tree’ sporting a dress covered in fairy lights. Having never heard anything by them before their Goth rock sound is given most of its substance by the contrast between Nel and backing vocalist Lou Welsby, the latter being one of the most uncomfortable people I’ve ever seen on a stage.

The music is interesting to listen to, with an ethereal haunting sound that permeates all their songs, the vocal interchanges are well thought-out giving every song a velvet like feel to them, theirs even the occasional guitar solo courtesy of Tom Chaffer a nod to their base sound but with such a melodic and wispy sound it’s difficult for me to get particularly excited about it.

For those put into a catatonic state LAHANNYA quickly snapped them out of it. Starting off slow with ‘Welcome to the Underground’ the majestic chorus really shows off Lahannya’s note perfect vocals, her voice reminds me of Christain Scabbia of Lacuna Coil which is certainly no bad thing! It dosen’t take long to get to the crushing ‘Inside the Machine’ with it’s apocalyptic message that flows over the interplay of chugging guitars and industrial beats, such an infectious song.

Midway through the set you begin to feel the songs can get a bit repetitive with some set fillers creeping in. That being said Lahannya’s vocal performance shines through even on the weaker songs.

Despite the disappointing turn out that even the horrendous amount of smoke wafting about could not disguise, I don’t think I’ll ever understand the appeal of indoor fog, overall LAHANNYA put on a solid performance with some stand out songs, they’re certainly worth a look if you have chance.

Ratings:

LAHANNYA 3.6/5.0

Review and Photography by Alexander Shaw(click here)