Live Review: Tribe of Ghosts, with Gutlocker & Face the Wolves at 229, London (24/05/24)

It’s not the busiest night you’ll ever see at the 229 in London, but who f**king cares! Industrial post-metal band, Tribe of Ghost are in town, and they’ve brought along riffy metallers Gutlocker and electronic-metalcore band, Face the Wolves with them.

The latter is first up, and a band that I know nothing about, so it is a surprise to see just one person on stage as I thought they were a two-piece. I’m not sure why it’s just vocals tonight, but I’m sure there’s a good reason, and while not having live drums does dent the impact slightly, it’s still an impressive showing. One that exudes a ton of electronica-edged energy, crunchy metalcore heaviness, and dramatically touching melody.

What begins awkwardly, transforms into something compelling. Face the Wolves’ vocalist is so good, singing and roaring with an immense amount of passion, and moving constantly to frenetic beats. I didn’t think I’d come away as impressed as I did, and I’d certainly love to see them perform again as a full unit, and to a more packed-out room.

How about Gutlocker though? Proving the rule that you play every show like you’re in front of ten thousand people. Not just dependably good live, but delightfully fun, and with a bevy of tracks that encourage heads to bang. Still riding the wave of their impressive debut full-length album ‘To Be Alive’ (released in 2022), but becoming tighter and meaner, live. This is a brilliant set, a crashing and smashing showcase of groovy noise that puts big smiles on all faces. I love Gutlocker, and they are the perfect band to set-up the chaos of what comes next.

Which just so happens to be Tribe of Ghosts, a band that seems to get better and better each time I see them play. A band that can play any show with anyone and stand out as something special. Their hard work over the past few years is notable, and to see how strong their live performances have become is all the confirmation you need that the future for them is very bright.

It’s also mightily colourful, as this show sees Tribe of Ghosts introducing a new light show to go along with their tunes, and holy hell, it adds a lot. The pulsating glows and the bursts of frenzied flashes creates a new level of atmosphere to their show. Which, when mixed with the heavy industrial and electronica soundscapes, makes things almost feel sci-fi like.

It’s touches like this that prove there is no stagnation here, and their current set-list is seriously strong. I will never tire of hearing Hive live, that track is such a beast, but False Gods is really coming into its own too.

It’s sweaty, it’s intense, it’s Tribe of Ghosts. They really are one of the best bands in the world right now. Roll on the next time I get to see them live.