Dopethrone / Wallowing / Barbarian Hermit @ Rebellion, Manchester, 21st March 2025

With the roads leading into Manchester city centre being a cruel mistress on an early Friday evening, I headed up for another Riffolution Promotions gig at Rebellion. Due to them being on stage at 6.20pm, I missed the opening part of Barbarian Hermit’s set, something that I’d mentioned to the band on Instagram earlier that week, and they were just finishing off one of my favourite songs Stranger Than Fiction as I walked into the venue.

The last time I’d seen them at Rebellion was for their Mean Sugar album launch last August, which had a party atmosphere, whereas tonight, due to the early start, it felt a bit low on energy. Vocalist Simon Scarlett injected a bit of humour by saying ‘we are your drunken warm up’ as they crack on with the brilliant title track Mean Sugar which has a lovely guitar tone, complemented by a powerful bass line. The rich, deep bass flows into Beyond Del Toro and it’s a heavy, brooding rhythm that sounds so damn good.

‘I think this next one is a ballad’, says Scarlett, ‘see what you think of it’ as he swaggers about on stage with an air of confidence. Deadbolt is, of course, anything but a ballad, with its big riffs and huge double bass sound from drummer Gareth Manning. “It’s advisable that you bang your heads to this one” as they end their short set with Battle Of Kompromat which sees impressive tempo changes and people enjoying themselves. ‘Thank you all, we’ve been Barbarian Hermit’.

Brighton’s own Wallowing are a band that everyone should see at least once. I saw them at Aatma last May and was blown away by their performance. With the stage bathed in alien green lighting, I was intrigued to see what the sci-fi sludge quintet would bring tonight. The mixing desk of doom is front and centre, with dual vocalists Mark Roberts and Maxim Taite-Ellis taking it in turns to scream, shout and sing whilst creating a nightmarish electronic soundscape.

They start with Flesh And Steel as it sees the guitarist and bass player with their backs to the crowd, and through the smoke-filled stage, you can just make out their beekeeper outfits, which all adds to the sci-fi craziness of their set up. The tempo changes and big drops signify to me that they’ve improved a lot since I last saw them, and they flow effortlessly into Phosgene building up the tension with one of the frontmen acting liked a maniac on the floor with the crowd.

Of course, they must play their monumental track that is Earth Reaper, which I’d quite happily listen to it all night, as it’s such brilliant piece of music. With spoken words, big crashing cymbals, dual vocals aplenty, fearsome riffs and nightmarish electric noises, it’s an intensity that wakes the crowd up as they are once again joined by one of the vocalists and a pit starts up. As a band, they do leave you quite breathless with their cacophonous sonic blast and they are only going to get better.

And finally at the early time of 8.30pm, we arrive at tonight’s headliners Dopethrone. The Canadian ‘slutch’ maestros from Montreal saunter onto the stage after a country/blues intro has finished and they are here to promote the brilliant Broke Sabbath album. They start with Snort Dagger, their sound is forceful and mighty, with the 5-string bass of newly recruited Mike Riopel bouncing off the walls. Planet Meth sees vocalist Vincent Houde drive his guitar into the post at the centre of the stage, as the tightly packed crowd get fully immersed in the hard-hitting sound.

‘it’s an early show, so we get fucked up early tonight’ gets huge cheers as Houde swigs his bottles of Buckfast and Jägermeister, as Porcelain God and Sultans Of Sin sees Riopel throwing his bass around all over the place. They are both really animated on stage, clearly enjoying themselves, with a few drinks inside, as Riopel slides his bass down one of the cymbals before cracking open another can.

The barely audible Houde asks ‘who’s working tomorrow?’ which gets a few responses, but more about that later. They get back to playing some stunning songs, Tweak Jabber and Shot Down, which sees the strap on Riopel’s bass snap, but he still carries on regardless, playing and throwing it around all over the place. In fact, his madman levels go up even further and although he tries a quick fix, he just carries on and is somehow even better!

With some good old gaffer tape fixing the problem, the trio plough on with Dark Foil and Host which sees Houde headbutting the back of his guitar before he declares his love for all of us, as ‘it’s you guys who brought us here, I fucking love you guys’. He introduces ‘our new bassist, give it up for Mike man’, the crowd applaud back noisily, as he swigs on his Buckfast while Riopel and drummer Shawn crank up the intro to the superb Wrong Sabbath, and what a song it is.

The alcohol effects are clearly showing on Houde, as he’s a bit all over the shop at times, but it doesn’t detract from his performance. All I’ll say is after one of his incoherent ramblings, I almost expected him to say, ‘and I was, very, very drunk’ like The Fast Show’s fictional Character Rowley Birkin QC. They continue with the awesome Truckstop Warlock from their latest album, as Houde tries to convince us that the next song ‘isn’t about drugs’, but nobody believes him.

After further swigs of Buckie and Jäger, they carry on with Devil’s Dandruff which is a real headbanger of a song and sees the crowd liven up. Houde then encourages anybody who must work tomorrow to ‘tell ya boss to fuck off’ before he asks if anyone knows the words to the next song.

Now, at this point, I think he selects someone who did have to work tomorrow, and with youthful exuberance, Dan jumps up onto the stage to have his five minutes of fame. The song in question is the monstrous Scum Fuck Blues and Dan is beaming from ear to ear as he grabs the mic and sings along with Houde. That heavy sludge noise is another level of brilliant, and after getting hugs from all the band, he jumps off the stage.

With the ending in sight, yes, it was only around 9.45pm, the brutish bass line dominates Life Kills You as the pit kicks in alongside the ferocious solo and dynamic drumming. ‘This is pretty much the end four us, I love you all’ as Houde holds up the heart sign with his fingers for the umpteenth time that evening, ‘let’s muthafucking party afterwards’ as the fierce Killdozer rounds off a night of stunning music that leaves everybody happy as they leave the venue.

Dopethrone

Wallowing

Barbarian Hermit

Scribed by: Matthew Williams
Photos by: Lee Edwards