The British metallers lay waste to The Borderline in London!

TED MAUL

BORDERLINE, LONDON

Ted Maul have one of the most exciting sounds currently around. Opening with an interesting new number (coming in off a looped tape of Chris Morris telling us “Ted Maul disturbs”) the five plough through an intense set. It’s sad to see them without Daniel ‘Ritz’ Reeves on the keys, but Dan ‘Ropeman’ Knight does a fine job of handling the soundscapes as well as his guitar – and the Borderline’s meagre stage probably couldn’t have contained six Maulers, anyway. That they’re on their third day without sleep doesn’t show in the quality of the performance – ‘Forest’ is belted out in beautiful style and the penultimate ‘For The Innocent’ really touches a chord – but you can see that reserves are a bit depleted and minds are starting to unravel.

Solomon piggy-backs Nikki and harrasses Luca like a man possessed, but it’s all in the game. Currently working on a follow-up to 2007’s ‘White Label’, the Maul are firing on all cylinders. Their brutal, grinding groove inspires a handful of raven-haired nutters to try to start a circle pit on a Sunday night in this box of a club, and a pair of young women spend the last 20 or more minutes of the set tackling each other around the formers’ flailing fists and banging heads. Just imagine what might start happening once album number 2 is out…

ZZ FROST