Typically, we’re all led to believe that the bigger the stage a band are on the better they are. After all, so many people can’t be wrong, can they?
They can. They often are. If quality was what made bands big then at least a third of bands who can be considered big would have their CD in the bargain bin, along with their lack of imagination.
The thing is, the size of the stage doesn’t matter in the slightest. Last night I saw Employed To Serve sonically decimate King Tuts in Glasgow, and they only had a fraction of the already small stage available to them. That is the true sound of quality, not how many ramps you have on stage.
Employed To Serve describe themselves as post-hardcore, and on repeated listens I’d say that fits, but when you first experience them they’re unrelenting, violent, menacing and abrasive.
You could say this band are post-hardcore in that they are pushing at its boundaries, though it's more its boundaries of aggression than its subtleties. One part Converge and their creative and unnerving dissonance, one part the sledgehammer groove of the 90s greats and an extra part something all their own.
Restricted by stage logistics, they let the music do the talking. Which isn’t to say they have a static or boring stage presence. They throw themselves around with wild abandon within the little space they have to their bone snapping tempos and pulse with menace during their more sinister moments.
The caustic and sickening shriek of frontwoman Justine Jones is as terrifying as it is satisfying, her arrangements at times recall Jacob Bannon of Converge due to their clipped and visceral nature. This sounds like a band who are screaming for a reason, and it’s not to get childish and offensive slogans on the back of oversized t-shirts.
The UK has the best rock bands in the world right now. Bar none. Three of them were on tonight’s bill, but Employed To Serve are at the forefront for the fight for unrelentingly heavy, and passionate music. King Tut’s has long been a proving ground for emerging talent, and with good reason, and when they put on bills like this they remind us exactly why.
Once you’ve recovered from the neck injury Employed To Serve have surely left you with that is. It’s hard to think of anything else until you’re over that.
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