Saviours and The Engines Of Armageddon @ Corp, 4th May 2010

There are weird gigs, then there was the Saviours/Sourvein gig at the Corp last Tuesday. Tanzeelat had noticed that thrash/power/doom/groove metal band The Engines Of Armageddon were playing support for Saviours and, having seen them supporting Northern Oak back in Feb, we thought it a good idea to go along.

After the obligatory warmup in the Dev Cat, we headed down the road. On the door was a sign saying that joint headliners Sourvein (which still looks like it's spelled wrong to me) had cancelled due to the Icelandic ash cloud. The doorman was incredulous, and we were amused. It was the start of a very odd evening.

On entering the Corp, we realised something was missing. People. There was the barman, and the guy and the sound desk, and ... us. The barman asked if we were their only two presales for the evening and seemed surprised that we weren't. Looked like at least two more might join us then?

After pottering around the deserted club for a bit, The Engines decided to get started. Just as memory served, they were bloody brilliant. They played a number of new tracks, including Obelisk and The Bank of England, among other tracks from the album. The political slant remains, along with the CAPITAL LETTERS FOR EMPHASIS, in their quest to bring true freedom to mankind through the medium of metal.

About halfway through the set, Bill Fisher, vocalist and drummer, asked how many had turned up. Saviours were stood with us watching the gig, and told him there were two. He dedicated the rest of the set to us. We were honoured, especially as they finished with their anti-RFID anthem Fuck The Chip. Tanzeelat was a little disappointed that they didn't play The Doom Engine, but not that much. It was still a great set.

A bit of milling about and saying hello to the band while beers were got, and Saviours decided to waste no time and crack on with the second set. I popped down through the ever decreasing doors and took position in the middle of the room with The Engines.

About this time a couple of other guys wandered in. They looked surprised and hung around the back of the room looking little lost. Meanwhile, Saviours were in full swing.

Neither of us had ever heard of Saviours, a stoner metal band from California, and weren't really expecting them to be "our thing". Tanzeelat had already made the mistake of telling someone we'd only come to see The Engines, only to realise it was Austin Barber, vocalist from Saviours.

Fortunately, they proved to also be bloody good. Completely different, but Tanzeelat was so impressed that he went and bought the CD after they'd finished. I also picked up an Engines Of Armageddon T-shirt.

We noticed that the mysterious other blokes had vanished as soon as the set ended, so we chatted to the bands for a bit and tried to convince them to come to the pub with us. Unfortunately they were driving to Nottingham straight after the gig so couldn't, but said to see them in Nottingham, their home turf, where they would gladly get plastered with us.

A couple of last drinks at the Dev Cat, one of which I managed to drop on myself, and we headed homeward. The Engines of Armageddon are playing Sheffield again in a couple of weeks. I wonder if more will turn up?