A night for numerologists. Let’s number crunch. 30 year anniversary tour, 15 years since their last vision thing on these shores, 21 years since their last studio album. 30+15+21=66. 66 denotes material pleasure and the manifestation of the Goddess Kali, goddess of destruction. The principle of seduction and destruction, the modus operandi of The Sisters Of Mercy and their incendiary brand of rock 'n' roll.
Three silhouettes, back light in a sea of dry ice create and command the world of the sisterhood. A black planet, an absurd dystopia of wry humour amidst the radiation and acid rain as we dream of the flood.
Highlights are many in the perfect fusion of image, music and stage show. The base chug and primal howls of ‘Ribbons’, bathed in pink light, is all Velvets and a morphined Gene Vincent. Doktor Avalanche’s metronomic, propulsive and hypnotic beat drives the primal riffing and keyboard swirls of ‘Crash And Burn’. ‘Marian’ is haunting and disturbing with a fragile guitar pummelled by the piston throb of the rhythm section. Part fairytale, part Universal horror film.
New(ish) song ‘Arms’ is all proto-metal deconstruction whilst standard ‘Dominion/Mother Russia’ is reworked; slowed down, Eldritch chewing hard on the lyrics, with an intentionally self-conscious anti-shred solo highlighting their dismantling of rock forms. The pale blue swathing of ‘Summer’ is all tortured croon whilst the retina detaching stare of ‘Alice’ allows the unsettling riff to burrow deep and swirl long in the brain. ‘This Corrosion’ is given a harder edge, more heathen than healing.
The encores deliver the sonic-temple-pleasure-dome of ‘Lucretia’, the trance inducing velocity of ‘Vision Thing’ (a riff that could go on for days and never bore) and the monitor mounting shape throwing of ‘Temple Of Love’. “You’re nice. You should invite us more often”, intones Eldritch. The get them back campaign starts here.