Blanck Mass, Yes (Pink Room). 2nd December 2019

I’ve been hot and cold on Yes as a live venue. The truth is it really depends on the artist. Punk doesn’t really work in the Pink Room, but apocalyptical electronica, hell destroy my ears yes! Ben Power or Blanck Mass is on stage, behind a desk of laptops, plug boards, dials, switches and sliders, belting out the sort of music film directors want when depicting a near future imagined industrial hellscape. Clattering beats, sampled guitar distortions and demented glitches. There’s not much to see (the accompanying projection is just a mass of bleached out film burns and archival mash-up) and no words to sing along to. What you do have is a sound that grips your spine and pokes your nervous system until all your senses sync to the rhythm and renounce the concept of time. There’s melody too though, washing over in euphoric waves. The whole thing is intense though, rarely do things get even close to any semblance of calm. Sounds simplify here and there, but such is the volume, even the cleanest beats test your bone density. There’s frequencies I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard before and possibly some I’ll never hear again. Blanck Mass, seriously hardcore.