GLOO are a fresh heavy rock-grunge three-piece with one hell of a sound. Their level of intense riff, ferocious vocals and sublime stage presence has introduced me to a band who, over the next few years, I can certainly see making some big waves.

Opening tonight are Night Vision, whose beefy sonics and equally pounding drums made for a nice introduction to the evening’s performances. The band are far more instrumentally heavy than most, featuring only flickers of sung vocals, but utilising this tool in a manner which very much plays to their own strengths. Following this came Blimey, who certainly live up to their name if nothing else. These guys are simply insane, emphasising a great stress on not caring about precision and more on going crazy to your heart’s content, a trait which they certainly excel at. Each member proceeds to throw themselves across the stage, knocking over their mics, screaming into their microphones and flinging their instruments around in a manner which would border on the psychotic. Funny, crazy and flamboyant, Blimey are certainly a brilliant hype band and made for the perfect opening to GLOO’s set.

Tonight’s turnout wasn't particularly excelling and did leave the room feeling somewhat empty, but let that not deter away from the music at hand. As soon as GLOO open their set, their talents immediately shine through, filling the room with an incredibly immersive sound. The level of intensely co-ordinated riffs within each of their songs is fantastic and packs a great deal of energy, punch and ferocity that so few bands achieve to a calibre this high. Equally, the vocals from singer, Tom, go far above expectations. His tones maintain a stressed and unfurnished nature which is common to the grunge genre, adding a real level of depth to the angst of the band’s sound, however he is able to still execute each note with enough precision and passion to meet the ear in a truly delightful manner. This is only emphasised further by the appearance of an AC/DC cover track which is done a surprisingly large amount of justice.

As the trio’s set continues, they seem to only bounce from strength to strength. The harmonies from the remaining members bounce well off of Tom’s lead, whilst all three of the boys are able to successfully maintain playing some incredibly complicated riffs. Their material would fall into a category of what I can only describe as darkened modern grunge, but the result is incredibly catchy and something that I feel a large number of people would be able to sink into once they had heard it.

Being an upcoming name, tonight’s set is somewhat short but sweet with their main single thus far, ‘Let Me Have Some’, making for a sublime penultimate number and is played with an ecstatic level of passion and angst that even the recorded version does not live up to! A smooth transition into the final track of the evening, ‘Force You’, and the room is filled to the brim with a final kaleidoscopic flurry of heavy sound and energy, easily rivalling with artists far bigger than GLOO, a fantastic end to a fantastic evening.

It is incredibly easy to overlook bands who are just finding their feet, especially in a city as oversaturated as Brighton, but I genuinely feel that GLOO hold far more potential than most on the scene today. Tonight, this trio have more than proved that they have not only found their sound, look and style, but I am more than intrigued as to where these newcomers will continue to develop their in following releases.
Ben Walker

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