Evil Scarecrow with support from Recall the Remains

Norwich Waterfront

Saturday, July 18

There’s a beauty to Recall the Remains’ brutality. The punishing blasts of deathcore, metalcore, dear God how is Jacob making that noise-core that they dole out could make your eyes bleed. Oooof. These boys are heaveeeeeey. But the gratefully received blows of raw growls set against technical tunes don’t sting so bad when ringleader Jacob says some short but sweet words in between. He hypes up the headliners, and incites and then invites crowd judgement on his band’s guitar duelling. For his next trick Jacob uses up all his remaining energy in a two-step breakdown for final song, the scathing, shaming, throat slitting-ly spat and howled ‘Brothers Until Betrayal’ – and calls on the crowd to join him in kicking out. ‘Fairfield’ slows things down slightly, but the change in tempo does nothing to the volume. More like it makes you feel the song viscerally. This is vulnerability – sonically, and by the sight of Jacob dropping to his knees and screaming. ‘Fever Dreams’ and ‘Cerberus’ serve those melodious, catchy, braincell mashing choruses this band chuck into their tracks with such ease. But there is nothing simple about what Recall have written, and are performing tonight. The complexity of the compositions – both musically and emotionally – is clear. It’s a short set. But it gets the message across.

Brave is the band that risks letting Recall the Remains open for them. And brave is one of the many, MANY adjectives that describe Evil Scarecrow. Unique. Theatrical. Unhinged. Hilarious. Despite the band’s insistence, neither Avril Lavigne nor Dave Mustaine appear from a green wheelie bin. But one of their crew does during punk rock refuse conundrum ‘Green Bin Day’. Synchronised robot dancing by the band and audience, and the appearance of massive robot puppets during rap/nu metal crunchy riffed ‘Robototron’. A moth pit – an actual circle of adults leaving behind their adulting shit for the night, flapping their arms in an anti-clockwise direction, under a moon roughly the size of a Fiat 500 during thrash metal monster ‘Cosmos Goth Moth Gong’. An actual robot that takes up much of the moshpit. The Krakhen – an 8ft half hen half octopus with light up eyes and blow up tentacles appearing for monumental metal crowd-pleasing poultry pulveriser ‘Release the Krakhen’. All Evil Scarecrow’s songs tonight are fan faves to be fair. Even band-proclaimed toilet break song ‘March of the Spider God’, which they insist nobody will know but (to ES’s surprise) plenty of people do. A moshpit that scuttles from left to right with hands making crab claws in the air for crustacean chant-along operatic rocker ‘Crabulon’ (a marked difference to Recall the Remains’ requesting gun fingers up). It happened. It all bloody well happened. If you’re familiar with the insane circus that is Evil Scarecrow you’ll know we didn’t take anything we shouldn’t have. But if you haven’t seen or heard of them? Well, have I ever lied to you before? Well – not about anything as important as this I haven’t. This show is like Saturday morning telly back in the day. Riiiiight back in the day – when Trevor and Simon yelling ‘WE DON’T DO DUVETS!!!!’ meant the weekend was underway. It’s the sort of childish chaos that still makes you laugh a few decades later which kinda gives you an insight into Evil Scarecrow. Y’know what though? Don’t let all the humour fool you. These boys are bloody good musicians. The theatrics, comedy and entertainment they bring are sheer joyous escapism, sure. But this band can play. ‘Shoptimus Prime’ for example. Lyrics to laugh at, guitar solos to get lost in. They’ve built their own bonkers community of like-minded music lovers. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. We’re all wierdos here. And this is the greatest freakshow we’ve ever seen.