This Will Destroy You - Underworld 21/10/09

This was the first time I had been to the Underworld since a reasonably awkward incident involving myself and the lead singer of Akercocke some years ago and since then I have not heard it play host to many interesting bands so I was a little surprised as to why 'This Will Destroy You' ended up playing here as this is a band who are known for sounding absolutely out of this world live and that reputation was certainly cemented after tonight performance.
It was apparent very early on that TWDY obviously could be filling venues much bigger than this in London as it was rammed before the first support act had even come on. The first support slot was filled by local band who sound promising, a lot of finely tuned delays and echoes, the only problem was the singer, although obviously talented he reminded me of the chubby one from Keane which is never a good thing.
Next up were rising talent And So I Watch You From Afar who took a lot of the crowd by surprise with their highly energetic live performances and music that sounds something like a crossover between Slint and Slayer. They were tight and combined a mixture of influences ranging from Post Rock to Metal, I'm sure we will be hearing a lot more from these guys.
TWDY sneak onto stage quietly to a huge uproar from the crowd who are packed in tightly, filling every corner of this venue from front to back, all trying to get a look at the guys who it seems a lot of people have waited quite a long time to see. From the word go their set was played through with sheer intensity. The quiet parts for songs like 'A Three Legged Workhorse' and 'Threads' (my favourite) you could literally hear a pin drop as the crowd watched intently waiting for each song to build up to the loud, chaotic finishes with the bassist pounding each note as if it were his last whilst the two guitarists have at it with delay and reverb mixed with heavy distortion making for one hell of a noise.
I left the show feeling drained, I really got into their music and it certainly took it out of me, TWDY impressed a lot of people that night and I'm sure that given a bigger venue these guys would still be able to fill it very easily.