Anatomical Venus Is Born
You've likely caught us at some point over recent years gushing over Black Moth in some fashion, whether it be their live shows or waxing lyrical over the excellent 2014 release Condemned To Hope. In what seems like a flash, we're sitting here now four years later looking ahead to the release of their new record Anatomical Venus. Tonight's live show was ultimately a celebration of this fact, with the album launch show bringing with it some balloons and generally good vibes from both band and crowd. That was the clearest point on the whole night, Black Moth looked like a band clearly delighted to be showcasing some new material and kicking off a brand new touring cycle.
So how did the new tracks hold up? Well on the whole very well indeed. There were a few jams in there which over time will become bigger crowd favourites once the familiarity sets in - something we're going to cover further in our review of the actual record - but generally the response was strong throughout the night. The stage at The Boston Music Rooms is small enough for it to almost appear overcrowded with all five members enthusiastically bounding around - there were a fair few near misses for Harriet nearly getting clattered by the rest of the band jostling for space. Another strong positive for the new additions in to the set-list was the fact that on the most part they slipped in alongside the older tunes pretty seamlessly. It didn't at any point feel overly jagged which is always the risk when introducing new stuff on mass like they did on the night.
Perhaps the only key downfall on the night was that the mix in the venue just wasn't right. With the way the venue is set out it actually led to people migrating back a bit and away from the speakers with the crackling coming out of them only emphasising how obnoxiously loud it was mixed. In a venue that size, the last thing you want is it being more crowded towards the back at the merch table.
Overall then this was another strong performance for a band who are only continuing to grow at the moment. This could be a very important album cycle for Black Moth and we can't wait to see where it takes them.