White Hills

It would be an understatement to say that Black Sabbath were important. Their influence and sludgy, dark take on bluesy hard rock still, and rather obviously, resonates strongly within so many bands today. However, upon witnessing tonight’s demonstration at the Captain’s Rest it would seem that this sometimes comes with a price. Dressed in glam-rock body suits and the odd flash of face paint, White Hills – taking to the stage close to midnight – proceed to wear out every psyched-out blues riff known to man, rampaging through chunky, repetitive rhythmic cycles and occasional vocal warbles, to the modest delight of a rather zoned-out crowd. When the band kick it up a notch, picking up a thrashy garage-rock pace and descending into almost Hendrix-esque bouts of freaked-out soloing, it is energetic and attention grabbing to say the least, but it’s not long before this is stretched out beyond breaking point and choked within an inch of its life. Like playing only the best bits of a song over and over and over, sooner or later it just gets tiring … and a little annoying.