Photo by Kim Larysa

New York metallers Prong are back in town to rock the Voodoo Lounge. With the release of their latest album, Zero Days just around the corner, it will be interesting to her if they play any of the new songs alongside the ‘90s classics that the crowd know and love. There are still tickets on the door so even though the room is quite full, there is elbow room in front of the stage. It’s a relatively comfortable night in Voodoo. It is, once again, a credit to Dublin Metal Events that Prong are here. Before the emergence of this independent promoter, bands like this bypassed Ireland, North and South, on tour like this. Now it is rare for a band to play the UK and not include at least one Irish date. While the line check is taking place we take a look around at the crowd. There are not many young people here. Perhaps we can risk a jaunt into the mosh pit?

The Beg To Differ backdrop lets us know what we are in for. Veteran frontman Tommy Victor comes out smiling and briefly introduces the band. Tonight proves beyond all doubt that Prong are far superior live than on any of the their studio work.  ‘Ultimate Authority’ from last year’s X-No Absolutes is more powerful live than it is on record. It comes swaggering in with a hardcore bounce. ‘Beg To Differ’ itself follows in all its glory. Prong’s recent albums have suffered from over-production but live they are raw and ferocious. Victor sounds as righteous as he ever did. He prowls the lip of the stage, posing for pictures while jutting out his jaw and his guitar into the crowd. He shakes hands and shares smiles with the fans. He even stops to ask the audience “What’s the craic?”; a sure way to win over any Irish crowd.

‘Rude Awakening’ and ‘Broken Peace’ go down particularly well but even the lesser known tunes sound great. There is not a bad song among them and the band are on fire tonight. There’s a minor stage invasion during ‘Another Worldly Device’, and ‘Whose Fist Is This Anyway?’ provokes a raucous reaction with a lot of stage diving. Their best known tune, ‘Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck’, seamlessly follows and the fun really starts. Things take a comedic turn with a bunch of middle-aged men lining up to stage dive. As impressive as the band are musically, the crowd are their match comically. The climax is during the closing number when an inebriated oul’ lad gets up on stage to take a picture of the audience and can’t work his phone. After much badgering from the crew he eventually stage dives and lands on his head. He seems to be taking the “Snap your neck” part literally.

An encore of ‘Revenge... Best Served Cold’, and ‘For Dear Life’ brings proceeding to a close with a hardcore groove. Drummer Art Cruz comes out from behind the kit and shakes the hands of everyone in the first few rows. He’s about to depart when he suggests one more to the sound engineer, then to the rest of the band. The decision invokes euphoria in the audience. After, not one but three songs they call it a night. The sweat cools on our skin on the walk down the quays. We’re gonna feel this one in the morning.

“I'm going to sing ‘The Doom Song’ now” – Gir, Invader Zim

The Academy is packed out this Sunday night. Paradise Lost are here for their first Dublin show since 2003. Latest album, The Plague Within, is their best in 20 years and the anticipation is dripping off the walls, along with whatever else that is. Before the band even appear, there is 90% humidity in the room. The gothic metal veterans have just come off a frantic worldwide festival tour and are kicking off the European dates for The Plague Within tour tonight. Credit to Dublin Metal Events who have done a great job recently of bringing quality metal acts here that previously might have passed us over.

At the appointed hour, the stage fills with smoke and organ music. An expectant hush comes over the crowd. The set begins with the opening song from the new album, ‘No Hope in Sight’. This catches the sound engineer napping, as the guitar fanfare that announces the song is initially deafening, then briefly silent, before settling.

Singer Nick Holmes has never looked better. The short hair and long beard suit him. All the long distance cycling has him looking healthy and has done wonders for his delivery. He is at ease on stage and between songs he banters with the audience with typical humour;

“ I hope you like the latest album?/ We're going to play quite a bit of it tonight/ So if you don't like it…/ Tough shit really”,

“First time we've played that song in a long time/ I'm glad we didn't fuck it up…/ There’s still time though”.

By the time they break out ‘Tragic Idol’ the balcony is dripping on to those below. Gregor Mackintosh’s dreadlocks are flailing and Aaron Aedy is his usual effervescent self. You can always spot the metal bands that are the better songwriters because the volume isn’t quite as high. Paradise Lost want to be heard.

‘Enchantment’ from 1995’s Draconian Times is very well received. Along with ‘As I Die’; “An old favourite/ a bit like Jaffa Cakes”. There are no moshpits tonight. It's more like a heavy metal version of a trip hop show, all nodding heads and existential angst. Some songs are so slow, Massive Attack would be in awe. Holmes introduces ‘Beneath Broken Earth’ as “The slowest song we've ever written” and ponders the ever-changing nature of metal subgenres; “I believe it is called funeral doom/ In our day it was just doom.”

The audience is noticeably split between fans of the older and new material. The repeated requests for ‘True Belief’ and ‘One Second’ are ignored but the set is peppered with classics, of which Paradise Lost have written many in their 25 year career. The new songs are meatier without losing the melodies that set this group apart from their doomy peers. ‘Victim of the Past’ provokes some air guitar playing and the devil horns are raised for ‘Cry Out’; “This is a song about being pissed off/ They're all songs about being pissed off/ But this one in particular.”

The encore break comes after only an hour and it’s far too soon. There is no pretence, the crowd just watch the stage expectantly. The mock-epic intro of ‘Return To The Sun’ is a great way to reintroduce the band and the extensive encore section also includes ‘Faith Divides Us, Death Unites Us’ and ‘An Eternity Of Lies’, the standout track from The Plague Within. The fans of their populist years are sated as Paradise Lost finish with their most commercially successful number, ‘Say Just Words’.

For a band that specialise in doom, these guys certainly know how to make people smile. As well as writing catchy tunes that are made to be played live, they put on an exciting show and interact with the fans like they are old friends. The audience are grinning broadly as they exit, the sound of doom echoing in their collective ears. Doom, doom, doom …