Tuesday 18/04/06 Union of Knives @ 93 Ft East, London

Delicately balancing analogue riffs, ethereal vocals and NIN style grind, Union of Knives revel in one hell of a shadowy industrial stomp.  Take the condensed intensity of ‘Operated On’ layered with gasping vocals and ‘Mezzanine’ back beat or the subtler electro refrain of ‘Evil’ and you're powerless to resist. The twin layered vocals of Chris Gordon and Craig Grant belie a slow burning tenderness before Dave Mclean’s stamping electro rhythms obliterate any such notion.  Thick and heavy like a pint of Guinness, it’s easy to melt back and let the sound settle. The influences might be apparent, think the meditative build up of Spiritualized, the dirty electro of Death in Vegas and the sinister points of Massive Attack, but they’re put to impressively effective use in tandem with their distinctive vocals.  Prone to a bit of shoe gazing they also suffer from an inability to tighten the proverbial belt as some tracks go on a journey to nowhere.  Still where there’s room for improvement there’s potential and Union of Knives have that in spades.  This is the dark stuff.