Some bands get older and start coasting. The Sisters of Mercy just get more dangerous. Thirty-one years without releasing an album and they remain the best fucking goth rock band of all time.
After Sunday’s sold-out opener, the Sisters came back Monday night and absolutely demolished the place. Different setlist, stellar sound, razor tight performance. This was the Sisters firing on all cylinders.
I’ve seen the band several times before and this was the best they’ve sounded. It was fucking bang on from start to finish. Acidic, danceable, dark, metal; pure and simple. Every guitar cut through clean, every programmed beat hit hard, and Eldritch’s voice gets more evil and haunting as the years go by. It felt less like a gig and more like he was conducting a dark mass. The Roundhouse can be a tricky venue acoustically, but whoever was running sound Monday night deserves a fucking medal.
Ben Christo was on fire. The man knows these songs inside and out, and his guitar work was razor sharp all night. Chris Catalyst held down the fort from the programming side, while Kai added layers that made the whole thing feel massive. When both guitars locked in during the big moments, it was magic.
Eldritch prowled the stage in his trademark shades, looking like he hadn’t aged a day since 1987. The setlist changes from Sunday kept everyone guessing. Deep cuts mixed with the anthems, newer material sitting perfectly alongside classics from Floodland and Vision Thing. “Dominion/Mother Russia” was absolutely thunderous.
These songs have aged like fine wine in a crypt. What sounded massive in 1987 sounds even more powerful today with this lineup behind it. When “This Corrosion” closed the night, the entire Roundhouse lost its collective shit.
Best performance I’ve seen from them, hands down. The Sisters remain untouchable in their own dark universe, and Monday night proved they’re nowhere near finished.
Long live the machine.
