Live in Dublin

It pains me to give this only four stars. As with any live recording, this is essentially a collection of Lankum’s greatest hits, and let’s face it, they’ve got some bangers. And anyone who’s been lucky enough to see them live knows just how good this show in their hometown must have been. But perhaps this is my problem. Lankum’s excellence lies in their absolute assault on your ears. They are the masters of drone. For their studio recordings, put on a good pair of headphones and you get lost in the sound; at their live shows they deliberately lead you off the path. There’s a touch of alchemy and magic to their live performances (here, we even hear them say “this is the third day of a very complex and involved ritual. What we’re trying to do is rend a ginormous tear in the very fabric of space and time itself.”) And there are certainly hints of what an experience their live show is, for example, ‘The Pride of Petravor’ is satisfyingly unsettling, sounding like we’ve accidentally boarded a train to hell. But for the full Lankum experience, go grab yourself a ticket or one of their studio albums and a good pair of headphones.