Protomartyr, The Dome, Tufnell Park, London, gig review: A desolate, apocalyptic sound to match these depressing times

It is a powerful statement – even if the dense lyrics make it difficult to work out quite why frontman Joe Casey is so irate.

Joe Casey performing (Alamy)

To say that Joe Casey is an angry man does not do him justice. The Protomartyr frontman is fuming, he’s livid, he’s mad as hell – and he’s going to tell you all about it.

No, Joe screams about it, brandishing a can of lager, with an intimidating stare, showers of spit and a face that says he’d like to step down from the stage and make it personal.

If this doesn’t sound like a fun night out, I’ve misled you, because it is a powerful statement – even if the dense lyrics make it difficult to work out quite why he is so irate.

On “Up The Tower”, Casey shouts repeated appeals to “Knock it down” and to “Throw him out”, but I don’t know what, whom or why.

And then there’s the music, a glorious echo of the atmospheric, menacing post-punk of my youth. A desolate, apocalyptic sound to match these depressing times.

But it’s not all bleak. On tunes such as “Don’t Go to Anacita”, Greg Ahee shows off sweet lead guitar lines that, perhaps, deserve more than the harsh Mark E Smith-style vocals that accompany them.

The opening, standout track from new LP Relatives In Descent – “A Private Understanding” – pulls off the clever, loud-quiet-loud trick that Kurt Cobain famously stole from the Pixies.

If John Lydon told us anger is an energy, Protomartyr believe it’s the most powerful one, so that, when Casey tells the sell-out crowd “It’s very nice to be here”, I find it hard to believe.

But it’s enabled the Detroit band make one of the best LPs of the year – and deliver a memorable live show.