It’s not easy to convey a sense of encroaching menace in broad daylight, but Malevolence give it a go. A ludicrously early stage time for their opening slot on Architects' massive London headliner at the end of a week in arenas ensures they play when much of the crowd is still queuing in the early evening sunshine that filters through Ally Pally’s glass roof into the main room. But none of that stops their bruisingly heavy set whipping up a circle-pit worthy of the midnight hour.
The absence of gloom does Sleep Token few favours either, given that they frame their gigs as ‘rituals’ and appear in cowls and masks, in front of a logo symbol that resembles an anti-fascist carrot. If that all sounds a bit ‘The Wicker Man at Alton Towers’, well, it is, but that’s a wild ride and so are Sleep Token; part elegiac choral recital, part brutal breakdown bonanza, all intrigue.