Music

On a cold frosty Autumn night, a fairly small gathering came together to see Oxford's steamy rockers King Furnace headline their first of two Oxford dates on their current UK tour. First up, Dr Slaggleberry played their super technical prog-funk-metal with considerable chops. Shades of Mr Bungle came across, although sadly lacking a Mike Patton to fix your attention on. Next were Savage Henry (is Dead). Clearly the Henry in question fell victim to the weight of their riffs, hewn from that stoner rock that seems to be so popular in Oxfordshire these days, but saved from sounding like every other band in that bracket by the liberal use of the sorts of atmospherics you'd normally expect at a post-rock night. Sadly, the advertised influence of Chas'n'Dave was undetectable, but there's a niche right there that's up for grabs: cockney stoner rock.

With their debut appearance on a certain well-known internet music download site imminent, and a new single and video made at Shepperton Studios, no less, it seems that the Furnace might have a fair bit to shout about.

And shout they did. These gents don't do background music. Their sound cuts a heavy, thumping, melodic groove filling the space and grabbing the attention. Normally a four-piece, tonight they were five due to a hand injury for regular drummer Nick, who did the honours on rhythm guitar instead. The line-up was completed by Senator Jefferson (vox), Riccardo (bass), Jan aka The Duke (guitars) and new-boy Mike on drums, filling in admirably at exceedingly short notice…

Their sound is hard to pin down- it's heavy, it's melodic. A word that comes to mind and hovers there unchecked is throbbing. Opener "So-Low" kicks hard and fast. The songs are strong and by third tune "Making of Me" the quality of what they are capable of is apparent. These guys rock. The Senator shared stories of his Third Nipple, of his mutually destructive relationship with the doll Tabitha and threw coloured stars out at people. There's always a good vibe at a King Furnace gig; however the music is what really shone. These guys deserve consistently large crowds, and things seem to be starting to happen. This is charged, melodic and talented stuff. With fat riffs. Check them out.

Their tour takes in places such as Truro, Glasgow and Southampton- and ends in The Jericho Tavern on the 3rd of November.