Die!Die!Die!, The Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh
- Written by Kenneth McMurtrie
From Dunedin (NZ) to Dunedin (UK), as was, Die!Die!Die! hit town to promote new album Harmony & bring it home to me that now's maybe the time to invest in some earplugs for gigs. This was a damn loud show. 
They perpetrate this sonic terrorism at breakneck speed, battering out such selections as 'Blinding' (from the Promises Promises album of 2007) with barely a gap for any light to get in between one song and the next.
Husker Du in their prime may possibly have come close to this intensity but there are equally strong grounds to assume not. A new album is already being worked on so clearly the guys are in an inspired frame of mind at the moment therefore alongside '16 Shades Of Blue' and 'Seasons Revenge ' from Harmony there's also the first live outing for a track from this future opus, the title of which is lost to the clash of volumes pouring forth from the speakers but the word "insanity" features a lot during it. Another half hour or so of this and that might just have been induced.
Support tonight initially came from Black International, giving me the chance to end the week as I started it with a hard hitting duo. Technical issues unfortunately dogged the band throughout their half dozen songs so there was a disjointed nature to the set, which started with no nonsense & in a very promising vein. Electrical malfunctions leading to one guitar being described as a "sweeping brush" were compounded one song from the end by a broken string. It's clear though that on any other night the pair have a great deal to offer.
Second on the bill were United Fruit, a band who give every indication of being on the cusp of great things. They mentioned they'd been touring a lot of 
late and that was evident from the slick nature with which they ran through their set. Coming on like Fugazi, with a gloriously rumbling bass sound (unfortunately not so in evidence on their recorded output) there was no ounce of energy wasted and it became one of those performances you'd like to be able to remember every single aspect of for posterity. Calls for water were made early on, such was the effort expended in hammering out their wares to the appreciative audience. An inspired choice for warming the crowd up in anticipation of the headliners and a group who deserve to become a lot better known before 2013 finishes.
This show was promoted by Return Of Order &, despite a guestlist malfunction, was a great piece of work so keep an eye out for their future presentations.
Further photographs from the show will appear here later in the week.