It’s a cold dark night in Camden North London, it’s spooky, scary and would befit any Halloween tour or midnight walk. But, this isn’t Halloween, this is pure hardcore heavy distorted metal trapped in the body of hip hop. This is Brooklyn’s very own, Ho99o9.
We of Alt-Corner are here. The Electric Ballroom has been the host to a variety of musicians, such as New York Hardcore’s Sick of It All, heavy metal band Five Finger Death Punch, Moseley’s Ocean Colour Scene and the legendary Seasick Steve just naming a few of the venues eclectic tastes.
On stage now are Los Angeles’ Kate Mo$$, a band you’ll either love or hate, there’s no in-between. At times it’s an uncomfortable watch. Ferocity of the vocals coincide with a female dancer who crawls the stage in a white wedding dress, she strips and a guy at the back shouts, flashes his homer to the crowd as he films the show. No idea what’s happening. The drumming accelerates and suits the theatrical onstage moves. The Ballroom itself chooses between showing the devil horn sign or a middle finger. Kate Mo$$ are scary, but intriguing to watch.
Lights go out and the crowd erupts…lights on and there are New Jersey’s TheOGM and Eaddy of Ho99o9 pronounced Horror, smash straight into “Street Power” ferocity hits the ballroom, the crowd are with them “You ain’t no better than me” blasts around the speakers. Spitting lyrics from POW. Their energy is ferocious, the punk blended hip hop with distorted metal shouldn’t work, but it does, and these guys have created something insanely beautiful, and Brandon Pertzborn, Ho99o9’s drummer, engulfs the moment with momentum and heavy insanity.
TheOGM and Eaddy tell us about their not so enjoyable time supporting Papa Roach, whose fans didn’t exactly take too kindly to them. How a member of the crowd one evening made racial remarks and how that ended…in the favour of the New Jersey natives, as these guys in their own words “eat nazis for breakfast”.
Their debut record United States of Horror in this reviewer’s opinion is one of the best albums released this year. So, this is a real privilege seeing these guys, having missed their sets at the Sebright Arms in Hackney, and the Underworld down the road in Camden and the album is a perfect soundtrack to a confusing world.