The Naked Grace Missionaries at Helgi’s, Hackney, East London, February 2024 –  Curiosity never really killed the cat, it just took her to a higher plane – is that another Webcore lyric? It feels like something Webcore would have sung in some dark squat back in the day and yes it is all still very much about contacting and switching the other and who are The Naked Grace Missionaries anyway?  They’d have been brilliant at one of those Stonehenge Benefits at the Hammersmith Clarendon with the aforementioned Webcore, that or at Alice in Wonderland’s back there and thank the Goddess that curiosity did entice us us over the road to Helgi’s a couple of nights back. Hey, I can’t complain if pretty much the nearest bar to the crowded Organ bunker has the first Black Sabbath album cover painted large on their front window, Venom ravished for the bar’s logo, constantly rewarding gigs and that mouth that leads to the back room and the live music isn’t bad either. Tonight there’s a launch night for the latest edition Jason Atomic’s Satanic Mojo comic, there’s always something going on in this rather beautifully dark heavy rock infested black oasis of a place…

“Combining the talents of the Occult Hardware production team of Robert Burnham and Fayann Smith with strident Norwegian songstress Isabella Steinsdotter”,

So we’re in the backroom of Helgi’s, the very black backroom, we’re all drenched in red light (I rather like that it is almost impossible to take photos in here), there are two rather witchy female creatures centre stage, they accompanied, slightly stage left in the darker background, by the forceful acoustic guitar of Robert Burnham. It is the two girls covorting around each other, Isabella and Fayann, who take the red light and command their stage and the room as they dance around us all. They’re good, this is good! Hey, this is really good! Kind of folky, to dark to seriously mention Joni Mitchell but we will anyway, kind of Comus flavoured, kind of discordian, very discordian actually, kind of invitingly ritualistic, more than a hint or two of Helter Skelter darkness in their beauty and they did it all for love they’ll tell you, they did all for god they’ll tell you, although, who their god is they didn’t quite say. They’re intoxicating, their golden thread of reality unbroken as they weave around themselves, us, the red lights and everything in here…

The golden thread of reality broken (that is deliciously discordian) we’re down down down in the dirt, napalm in the subway but they did it all for love they tell you. They only play three or fours songs but that feels like a whole feast (bet if we were to check they played for 23 minutes). Hey, this is rather special, I’d follow them to where they want me to go, they sound like they’ve come in from some strange valley out there on the edges, they’ve come to lure us back there and wherever they’re going they ain’t turning back because, so they sing, there’s no escape. Lead the way, we’re with you.  The Naked Grace Missionaries were brilliant, thank you curiosity, contact and switch the other, one we go with this Organ thing… (sw)  

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Here comes the slice show, click on an image to see the whole thing or to run it….