SISTERS OF MERCY @ ROUNDHOUSE, LONDON

Performing their traditional biennial double live dates at the Roundhouse, the Sisters of Mercy returned with a lineup that now includes a brilliant new guitarist following the departure of Dylan Smith. The recruiting of Kai’s (Esprit D’Air) talent has completely transformed the band from their previous stagnation in the last few years, especially considering the rapport he has with frontman Andrew Eldritch and his ability to sing in a more ambiguous vocal style, recognising the importance of female backing singers on the band’s studio albums.

The strong guitar sound was immediately noticeable in the Sisters’ opening song medley of ‘Doctor Jeep/Detonation Boulevard’, and then snaking its way around ‘Don’t Drive on Ice’, the fast paced riff of 1982 single ‘Alice’, the pastel tones of the stripped back ‘Dominion/Mother Russia’ and the paranoid nasality of ‘Summer’, with its macabre finish. The beating temper of Marian also married synth with more nasal guitar. The band’s amalgamation of sound continued in the chiming keys of ‘Quantum Baby’, also with ambient washes throughout, each instrument perfectly audible with the best sound quality by this band in years.

The naval keys of ‘More’ then rang out and the post-punk guitar of ‘But Genevieve’, but perhaps the most stand-out song of the night was acoustic track ‘I Was Wrong’, taken from 1990’s ‘Vision Thing’ – performed at their last London shows it now benefitted from excellent sound and a perfect complimentary duality between the two guitarists, with Kai on acoustic and Ben Christo on electric doing a solo; the sparking embers of both guitars reached their peak in ‘Here’. The Sisters have successfully restored the trademark guitar sound of the band captured on their studio releases. They ended their main set on ‘Temple of Love’ with Kai bellowing out tribal cries during the song.

After a short break the band returned for their encore in its entirety taken from their 1987 studio album ‘Floodland’, which began on the spectral instrumental of ‘Never Land (A Fragment)’, to the weaving guitar of ‘Lucretia My Reflection’ and with the final song in the set typically being ‘This Corrosion’, which was sung by the entire venue. This was truly the best live sound by this band in a long time and of many shows in the capital this year; the band are in want of new recorded material but this wholly makes up for it.

25/05/25: Sisters of Mercy @ Roundhouse, London.