When I die, I’d like there to be a lightshow, smoke and effects pedals.

I really had no idea what to expect of A Place to Bury Strangers – they gained their critical acclaim for their self-titled album when I was in a little musical rut, listening to Deerhunter and not much else. Now I’ve heard it, I feel like I was missing out on something special. Imagine someone took Loveless, had it remixed by Trent Reznor, and sliced through it with a buzz saw. Don’t Think Lover is almost a parody of a loved up My Bloody Valentine track, containing wonderful moments of clarity before I have to turn my iPod down else I’ll deafen myself with the deep, high pitched, scratchy deathgaze reverb. And it works, draws you in and shuts your brain down until you can’t do or think about anything but the music. Not Wallpaper.

The live show combines the principles of the album with totally fucking you up. Oliver Ackermann looks out sternly into the back of Clwb, like he’s staring into the Mumbai massacre and interpreting the horror of twisted bodies and ammunition into an allmighty, industrial and remorseless drone. It doesn’t start quite so brutal – the set begins with an allmighty wall of pretty conventional sound. We get a few minutes of recognisable “songs” which have beginnings, middles and ends, before two-thirds through where the overcoming aurual flood becomes a tsunami that goes on for 20 minutes but never seems to end and doesn’t drag. You know that feeling you got when you saw Mogwai for the first time and thought the light show was amazing and the first deeply emotional experience you ever had at a gig? Imagine that, but being overcome with someone’s total hate and loathing, like Stuart Braithwaite stopped the music and jumped over stabbing everyone in the eye. Smoke clouds the stage, strobes stop your eyes from working. You can’t see or feel anything except the pulsating reverb, the music becomes the only thing you can feel. Other people don’t matter – you’re the only person there. tears up his guitar – that’s not showmanship. That’s a natural response. Of course he should tear it up. Why would he do anything else?

We came staggering out. What had just happened? Fuck.

I think that’s a recommendation.