Nox Novacula at Cousin Danny's
Published 4.22.26
This show was Vol. 10 of Dancing Imp! I'm so excited that they were able to get Nox Novacula out here. I was a little disappointed that this bill was almost just a metal show. Nothing against metal and its enjoyers, I'm just not a metalhead. Logically speaking also, if people are coming out to see Nox Novacula, it would have been a good opportunity for bands that make deathrock (or adjacent) music to be on the bill. It'd be nice to see shows more like that in the future, I'm keeping my fingers crossed. If you're in a deathrock band in Philly hit my line.
Glorious Descent was up first. They were good, I could appreciate it for what it was. Like I mentioned, this bill was mostly metal bands and I'm not really qualified to cover the genre. I will say that the drummer was insanely good and that made the set fun to watch and experience.
Specimin was next. They were excellent. They had the odds stacked against them for me because of their name. I know, I know it's spelled differently and they make totally different music from Specimen and there are only so many things you can call a band. The irony of having a band with a near identical name to an extremely famous deathrock band on this bill is crazy. Honestly, they earned the name though. Their drummer was also their lead vocalist which is already impressive. Also their guitarist was pretty incredible. I was even able to dance at certain points so they passed. They had some technical difficulties at the start of their set.
It seems like Florence and Daniel were able to help fix everything though. Those two are legends, they're really making things happen in the scene.
Nox Novacula was up third. Interesting that they didn't go last, but I'll bet it was a logistical thing. Florence and Daniel were doing a ton. They booked the show, worked the show, and played it, so if going last is what's needed to make it happen then so be it. Nox Novacula is a band of living legends. They've been making music together for almost a decade and it shows. Every aspect of their set was so tight. They don't stray away from the 80's deathrock sound and it's for the best. I love Charlotte's voice. She does that British sounding thing that used to be so common. I think it's great. I hear a lot of bands whose singers either can't sing or they don't do anything memorable with their vocal performance. It's not to be neglected! Though they take a lot from the 80's stuff, their songs don't come off as stale or overly derivative. There aren't as many options for contemporary deathrock music as there are for, say, darkwave, but that's spared the genre from the fate of some of the others. I felt so lucky to be able to see them at Danny's! It's only been a couple weeks but I already want them back.
As I mentioned, Bequest did their set last. I thought it was solid! I'm not qualified to speak on it too much (as I've said. Honestly, I wasn't even sure if I should cover this show by the end of it, I don't really have the expertise for most of these bands, but oh well!). I will say, the set really made me miss Florence on drums! If you're less hyperfixated on synthesizers and 80's crap than I am then you should probably check out their music videonew release.