As local band Venus Fly Trap race towards their planned retirement next year, the dynamic duo have been busy of late, taking their brand of dystopian darkwave around the country and they’ve pulled in a large crowd to witness their triumphant homecoming. In a strange piece of musical cannibalism, it’s ‘Control Addicts’ which opens the set (a song from vocalist Alex Novak’s previous band Religious Overdose) and it’s an insidious riff immediately adheres itself to the cranium (not unlike the Facehugger from Alien). Guitarist Andy Denton is playing exceptionally hard, reverberating the strings and turning the following ‘Morphine’ into an addictive affair. Like a refugee from the future, Alex’s mechanical movements match the robotic riffs, and the cornucopia of colour that surrounds the pair makes for an arresting experience. Two choice covers close an energetic set; Suicide’s ‘Rocket USA’, and The Cramps’ ‘Human Fly’, a song Venus Fly Trap catch in their sticky jaws and make their own.

Bringing the bright lights of Tokyo to an overcast Thursday evening in Northampton are sonic agitators PSYDOLL. They’ve been colouring the world with their sound for a quarter of a century and finally make their Shoe Town debut tonight. In fact, they’re a perfect fit with Venus Fly Trap, and the two practitioners of the dark arts compliment each other rather well. As if two spirits materialising from another dimension, PSYDOLL appear with little warning and that makes their arrival all the more powerful; against a backdrop of discombobulating electronica, guitarist ucchi showers the venue with a dizzying array of notes that fall like confetti, while vocalist Nekoi adds to the general sense of unease by plucking strange chords from the keyboard. However, it doesn’t take the crowd long to warm to the band’s modus operandi and by the time we hit second song ‘Branko (Swings)’ the whole venue is caught under their dark spell.

There’s an interesting tension of opposites surrounding PSYDOLL with the cold, glacial synths paired with the organic vocals and guitar, and the two fuse in strange and exciting ways. Hidden behind a strange mask (I bet that raised a few eyebrows going through customs!), I’ve always thought ucchi would make a fine heavy metal musician, and tonight he dredges some devilishly good sounds from the depths of hades. Adding a touch of light to his shade, Nekoi takes small leaps around the stage and delivers her words in staccato manner that matches the eclectic guitar perfectly. PSYDOLL present a set that stops along all points of their career, but it’s the penultimate ‘My Birthday’ that’s particularly pertinent and as we reach the evening’s finale, ensures one thing this Tokyo twosome will never be is forgotten.