Cruel Sister – Whelans –  19/09/25 – Live Review
by Killian Laher

There was great excitement in Whelans for the visit of Cruel Sister to promote their recent A Corpse Is Talking EP.  Singer Faith Nico was flanked by a guitarist on one side and a bassist, along with a powerhouse drummer and a couple of televisions.  They opened with the raucous 13, the Sonic Youth-channelling song hitting hard on a chorus of “don’t touch me, I’ll gouge your eyes out one day”.  Older song Pull Back featured fine drumming over the aural assault of guitars, evoking The Cure’s Pornography album.

The stop-start Iron Pills and the gauzy Window Seat were highlights, and as the name suggests, Hands had the crowd waving theirs in the air for the pounding anthem.  Solaris came across like a real anthem with massive guitar riffs before she finished with debut single My Forever, ending with a noise whiteout.  As she said herself, she clearly left it all out there, and there was no way they could follow that, as “her voice was shot”.

An excellent set, it’s clear that Faith Nico has real stage presence, and Cruel Sister have the songs and the music to back it up.  Watch these guys, they’ll be playing bigger venues pretty soon.