DOOM @ The Arches, 20 Oct

DOOM has released some of the most fascinating hip-hop albums of the new millennium and created a lexicon that transcends the standard of most contemporary emcees. On record he's a supervillain and The Arches is the perfect venue; the underground lair with its ceiling's metal pipes on show sets a scene straight out of a comic book.

Casually strolling to the stage, his character loses a little of its patented mystique, but this needn't particularly matter because DOOM is a masterful rapper. Performing a huge array of cuts from his countless personae, he's relentless, never stopping for breath for over an hour, doling out notable fan favourites like ALL CAPS, Rhymes Like Dimes and Glasgow’s (formerly America’s) Most Blunted.

So it's a damn shame the soundman lets us down tonight; the levels are pumped into overdrive, rendering many tracks almost indistinguishable. Toward the front of the venue the music is so loud that the lyrics are inaudible, and at the back everything is drowned in a swamp of sound. When it should have been easy to get wrapped up in DOOM's sinister universe, we were too often struggling just to make out a syllable. [Grant Brydon]