Jambinai @ O2 ABC 2, Glasgow, 25 Apr

Jambinai are already a well-established touring act in Europe, having formed at Korea's National University of Arts in 2009. Their style, though not their songwriting, is distinctive for fusing traditional Korean instruments into heavily-amplified war weapons. Tonight is their first time in Scotland, and halfway through their set, guitarist Ilwoo Lee – a physically expressive musician, but reserved frontman – compliments the congeniality of the high-street shops, and the people of Glasgow. The crowd appreciates this; responsive, but also very drunk. While the first half of the show was dead serious and meticulous, from this first exchange it only gets heavier, faster, and more powerful.

Jambinai are Ilwoo Lee, Bomi Kim, and Eunyong Sim, accompanied tonight by a whip-tight touring rhythm section. Lee, who also plays in noise rock group 49 Morphines, stands center stage and conjures screeching spirits out of his guitar, sometimes while simultaneously playing different double-reeded Korean horns (Jambinai only has “30-40%” punk in their DNA, according to a recent interview with the Korea Times). These require significant lung power. After the first number, a 10 minute medley of Deus Benedicat Tini and The Mountain, Lee is visibly perspiring.

Kim provides emotional counterpoint to Lee’s aggressive shredding on the haegeum, a two-stringed fiddle. Sim plays the tonally rich hyeongeum, a massive, zither-like instrument dating back to the 4th century. While all three musicians play memorable solos, Sim's is the centerpiece of the group. As the hang was essential to Portico Quartet’s neo-jazz, the staccato punch of the hyeongeum epitomizes Jambinai: rhythmically aggressive, modernist, formed from traditional tools. Familiar motifs expressed in unfamiliar timbres may be part of the international hype, but Jambinai is not a traveling museum exhibition, nor is their music emotionally trite. By the final song, the volcanic Connection, the crowd are enraptured.

Neck-breaking dynamic shifts – from tender lullabies to bone-crushing breakdowns that rattle the room – are handled impeccably. A few people turn around and mouth 'whoa', as if acting out the kind of 'hyperbolic awe' GIFs shared online. Although they remain seated, each musician’s instrument requires a different body rhythm to play, and their arms dance together like a tortured orchestra. The only extended pause is when Sim needs to restring her instrument, and Lee shares the backstory to They Keep Silence, a roaring epic “full of anger” against the South Korean government’s mishandling of a ferry disaster in 2014, which left 300 schoolchildren dead.

Anger is a universal emotion, one that energizes Jambinai's songs. Tonight, together in anger, the group's music serves as a cathartic release.