SEPULTURA, NIGHTLORD & REVOKER
LONDON ISLINGTON ACADEMY – 30/6/11
Arriving at the venue a couple minutes before the first band started, I was greeted with the smell of stale sweat and even staler beer, which must’ve been sprinkled liberally all over the floor if what happened during the Sepultura set is anything to go by.
The crowd was pretty sparse when Revoker took to the stage and fair play to the Welshmen who tried their utmost to get them riled up for the main act. Their half hour set consisted of fast upbeat songs from their debut album. Musically they reminded me of late 80’s British Thrash bands like Xentrix and Slammer with straightforward and steady drumming by Jack Pritchard, but the occasionally rock sensibility of Ugly Kid Joe, which to be fair may have just been owing to Jamie Mathias’ melodic vocals, while his more thrashy vocals are closer to the aforementioned bands. Shane Phillips’ bass was very low in the mix, but then everything appeared rather low volume as a whole, but Mathias’ and Chris Green’s guitars managed to stand out slightly more with the latter’s leads being clearly audible. The few tracks I remember being played were "Hate Inside", "Thief", "Stay Down" and they wrapped things up with "The Great Pretender" and news that they’ll be playing at this year’s Sonisphere Festival on Saturday the 9th at 16h30.
Now Nightlord a band I wanted to watch a couple times last year, primarily owing to having known Ferenc for the last 10 years but didn’t get a chance to catch their “one off reunion gig”. Thankfully, for me at least, I got to see them tonight. Now as a band that formed in the late 80’s, they make no pretences at being anything other than a thrash metal band, and it’s something they do really well. Their set opened with the “Imperial March” but actually started with Jamie Thorne thumping away at his bass, which had a very clean sound witch cut through everything else very clearly all night. His vocals were equally clear with his enunciation making every word perfectly audible and understandable. Ferenc Collins looked far more comfortable ambling around the stage strumming his guitar tonight than he did when at the Conflict gigs I went to, and he also seemed to be enjoying himself a hell of a lot more too. About halfway through their set the volume appeared to increase substantially, unless that was just me thinking so, with James Mackenzie’s lead shredding the front row like paper. The driving back beat from Neil Wiseman was powerful and dynamic in its tempo changes. Stand out songs for me were "Holy Inquisition", "Power Of Hate" and "Cult Of The Moon" with its mellower but heavier riffs and vocals. They ended off their 45 minute set with "Vote For Me" and news that they’ll be playing the Camden Underworld in November this year.
After a little more than half an hour of change over, the headline act took to the stage, encouraged by the roars of the crowd Sepultura took up their positions with huge grins on their faces. Andreas Kisser’s guitar was louder and heavier than anything we’d heard so far tonight and within seconds of playing the opening bar of "Arise" the venue erupted with enthusiasm and roars of approval. Derrick Greene pounded a facsimile of the in utero heartbeat for the intro to the next song "Refuse/Resist" and if nothing else the statuesque vocalist was an imposing figure towering above us belting out the lyrics with fervour. Next up was the title track from their latest release "Kairos", which they’re on tour promoting, and judging by the fact that I wasn’t the only one singing along, the album is probably doing rather well. I’m not too sure what the next track was, so it probably came from one of the last few albums which I don’t have, but I certainly am familiar with "Troops of Doom" where Paulo Jr. is the only member of the band that was there when it was recorded way back in 1986. Jean Dolabella showed his skills as an apt replacement with the swift changes and tribal feel to the drumming on "Meaningless Movements". Taking us back to the album where Andreas made his debut, “Inquisition Symphony” flowed into "Escape To The Void" where Derrick had no issues convincing us to chant out the chorus.
They played 3 more tracks from the new album, namely "Relentless", "Just One Fix (MINISTRY cover)" and "Seethe", with the cover going down a storm. Pointing out that they had yet to play anything from ‘Beneath the Remains’ they proceeded to rip through "Inner Self", leaving everyone in the pit rather breathless and sweaty, and the floor covered in copious amounts of spilt beer from mugs that thought it appropriate to try mosh with pints in their hands. By this point Sepultura were having a blast and starting to play songs that weren’t on their set list and taking requests shouted at them from the crowd. Andreas did the vocals on "Policia" and I’m pretty certain that they also played "Crucificados Pelo Sistema" owing to the chap standing next to me in an RdP shirt and them noticing it and ending their meandering with an awesome rendition of "Mass Hypnosis".
Another of the very few tracks I’m not too familiar with was "Choke", but it didn’t stop me from banging my head along to the beat. With people starting to slip and fall on the wet floor, the war for "Territory" was on and everyone was seeking out a spot where they could keep their footing, or just pushing other people around. Alas this is also where the set ended and we were duly thanked for our support as they left the stage. However the respite was short-lived as the chants brought them back front and centre with Derrick and Jean beating out a tribal drum tattoo and Andreas doing the vocals for "Ratamahatta" in all its glory. They ended the amazing night with "Roots Bloody Roots" and the image of Paulo Jr. giving Andreas a huge hug with an even bigger grin after the show, proving they’re still enjoying what they do, as much as we enjoyed watching them do it. Man that sounds dirty when it shouldn’t!
Marco Gaminara
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