FILTH FEST – THE DARKEST TOUR
LONDON FORUM - 01/12/08
The doors were meant to open at 5 for this and by 6.30 we were still outside the venue frozen solid. A very nice and equally vexed head of security informed us that it was due to a band “building an elaborate stage set and mincing about,” now who could that be? Unfortunately it meant Asrai were scrapped from the bill which was really annoying for both the band and those of us who had wanted to see them. The ladies from the group were at least in good spirits and seemed to enjoy watching the rest of the show.
Finally at 7 Septic Flesh came on and played older number ‘Unbeliever’ or so I am reliably informed as the first number of the night really was shot in the mix. They were heavy as hell and the actual real playing drowned out any sampled orchestrations at first. Luckily the sound gelled together for the rest of this short set which from now on comprised solely of material from new album ‘Communion.’ This was not something that I was particularly complaining about, Septic Flesh play so damn rarely here and the album was very high up in my top ten of the year so we took what we got. ‘Lovecrafts Death’ was hellacious and mighty as it swaggered away; the only really odd thing was seeing it performed with the band pretty much deluged in pink lighting. Clean vocals were again sampled and the audience seemed on the whole unmoved (perhaps Septic Flesh are yet to make it to the pages of Kerrang). Persepolis was the undisputed jewel in the crown of an all too short set.
Frantic activity from the stage crew followed and Moonspell burst on in an entirely commanding and dynamic fashion. They were instantly at full throttle as they unleashed ‘Finisterra’ in a violent flailing fashion. Gaspar’s drumming bounced like lead hitting a tin roof, the guitars and bass were supercharged and Fernando handled vocals with the gravitas of a Shakespeare performance. Still most of the crowd looked lost, apart from those in the first few rows. Newer songs such as ‘Moon In Mercury’ sounded great but the highlight was the chilled out caress of ‘Scorpion Flower’ complete with Anneke van Giersbergen who had been popping up at a few dates to provide the female vocal parts! Everything was going really well and the person next to me screamed “Vampiria.” The band started to oblige and the PA packed up, doh! After much more frantic scrabbling the group returned but had scrapped the idea of playing the cursed song and went from Vamps to Wolves with ‘Full Moon Madness’ before having to leave the stage.
So how would the coven of cradle snatched kids cope with real Norwegian black metal? Hmmm not fantastically it would seem and many hid at the back. Gorgoroth have had plenty of press attention with the band split and Gaahl bravely announcing his sexual orientation and the music has somewhat been overlooked of late. On stage Gorgoroth really are at their best (I actually am not a huge fan of them on CD but think they put on a fantastic professional show). There were no pretentions and they were the only band of the night happy to let photographers use flash and it was noted that after the show Gaahl sans make up was wandering around the venue and watching the headliners.
Topless male and female victims were mounted on huge crosses (felt sorry for them as they were up there a good 10 minutes before the band came on). When they did they unleashed a salvo of hate filled grim cold fury. King Ov Hell and Gaahl charged around the stage both procreating Satan and forcing his storm. I believe the set list was not as it read on the stage and am guessing that the delayed start meant some of the 13 songs were cut so I am not relying on a track by track listing here, there were a lot of shouts of Satan though. Two bald guitarists one Teloch and one most certainly not Ice Dale as listed on the group’s myspace added a real colourful feel to both the music and the aesthetic on stage atmosphere. Moving out of the pit I dug in with a beer at the front and watched the spectacle and shook my head at the lack of crowd interaction to this slew of Christ raping hymns.
I still (with the exception of the latest) find myself buying Cradle Of Filth’s albums and although I have not seen them for a while had high hopes they were going to be good. The question of discussion in the photo pit was who the hell does Dani have in the band now, none of us knew having lost track years ago. The audience by the time this pantomime started were screaming like girls (and that was just the boys) and I have to admit I really found myself enjoying ‘Shat Out Of Hell’ which has the greatest song title I have heard in a long time. By ‘Gilded Cunt’ however the sudden invigorating rush was very much wearing off. This struck as being all about shocking teenagers parents something I had long since grown out of.
Dani can still occasionally hit the high notes but the old songs frankly sounded mangled. Back in the day they would have easily sold out this venue but it was probably only 2/3 full at best and the atmosphere and manic pit pile ups of old were obviously also a thing of the past. It was an egocentric circus with one ringmaster and if I am not mistaken I swear I heard a song title announced by Dani as being from ‘his’ new album! As for the silly stilt monster that came on it was just daft, obviously there was not the finances for the more elaborate stage shows of the past but it would have been better if they had played without such Spinal Tap distractions which frankly only had anyone sane laughing with embarrassment. ‘Twisted Nails’ had the hurdy gurdy machine fired up and the one song I was really interested in ‘Principles Of Evil’ complete with clichéd angle grinder sounded horrendous and a shadow of it’s former self.. I laughed as a friend bounded over with the words “hurrah I’ve finished my beer and can escape”. With ‘Under Huntress Moon ringing in my ears I thought it a damn good idea and did exactly the same with the thought running through my head that I have been to 3 shows in 3 nights and each one saw the support band blow the headliners off stage. Time for a rest methinks.
Pete Woods
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