INFERNAL DAMNATION FESTIVAL 2009
LONDON UNDERWORLD 09/05/09
An early Saturday start as Arcane Promotions put on their yearly Infernal Damnation festival with 9 bands playing today, some are old favourites and there are a couple of bands we have not witnessed on a bill in London before. The first of these Traces were a group I had really been looking forward to seeing as they are the new project of Phil Wilson who has put down his bass duties and left The Rotted to adopt vocals on this entirely different entity. Showcasing tracks from their debut EP, due in a couple of months this is a million miles from the deathly Rotted racket and is the sound of fast flowing orchestral black metal. With the drumming blazing away and presenting a hefty backbone to things I was expecting keyboards to be high in the mix but here they were not actually overbearing. Wilson has found something to do with his hands and without instrument does not leave them idle, striking rock star poses and growling mightily whilst also proffering a few clean sweeps. Numbers such as ‘In The Wake of What Has Perished’ were powerful and angry and ‘Wreathed In Flame’ is a dark opus with plenty going on in it. I get the impression this is a band that you should be hearing a lot about in the future and my first fix of Traces was certainly a memorable and impressive one.
Next up something old, yet something new, this was my first airing of Necrosadistic Goat Torture with a new goatmaniak Bartosz on vokills. The goats are no longer tethered and are now a lot uglier without a lady fronting them; I think if my camera could speak it would have complained. Still that aside, if anything it made the Billy goats sound even more feral and beastly and I at first found the gurgling vocals making them a more grinding proposition. They also seemed gnarlier and perhaps even undisciplined here although the coruscating sound took a while to settle. Somehow though it all started to work for me and became so brutal it could only really be described as fighting and falling over drunk music. Luckily it was slightly too early for that and instead I was left to stumble around and head bang to the likes of ‘Nekrolog’ and ‘Immortals.’
I had never heard Severed Heaven but had been informed that they were a band of girls who were all about making a ferocious noise. I would have loved to have given them a great review and am often found championing the fairer sex as far as metal is concerned. Unfortunately as far as this lot are concerned it is not to be, they had neither decent songs nor the skills to play them, in fact they sounded downright sloppy in execution and the vocals were bloody awful. I had more than enough after a couple of numbers but went back to watch them again, not once but twice in the hope of finding something positive to say. My notes in fact are full of abuse but rather than go to any greater lengths, it’s best just to say I hope I never have the misfortune of seeing them again. (Pete Woods)
UK death metal masters Infestation take to the stage, the first band I had really wanted to see tonight, I was expecting a little more quality than that which had gone before in the day (apart from the opening band that is), and they did not disappoint one little bit. The only thing for me was them playing their classic ‘Evil Evil’ right at the start of their set instead of a closing track. David Samuel belts out the anti-religious blasphemies with his vocals on top form (also nice to see him holding a beer can and relaxing whilst on stage!) whilst backing vocal support and general riff mongering from Matt Pielorz provides some of the UK’s best death metal of recent years. Ok there are plenty of Florida death metal riffs but that does not matter in the slightest and the crowd are also suitably impressed. ‘Cross of Arrogance’ and ‘Forever I Deny’ display the newer tracks that the band have to offer presented with a cohesive rhythm section and basically for me a higher class of band of the day so far.
UK black metal sensation Spearhead grace the stage next, their down to earth workmanship provides a pummelling display of energy and highlights improved musicianship since my last live encounter with these guys. They definitely have the best live sound of the day so far, with no need to complain to the soundguy during their set! ‘When the Pillars Fall’ from their latest opus powers ahead even to the sparse crowd (word was that this was the “interval”, but if fact it was after their set!). There is still no stage “show” as such, but then blackened death metal isn’t supposed to be happy with lots of crowd interaction, but it is good to see more confidence later in their set via working the crowd. They get their heads down and continue with tracks that just prove what a good prospect these guys are for the UK and world scene, the war and philosopher comes out in the lyrics whilst airing two new tracks tonight, however, I missed the titles.
Following the interval/backline changeover, the crowd gets a new spate of energy and Eastern Front quite happily become the recipients. These are one of the highlights of the UK black metal scene in recent years and I have always found them to be top notch on the night on stage. This does not fall from the radar tonight either, whilst the stage to crowd charisma is lacking from vocalist Metzger, the actual vocal performance is one of the better deliverables heard in recent years (along with the corpse paint). ‘Blood On Snow’ is undoubtedly a classic tune, the way that the spotlights are utilised at the front of the stage does make it all very “evil”. The stage backdrops that the band put on stage and the general overall show make you think that this is a band with purpose and there is no denying the quality in their music. (Paul Maddison)
I’ve never made much of an effort to listen to Foscor, though their name has cropped up here and there in my almost daily search for new music. In all honestly I was probably most interested in seeing these Catalans tonight; intrigued to see their live show and how their music would come across in this situation. Performance-wise, their enthusiasm for what they were doing shone through the darkness, puzzling me slightly, probably because I can’t remember the last time I saw a Black Metal band thoroughly enjoying themselves on stage. Ironically, ‘The Smile of the Sad Ones’ opened the set. ‘You should be looking miserable or at least grimacing...shouldn’t you?’ I wanted to ask guitarist Wilhkiem, but refrained, as Fiar’s screams evoked more than enough pain and anguish. ‘I Torna des le Cendres’ had some wonderfully melodic, yet morose leads springing up from the other side of the stage as the very long haired guitarist in front of me at last relinquished his joy with a grim snarl befitting the audio misery perfectly. ‘Life’s Death Code’ was another highlight, dark chords backed with a good rhythm and at least one ‘UGH’ from Fiar. As a blast-beat descended on a particularly gloomy riff, the front-man produced some vaguely tuneful cries, kind of adding something else to their already impressive set; a band well worth seeing if you get the chance.
Whilst I don’t hate, Hate, liking would also be a step too far, as I have seen the band twice before, and still do not own any of their albums. They’ve never impressed me much musically or in the flesh, seemingly following in Behemoth’s footsteps especially when it comes to the live show, but acting as a poor man’s version.
They came on in ceremonial robes (Pete and I turning to each other, simultaneously saying ‘they’re wearing skirts’), and I immediately thought, ‘didn’t Behemoth do something like that a year or two ago?’ They just didn’t catch me at all, and when a pit broke out after perhaps one song, I found myself paying more attention to who was flying my way rather than the Polish Metal on display. ‘Malediction’ was the only title I caught and although the groove was good in places, inciting people to get even rowdier, am afraid that’s all I have to say for that one. Yawn indeed.
Shining on the other hand are a band I think are fantastic musically, though lacking in something on the live front. ‘Besvikelsens Dystra Monotoni’ surprisingly began the hour of suicidal darkness (as it was billed) with metallic riffing as opposed to the blackend cascades of other tracks from fifth album ‘Halmstad’. Kvarforth came onstage, barking in his mother tongue, and for once wearing a shirt. Like the last occasion they played in London, the crowd were very eager, reaching out for the vocalist; luckily though, no one this time climbed onto the stage to embrace the howling front man, only to be unceremoniously and disgustedly thrown back into the mass of black shirts. The downright brilliant ‘Yttligare Ett Steg Närmare Total Jävla Utfrysnin’ dredged itself up, probably from the toilets and not the stairway with the man who wasn’t there, awkwardly pulling itself along to deranged screams and groans. The bottle of Jack Daniels was on hand, being glugged whenever it appeared to be necessary, and the (un)lucky ones in the crowd found themselves being offered some – from Kvarforth’s mouth! Yes and talking of his mouth, Manic (Skitliv, ex-Mayhem) wasn’t around tonight, and so new bassist Andreas Larssen became the object of his affections - I expect there were a number of jealous ladies in the audience.
‘Claws of Perdition’ made way for ‘Submit to Self-Destruction’ and there were also a couple of new songs from the forthcoming ‘VI: Klagopsalmer’ album. God knows what the titles were (for they were in Swedish), but I daresay they were the ones currently on their MySpace page. A threat went out to whoever threw the next drink at the front-man, and five seconds later something was thrown, scattering all over the crowd. ‘Neka Morgondagen’ brought the return of those desperate black grooves, and brief blast parts, but also marked the end of the main set. Appetites would probably not have been satisfied fully had the catchy ‘Låt Oss ta Allt Från Varandra’ not been featured on the set list, but there it was, for one more skirmish to break out, and not much else. Cigarettes had been stubbed out on bare flesh and that bottle had surely been fully utilised. God, it looked 2/3 gone half-way through the set! Shining had entertained London once again, and the recipients appeared most satisfied.
(Oliver Cass)
Pete Woods, Paul Maddison & Oliver Cass
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