NOCTURNAL (Ger), NEBUKADNEZZA, SCYTHIAN & DECEPTOR
CAMDEN BAR MONSTA 10/02/08
Luckily the day after the Camden Market Fire, Bar Monsta still stands and the gigs in the local area are un-affected. Apart from the nightmare of trying to find your bus route, now most of the roads are closed, Camden lives and breathes!
Here we go, another RAGE event from Resilience Records dubbed “Thee Black Sunday”, a night of pure unholy thrash metal.
www.resiliencerecords.com
Up First are ‘Deceptor’ from Birmingham, these guys are becoming regulars on the live circuit of late, and since their last gig a couple of weeks ago, they appear to have honed their sound and show a much improved set. Opening with some pure unadulterated heaviness, they thrash happily into ‘Mistress of Metal’ with some great breakdowns and flow into ‘Iron Maiden’ influenced fretwork. There is a very sparse crowd, unlike their previous gig at this venue, but I guess everyone suffers from the Sunday night syndrome and another gig playing just a few bars away. However, this does not phase the band, and they go straight into ‘Chain of Command’ that almost has an early Sabbath intro, but then the thrashing starts after a few bars of music. Paul Fulda’s vocal delivery is much more precise on this outing and then we are in for a treat. An excellent cover of ‘Agents of Steel’ originally done by…you guessed it ‘Agent Steel’! This is a great crowd pleaser and finally gets things going. ‘Witchbelter’ closes the proceedings for ‘Deceptor’. It has to be said that this was a much-improved live show and comments from the crowd like “these guys are great” only back this up. Check them out.
www.myspace.com/deceptormetal
Next we have ‘Scythian’ who only recently supported the mighty ‘Master’. Having some serious patches on his denim jacket, the singer (Miika Virtanen aka S. Vrath) comes on stage wearing his shades. Thankfully, these are removed later in the set. The band themselves come across as a black metal crossover with some Germanic thrash. Unfortunately, the amp went down on guitarist G. Kul-Oba, but after a quick fix, things are back up and running. ‘Shattered Idols’ blasts out of the PA with a great lead intro which almost sounds like ‘Sodom’ then it builds up to a ‘Blasphemy’ driven tune. There appears to be some bad feedback coming from the PA through the drumkit although it can’t be heard when the band is playing. The drummer J.C. Volgard is relentless, bashing the skins for all they are worth. ‘Pray to War’ (where we loose the shades!) has those ‘Sodom’ influences creeping in and is a monolith of a tune. A. Satyrus (Alex de Moller) lays down some great melodic solos, but these are just audible over the rest of the band. This is the first time I had heard these guys, but I hope it won’t be the last. They have some serious kick-ass tunes and a great live show. This is backed up when the members from another London based band show up and cause havoc at the front of the stage (obviously having had a few beers)!
www.myspace.com/scythiandeath
‘Nebukadnezza’ (try saying that drunk!) are up next. They have held their longevity on the scene, with some strong supporting slots with the likes of ‘Tankard’ and ‘Master’ behind them. They are a bit of a mess once they start playing. A pissed up ‘Nuclear Assault’ in the bad old days would be the best way to describe things. Sure there is plenty of crowd interaction, but it does need something more, maybe a second guitarist would fill the sound more. It just sounds hollow tonight unlike other witnessed shows. However, there are some great breakdowns in the crossover/hardcore thrash sense, but its just too sloppy. A shame really because there is plenty of potential in this band (and the crowd seem to love them – especially the pissed people!), but there is another chance to see them on 23rd February in this very venue, so we hope that things improve this time because they sound good in the studio.
www.nebukadnezza.com
www.myspace.com/nebukadnezza
‘Nocturnal’ from Germany have been around for a number of years, but this is their first trip to the UK, and it is set to be a very special show.
‘Creation of the Possessed’ blasts out from their split EP with ‘Armour (Fin)’. There is a distinct lack of bass in the mix; perhaps the sound women forgot to turn this on! Reaper on vocals (from the German band ‘Old’) looks like he has just walked in from the apocalypse, all scuffed up and seems to wrestle with the mic stand for a while. Evil Avenger (Guitarist) and Hellbastard (Drums) look like they are having fun, whilst trying to maintain stern faces. Another track ‘Preventive War’ is a pure blaster, and makes the crowd chaotic.
That’s when it all starts to go wrong. Individuals in the crowd seem to think its great to jump on stage and grab the microphone, and another one just stands there being larger than life thinking he is in the band. It is appalling that these individuals show ‘Nocturnal’ no respect whatsoever and you do wish there was some security to get these guys off the stage. And then some individuals in the audience produce Nazi salutes during the last track. It is a shame that the night had to come to this, but as usual, it’s the minority who spoil things for others.
This on the other hand does not phase ‘Nocturnal’; they plough on professionally and produce a stunning set. Ok there were a few sound problems, but it was truly a treat to finally witness the thrash assault of ‘Nocturnal’.
www.myspace.com/nocturnalthrash
Although suffering slightly from the Sunday Night syndrome in attendance, Resilience Records once again put on a cracking ‘RAGE’ event of thrash metal influenced mayhem. Taking a chance on smaller underground bands is a brave move in the current climate and with 10 gigs in 10 days in London it was always going to be tough! However, this is of great benefit to the fans that attend these shows. Support the underground!
Paul Maddison
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOGRAPHS
MTUK HOME
