VADER XXV ANNIVERSARY TOUR & GUESTS
LONDON UNDERWORLD 29/04/08
“He’s not an Inactive Messiah, he’s a very lazy boy” Just could not pass up that opportunity as far as tonight’s opening band were concerned. After an austere and demonic sounding intro with plenty of promise this Greek band at first reminded of their countrymen who were playing later. However this quickly changed when they flew into some proficient, rasped up to the max thrash. A good silver medallist contender in the hair twirling Olympics they utilised the stage well even if musically they did nothing particularly new. The drummer opened one number with a salvo that had me expecting a Fear Factory number. It wasn’t but it rattled the loose change in my pockets and even jiggled my balls as the song chugged along. The orchestral samples in the background kept this interesting and had those filing into the venue taking a look but to be honest this did little to make me want to go and check out new album ‘Sinful Nation.’
The lead singer of Devian was one we had seen on this stage a fair few times in the past. Legion is his name, for he was Marduk singer and although both he and former drummer Emil are in this new flesh, as album ‘Ninewinged Serpent’ proved this sounded quite far removed from their former band. Bathed in green (whoever did the stage lighting tonight did an absolutely fantastic job) the group looked like there was going to unleash a pea green soup attack Exorcist style. Vocally that would have fitted in well even if the front row and photographers would have had a shock. The ever flamboyant Legion put on a somewhat unhinged display and the audience reacted off this with enthusiasm. I think my problem was that I found it difficult getting into them only having had one fleeting listen to the album and perhaps this is one that is a grower, as on only a second impression the good song factor was missing a bit. Next time must give album a proper listen first.
Septic Flesh are a group who have not had a good run as far as playing London is concerned. Cancelling the Nile show they were due to play and also refusing to play as support to Ancient Rites due to not having all the equipment they required we hoped it was going to be third time lucky. For some reason they were not at full compliment though and with Sotiris seemingly MIA the fantastic clean vocals were sampled tonight.
That aside they were still fantastic as is new album ‘Communion’ the bulk of tonight’s set coming from it.
Opening up with a rake of tracks from 2003 album Sumerian Demons the majestic sound unravelled through the Underworld getting the crowd riled up. In fact I was amazed how popular they seemed and it was obvious that many were here particularly for the band tonight as ‘Behold The Land Of Promise’ worked its arcane magick. With the drums rattling around like they were dancing on bones this was both gruff and feral as well as majestic, like an ancient army marching off to war. The new numbers sounded excellent even if we were standing around trying to spot who was singing the clean parts during ‘Anubis.’ Sounding like an elephant trumpeting, the sound of ‘Persepolis’ was unmistakeable and triumphant. Unfortunately it was also the last song of this all too brief set. To be fair there was a band celebrating their 25th year up next so one can forgive them for hogging the time a bit. Also Septic Flesh are back in December fingers crossed as well. (PW)
I can’t really think of many Death Metal bands who have been around longer than I’ve been alive, but Vader are one of them, albeit by just one year, and tonight we gathered in the Underworld to celebrate the impressive feat of 25 years of this Polish Death machine.
It was discussed afterwards how varied the set list was tonight, concentrating probably more on the older tracks than the new ones. This probably threw many of the younger fans off a bit, but so be it; they were here to celebrate their career and give a taste of the new 25 year anniversary album they’ve been recording on and off for the past year or so.
‘London…and Polska’…Peter makes me laugh these days; or perhaps it’s just that fact that if you want a good idea of how many Poles there are now living in London, you are probably best advised going to a Vader gig to hear and see the Eastern Europeans in full voice.
After being whacked in the face by a wretched crowd-surfer during the impressive Greek’s set, I was more than happy to stay a little way back as Vader flew into a fury, hair flailing, and drum annihilation high in the mix. It didn’t take long before a pit had formed; a ‘Vicious Circle’ beckoning for victims. As far I can remember, ‘Chaos’ was a surprise addition to the set, harking back to the demo days of the band. The jolly old ‘Epitaph’ had a good groove, and enthusiastic nodding was mandatory as was a touch of air drumming during ‘Silent Empire’ and ‘Carnal’. Daray sounded faster than ever with a good drum sound which was loud and clear; you could really hear the snare suffering, its cries seemingly coming about seven times a second.
‘Sothis’ is always welcome when I’m around and gradually the nodding became more and more enthusiastic, as did the air guitaring….but when ‘Reign Forever World’ was introduced, I thought ‘sod this’ and began flinging the mane around. Congratulations to the Poles indeed; they got me to head-bang for the first time in well over a year!
It was time for some bloody impressions apparently; ‘Shadowfear’ saluted us as plectrums grated on metal like wood being sanded; not only were the people in front of Mauser getting whipped by his forward head slamming, they were probably tasting shaved plastic too! Some flapping was necessary before they went any further, and ‘spread your Wings’ was the instruction. The last message though (or so we thought), was that ‘God is Dead’, helleluyah perhaps?
Thinking that was it, I went off to look for more merch I didn’t need and was shortly accosted by the synth intro to ‘This is the War’, playing on one of the bar speakers. This saved my wallet and meant more Polish Death riffage for my ears; rather good really! It whizzed by in a blur and finally we were offered something old that I can’t for the life of me remember – yes very helpful!
Well, they came and they conquered all, as they do every year actually. Here’s to 25 years of Polish brilliance! I’m looking forward to that double album! (OC)
Oliver Cass and Pete Woods
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