ARMAGEDDON FESTIVAL - DAY ONE –
LONDON HIGHBURY GARAGE 04/06/10
Spread over two nights, hell had come to London in a musical form and we had the chance to witness eleven bands, some old friends, others who were making rather rare appearances. If this was not enough there were DJ’s spinning songs into the early hours as well as rare photos and merchandise on display in the upstairs room of the venue. You could even pick up prints ordained in human blood; not something you can say about any run of the mill shows.
First up were Funeral Throne getting things off to a slow crepuscular start which oozed out the speakers. Speeding up they set those entering the venue for the start of the show up for a weekend of filth ridden debauchery. The Wolverhampton wanderers had a clinical fervour with a fist punching mindset about their craft and it was easy to get into even though I had only witnessed them once before. Bathed in blood reds and cold blue (the lighting was one of many things expertly handled over the weekend) the stage looked impressive and the sound had a cavernous, hollow feel to it with a fair bit of reverb. The band were rather static as was the audience, perhaps this was not the hammer in the face that was needed by those coming in after a full tiring week of work but sure things would pick up later. This display boded well for the group’s soon to come second album and lubricated us up nicely for things to come.
Craven Idol were not a band I had witnessed before although I recognised the players who included members of Scythian and Crom Dubh in their ranks. They got a lot of rowdy cheers from those who had pushed their way to the barrier and they set about blazing in a feral and hungry fashion, which seemed designed to take little in the way of prisoners. This had a real bestial, old school-worshipping vibe about it as it tore through the venue with a sometime decrepit bite. The slower parts limbered up to tear flesh with little in way of class or finesse; just the way it should be. ‘Craven Atonement’ from the group’s 1st 2006 released demo had a nice cacophonous barbarity about it and this struck as a band designed to dwell in the underground demo stage, a thorn in the side of the more mainstream music industry. Bathed in Exorcist sickly pea green colour, they woke the audience up and had fists pumping away at the front and heads banging. I totally enjoyed the way they vomited their way from one song to the next, playing a set that was just the right length to keep the interest levels up.
Speaking of vomit it was now time for Vomitor and some chunder from way down under! Obviously this was a rare appearance from the Australian group who have luminaries from Gospel Of The Horns, Bestial Warlust and Spear Of Longinus in their three pronged attack formation and the audience were pumped for it. The sodomistic lot were not hanging around at all and went for it all guns blazing. Newer album ‘Devils Poison’ has only just been released and I quickly recognised ‘Neutron Hammer’ actually a very old song and it seemed like the crowd did too as it buried us in fallout. Vomitor spewed a slew of songs in quick succession, they got a fair few numbers in but things went too fast and that’s my only complaint here. An angry buzz fed off the guitars during the set stinging away like a swarm of angry wasps and this just added to the intensity of it all. They were the first to truly get a pit fired up too and I should think so too considering the distance they had come. I went towards it, sniffed the air which was armpit flavoured but decided against joining in and risking camera misfortune, content to stand on the side lines and headbang to ‘Midnight Madness.’ Devil’s Poison itself was spat out, I love the way the vocalist fires out the occasional high pitched yell and if anything this made the audience bloodlust even more intense. A great set all round!
Next up some Swedish death metal from Repugnant; a band who had been away for a while after disbanding in 2004. Back now with only one original member, Mary Goore, in the line up and I got an instant reaction as they hit the stage and it was all good. The sound was full bodied and energy and professionalism blasted away with the new blood in the group which included Enforcer guitarist DD Sars bringing the band very much back from the dead. Visually they had a bit of blood on them but not over the top like some of the bands playing the following day and to be honest in appearance I was reminded a bit of a Misfits sort of tribute act, completely at odds with their brand of gnarly death metal. E. Forcas really impressed keeping the drumming pounding and cymbals crunching and numbers such as ‘Draped in Cerecloth’ really hit the mark. I stood towards the back and sound was good there too; it could have been a bit louder but perhaps by now I was a tad deaf. Pint in hand, I watched and banged away realising that the lighting had gone all pastel shaded. Thankfully the air conditioning was working well in here, it was one hell of a hot weekend for music of this intensity and it was going to take a fair bit to top this set!
Luckily the band who had the task were up to the job. It’s always a pleasure to catch Nifelheim in action and tonight was no exception. They visually looked fantastic, I kind of described them (and with no disrespect) as looking like pearly kings of metal bling decked out wearing massive spikes, chains, studs and crosses that those of us in the photo pit were hoping not to get impaled on. There are very few that thrash harder and faster than these Swedes and they just flew off the tether from beginning to end of their set. Starting off with olden number ‘The Devastation,’ I looked behind and saw that not many behind me were able to stand still to this onslaught. The stage was no less frantic with the centre part taken up with the distinctive Gustavsson bros giving it their all. The set list had about 13 songs on it and again they unfortunately flew by. The last band were meant to be off by about 1AM but they all played so fast and furiously things finished earlier as they seemed to cleave their own stage times down. Still what we got was great; ‘Infernal Flame Of Damnation’ was one particular highlight from the excellent ‘Envoy Of Lucifer.’ Someone was dragged out the venue looking like humpty dumpty having fallen on their crown, another chap was passed out on the steps - how dare you sleep to this! How utterly false!! I took a photo and am debating shaming them in the gallery! ‘Storm Of The Reaper’ was beyond words; just utterly fantastic and they followed it with ‘Satanic Sacrifice’ from the dawn of the group. With ‘Final Slaughter,’ Nifelheim practically opened the gates of hell but luckily not quite, as otherwise we would not have the chance to do this all over again tomorrow.
Pete Woods
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