CANDLELIGHT FESTIVAL –
LONDON UNDERWORLD 20/11/10
There was more than a candle lit for the start of tonight’s proceedings. Bloody great spotlights beamed across the stage as the stirring militaristic intro paved the way for the entrance of Eastern Front. Once they unleashed the full might of the ‘Battle Of Smolensk’ we were confronted with a hellacious sound booming from the speakers. This is one of the fiercest forces to emerge from the UKBM scene in recent years and no matter how many times I see them they always manage to take my breath away. Image wise their show is a spectacle and in tone very much in line with the grim atmosphere of the hell-blazing music. Light strobes bathed the band in eerie hues, spikes were thrust in the faces of those at the front of the stage and the music was like a smash in the teeth, never relenting but still purveying a fine sense of majesty and melody. Although the band have in the past played nearly all their debut album ‘Blood On Snow’ the title track naturally culminating the set, we did get a surprise as for the first time we bore witness to ‘At The Gates Of Moscow’ and naturally they fell!
In case you had not guessed all the bands on tonight’s bill share the same record label Candlelight. One group I seem to have been cursed in seeing before and really wanted to were October File and I was very much looking forward to finally catching them live (rather than dead as they were in last nights film outing ‘Zombie Driftwood’). Perhaps finding some left over ammo from Eastern Front they started their set with ‘Munitions’ and despite having heard Ben Holyer’s contemptuous snarl on disc nothing had quite prepared me for it in the face, which it very much was. “Ready To Fight” roared the vocalist and those witnessing this were instantly pumped. The whole unit were a blaze of action and this was exactly the sort of explosive display I had hoped it would be. There is plenty of power and precision here and songs such as new ones ‘Crawl’ and ‘Falter’ from the great album ‘Our Souls To You’ sounded spectacular. The band manage to deliver a sound that is not just straightforward metal, there is the feeling of everything here from industrial to post punk and an underlying coating of crust. One song was a bit slower but no less tempestuous. I did not recognise it and the set list had it down as ‘I Fuck The Day’ so I am assuming it may well be a new one. The last one wasn’t, being ‘Isolation’ and there was little in the way of joy as its division, a taste of Armageddon perhaps though from this powerful performance.
I had hoped that I would not have to spend the whole of the review of Xerath saying the same as I did when they supported Ihsahn, that although I could admire and appreciate what they did they were not really to my taste. To a large extent that was again true but they are certainly growing on me. Compared to the amount of people watching the first two bands the audience suddenly seemed to swell too. It was never going to be rammed here with both Annihilator and The Damned in town but it was evident that the Basingstoke mob had their supporters. As soon as they fired into ‘Intrenity’ imposing front man Richard Thomson was rallying their fans and picking up some new ones on the way. There was a really chunky and meaty sound about their set and the Underworld’s PA was cranking things out really nicely tonight. Musically there was plenty of diversity here as well as technicality. New song ‘Sworn To Sacrifice’ had a shuddering riff that contorted and drew us into its folds. It’s all too easy to compare to Meshuggah although I can see fans of their head stewing sound finding plenty of favour here. With progressive flavours also randomly dished out things may have been slightly bewildering but the groove laden meandering did shine through and eventually won me over.
The void between the two Winterfylleth albums to date had me going from indifference to near wonderment and the spectacular 2010 release ‘The Mercian Sphere’ has seen the group pick up a lot of press appreciation as well as solidifying why they should deserve this headlining slot tonight. Evocative, powerful and passionate are the words scrawled in still just about legible writing as we were swept off our feet into their set. There is both a mesmerising flow and almost spiritual and naturistic feel to their brand of shimmering earth laden black metal. The National Heritage defining tag is one that you can really feel here in the live arena and others around look almost bewitched by the slow parts with clamouring clean sweeping vocals before they are dashed back into life by angry muscular swaggers. Chris Naughton relentlessly strums and screams whilst the other players around him make such glorious sound seem almost effortless. The atmosphere was fantastic and we practically felt the pain of wounded Albion bellowing in indignation as with dogged determination it gritted teeth and sharpened claws, ready to fight back. Speaking of which as the far too quickly over set drew to a close an announcement went out to the scum burning poppies on Armistice Day and got a bellow of applause by virtually everyone present. The natural conclusion to this could only be ‘Defending The Homeland’ and you simply cannot argue with sentiments and statements like that!
As a postscript I would like to say this was an excellent night’s entertainment from a label who throughout the year have provided some of the very best releases that we as writers and more importantly metal fans have had. My one complaint is that this was not an all day show as there are plenty of others who it would have been great to see on the bill, perhaps next year eh??
Pete Woods
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