HELL MILITIA, SALUTE, BLACKLODGE AND AOSOTH –
LONDON ELECTROWERKZ 03/04/2010
Upon being told about this gig in January, I think my jaw fell open in a combination of joy and amazement. It’s not very often that we English are graced with the wonders of the French Black Metal scene, making this rather special for some of us. After the venue being changed a couple of times, and at one point being a strangely fancy little rock bar in the East end, the concrete Hell-hole of London (aka the Electrowerkz) was decided upon.
It was Aosoth’s first time on these shores and very irritatingly they’d been given the first slot and a miserable half hour to wreak havoc. I found this a bit insulting on their part to be honest, especially as the local support was given the main slot and 45 minutes. Grumbling aside, this was a really convincing performance, driving us immediately into a barbarically dark and discordant musical Hell. ‘Songs without Lungs’ was the first track I recognised, and was made of pulse racing stuff. Being a bassist down didn’t appear to be hindering them in the slightest; they were making quite enough noise without one. Being more well-known for his tortured cries in the all too violent Antaeus, one could see that this was a suitably fitting band for vocalist MkM to release his anguish within. Their fellow countrymen (and woman) began appearing in the crowd during ‘Ashes of Angels’, and were supremely encouraging; in fact I expect Blacklodge guitarist Narcotic had already taken a few narcotics by this stage.
Both guitarists BST (Balrog, ex Aborted, VI) and INRVI (VI) were in the spirit of things, hair flailing, and filling in for the on album drum machine was Englishman Dan Wilding (ex Aborted, Trigger the Bloodshed). The sound was slowly ironing itself out, and you could just about make out some of the riffs, though ‘Embrace and Enlightenment’ I somehow deciphered from the drum blasts which frantically chopped and changed. The Opeth tinged chords of ‘Cries out of Heaven’ were unmistakable and the howling vocalist looked almost in a trance, a crazed eye looking out from beneath his obscuring dark hair.
‘Inner War’, their Antaeus cover, never fails to make me grin with pleasure at the end of ‘Ashes of Angels’, and fortunately the sound had by now improved enough, so that we could actually make the wretched thing out. It seemed to get everyone riled up and was basically bloody wonderful. The band of the night for me, and to think they could have had even longer just grates.
Blacklodge were in rather high spirits judging by their eager stage manner. They looked to be enjoying themselves, and well, why not I suppose. We don’t need grimness all the time, and to be fair they are extremely unorthodox with Saint Vincent’s programmed gabber beats. Naively it hadn’t occurred to me what an acquired taste this required and so if you prefer your Black Metal not to wander too far from the original path, then perhaps tread with due care or even avoid them.
Once again (the story of the evening actually), the sound really wasn’t at its pinnacle and the drum machine more or less obliterated the guitars to begin with, resulting in a rather odd screaming, thumping racket. ‘Vector G’, from new album ‘Time’, was just about discernable, ‘Iron Icon’ more so, especially thanks to its finishing hyper gabber blast.
Some crowd members looked a bit bewildered, others were raising their fists to the beats and one chap was even dancing next to the speaker (I bet he regretted that in the morning).
On album I think they’re great, but due to the sound, it wasn’t translating quite right for me.
I spent Salute‘s set wandering around and talking, so can’t say anything about them, other than the fact that I’d rather just listen to Celtic Frost.
For those not familiar with the French Black Metal scene, Hell Militia are a French super-group, boasting members of Arkon Infaustus (guitarist Torturer), Mutiilation (vocalist Meynach), Vorkreist (drummer Dave Terror and bassist LSK), Antaeus (again LSK) and Temple of Baal (guitarist Arkdaemon). Touring to promote their not yet released sophomore album, ‘Last Station on the road to death’, they’d thoughtfully chosen to include London on their itinerary, and for this we, or at least I was most definitely grateful.
Meynach barely had time to lug a crate of beer on stage, before the other four had begun churning out their maelstrom of delights. God knows what they opened with, but by Satan it was loud and noisy and had the man responsible for Mutiilation screaming in anger, boot on the monitor, with malevolence in his eyes. Maybe I was just imagining it, but he didn’t sound quite as rabid as he did on their debut, ‘Canonisation of the foul spirit’, where he comes across as completely deranged.
‘Torture of the Saints’ did its best to cleave the venue in two, and even if you couldn’t hear the miserable discordance in complete clarity, the members’ expressions and actions gave a good enough idea of what it sounded like. Torturer (aka T. Persecutor) glared daggers for most of the set, whilst Arkdaemon was extremely psyched up and banging his head unmercifully.
A couple of new songs were announced, ‘Et Inferno Ego’ and ‘Fili Diaboli’ which relied on much slower tempos than many of the older songs, achieving a much denser atmosphere. This is also going on what I’ve heard on their new My Space page, though different songs are featured there.
In all, it was a bestial, filth ridden affair, just like LSK’s white top, which had had blood or something else slopped down it, which amusingly is a world away from her sleek, pristine look in Secrets of the Moon. As an encore they were joined by Saint Vincent, Narcotic, Acid Jess and BST for a rendition of what I think was a G.G. Allin song.
A great end to an excellent evening of French filth.
Oliver Cass
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