SHINING, ENTHRONED, SVART CROWN & ORDER OF APOLLYON
LONDON UNDERWORLD 25/10/10
No time to recover from a weekend when a tour like this swings into town on a Monday night. First up were a veritable feast of players from the UK underground, Order Of Apollyon whose members have been in the likes of Cradle Of Filth, Aborted, Akercocke and Trigger The Bloodshed amongst others. This was a case of galloping death metal and the drum battery struck as particularly savage behind it. Feet stomped, heads banged, cymbals clashed and guitars strummed. It hit the right spot for those filtering into the venue and the band gave it there all to the few witnessing the assault, hair windmilling formidably along with the frantic pace. Although there was plenty of brutality I was struck by a bit of a lack of atmosphere behind it all, the band were not particularly moving me and I think if they had been supporting a band like Nile or Behemoth they would have gone down a bit better with the audience. Still that aside it was a solid enough display and one that illustrated that they have scope to go a lot further than the opening band of the night in the future. (PW)
Svart Crown aren’t a band I have heard of, but they bring their French black/death stylings to the events proceedings tonight. Actually they don’t strike me as being too different to the previous act, with the deathly carnage on display on numbers like ‘Deadly March.’ ‘Apocalyptic Triumph’ steams ahead with a high pitched guitar that sounds quite threatening, and there’s a mid-paced thump laid down by a heavy bass while the vocals are a kind of raspy yell – nothing unique but they do the job. That’s the general view I take throughout the set really; there’s nothing particularly bad about their performance but it doesn’t do anything for me. It’s all standard, repetitive blackened death metal fare and hate to repeat what was said in last review but I do prefer my music with a bit more atmosphere to draw me in. There’s plenty of anger radiating from this hairy bunch, but it doesn’t really stray from the middle of the road. (LH)
Enthroned are one of those bands I have caught live a few times and I normally give their albums the once over but never really more than that. The Belgian group have a long and distinguished career but have never really got me particularly excited by their brand of Flemish fury. Having an hour tonight I was hoping this would change but at first they seemed to be all over the place and chaotic rather than any ‘Ornament Of Grace.’ As they relentlessly ploughed on with their basic hammer and nails brand of black metal I was quickly aware that it was going to be a long wait for the headliners and if anything this was going to be a bit of an endurance test. I really wanted to enjoy this a lot more than I was and I found vocalist Nornagest’s yapping approach grating on my nerves. Again there was little in the way of atmosphere and indeed subtlety and even diversification. This was an incredibly workmanlike display which left me completely cold. Luckily it did get better towards the end and they did have a spark about them when it came to delivering new song ‘Pentagrammaton,’ which crept up following an intro and then exploded. The band even managed to get a pit going for last number ‘Radiance Of Mordacity’ but for me it was too little too late. (PW)
A long wait indeed it was for Shining, and with none of the supports especially sparking my intrigue that sweet amber nectar seemed even more tempting than normal – needless to say I was seriously spannered by the time everyone’s favourite nutcase Niklas Kvarforth hit the stage with his misanthropic mass of miscreants. I’m sure we all have those occasional nights where everything is just a blur, but I must confess to feeling rather foolish having done this at a gig I had been especially looking forward to all year. Such is life. ‘Längtar bort från mitt hjärta’ definitely stood out as a highlight; there’s a real hateful swagger to this one and Fredric’s guitars melt fluidly into the mix while there’s something incredibly eerie about the slower, more atmospheric moments when played live even without the female spoken parts which I love on the album. Niklas’ performance is definitely intense as he emits his ferocious and misanthropic croak, peppered with ‘Wooh’s,’ and glugging a bottle of red wine it seems he is just about his normal self. ‘Eradication Of The Condition’ plays out with a rollicking punk-fuelled rhythm before slowing tempo, and there’s a real jazzy vibe to the drums as it descends into a kind of hushed Yiddish passage. It’s surprisingly busy tonight considering the weekend’s Live Evil festival, and although the supports didn’t impress Shining made up for it…from what I remember. (LH)
Luci Herbert & Pete Woods
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