WATAIN, DESTROYER 666, OTARGOS & ICENI
CAMDEN UNDERWORLD 27/09/10
L
Well what can I say? The Underworld is renowned for a number of things, unsanitary bogs being one of them and tonight the usual aroma of said lavatories is overpowered by a much fouler stench. Yes who else could it be but Watain who I hear are planning to follow in the footsteps of J-Lo and the Sex Pistols and bring out their Eau De Pigs-blood just in time for Christmas.* I don’t think it’s going to take off somehow as I doubt anyone’s wife would thank their beloveds for the gift, and three days later as I write this review I still keep getting unfortunate Watain-scented whiffs up the nostrils. After a few delays, Iceni hit the stage armed with their own personalised bottles of mineral water and break into the ground-rattling ‘Journey The Pathways Unknown’ which instantly has me noting down what a particularly good sound the band have tonight. The spike-and-bullet belt clad tribe storm through their set with a mighty heathen furore, with the fierce battle swagger of ‘Legacy Of The Fallen’ really getting fists pounding (and of course there’s the token sieg-hailer down the front...). I love the depressive ambience of ‘The Black Birds of Carrion;’ with its storming drums and the high pitched buzz of the guitars this really sounds rather excellent. This is the third time I’ve seen this band and they seem to go from strength to strength, and really need to get my hands on new demo ‘In Spirit Of The Old World.’ Iceni are truly flying the flag for British metal tonight and have a great future ahead of them.
I only found out a week ago that French black metal horde Otargos had been added to the bill, and having really gotten into latest offering ‘No God, No Satan’ it was an announcement I was rather excited about. Nevertheless, Iceni were a tough act to follow and while they didn’t surpass the standards already laid down by tonight’s openers they at least matched it. Image-wise these guys hold little back, frontman Dagoth’s white corpsepaint melting in the heat of the venue while the guitarists appear to be wearing something akin to bullet-proof vests. Generally they have a captivating presence, and the red lasers which cast strips of light across the venue adds to the sinister appeal. They crawl mechanically through ‘Worship Industrialised,’ guitars steely and vocals gnarled out with utter contempt. It may be a total contradiction, but I scrawled in my notes the phrase ‘clean but filthy BM’ – unleashing short blasts of razor-sharp and punishing industrialized blackened filth upon the audience, with ‘Origin’ descending into a blasting disarray. A particular highlight would be ‘Nullabsolut’ as Dagoth tears apart a bible, declaring it to be a virus created by man. All in all a great performance that didn’t disappoint.
It’s well over a year since Destroyer 666 last played in the UK and it’s obvious that they were quite a draw for much of the crowd. Having stood, pint and notebook in hand for the first two bands by the time these Australians picked up their instruments and ploughed into ‘Sons Of Perdition’ it was enough to get me in the mood for some serious neckwrecking. It’s a savage attack of filthy old school black thrash that tears through the venue, and chaos is well and truly unleashed. K K Warslut barks out vocals with destructive intent doing a good job of commanding the crowd over the backdrop of pounding drums and merciless riffs. There seemed to be a lot played from the ‘Cold Steel…’ album while there was an absence of more recent material, with the exception of ‘I Am Not Deceived,’ which at its more middling pace comes out with an air of menace, the guitars literally threatening to rip you to shreds and leave you for dead, which it certainly does.
Headbanging time over, it’s time to make my way down into the fetid pits of hell and jostle with blood-stained demons to take photos of Watain. Thankfully it took me a while to get down there and I missed the throwing of the blood, although unfortunately for my co-editor Pete Woods he was at the very heart of the action and got a gobful of the stuff (sadly no vegetarian alternative on the menu either!) The venue is pretty much rammed by now and my view of the stage is incredibly obstructed, although from what I can see the stage is lit up with candles and together with the red/pink lighting makes for an incredibly atmospheric backdrop and ideal conditions for shooting in. With it’s mystifying intro passage, ‘Malfeitor’ is a great song to kick off with and seconds later that reckless rhythm comes pounding in kicking up a hellish stink. Callous guitars grate over the full-on fury beneath, while ‘Reaping Death’ has that slow, ominous break before the fist-pounding chorus which feels kind of like a black mass sermon, and everything then rages ahead at full throttle. It’s great to hear some familiar stuff from Sworn To The Dark, ass I still haven’t had chance to familiarise myself 100% with the new album, and ‘Sworn To The Dark’ sounds fantastic. There is a great buzz surrounding this band and it’s easy to understand why – not only do they have the presence that could make a Christian tremble, but they have a sound to back it up. They come across on stage as truly Satanic, everything about the performance shows them to be the real deal and the words that are spat from Erik’s mouth are all yelled with total conviction. ‘Wolf’s Curse’ rattles wildly and there’s a fetid swagger driving it along. They end their set with a cover of Bathory’s ‘Sacrifice,’ as we stagger out of the venue to spread the stench across London.
Luci Herbert
*Please note this is a fabrication. Should Watain actually enter the perfume market, it is entirely coincidental.
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