Man Must
Die, Nailed, Dam, Bludgeon, Dyscarnate London The Purple
Turtle 29/8/2007
Review by James Young
With quite a large queue outside the Purple Turtle, the support for
underground death metal was clearly apparent tonight, but this
wasn’t just any old brutal stuff - this was an all-British line-up!
First up were Dyscarnate, a
young band from Horsham. With either the ‘video DJ’ (obviously the
same one from every single Grindethic show) having problems with his
projector, or issues with various bits of musical equipment, the set
was very late starting, which would have a negative effect on the
rest of the bands ahead. That said, the slamming stuff that was
heard was quite refreshing, and clearly a homage to the death metal
giants such as Skinless and Suffocation, these chaps weren’t afraid
to burst your ear drums with an infectious breed of brutality. A
total of three guitars playing nearly the same thing, without any
real hint of a solo, may seem excessive to some, but it didn’t
really affect the quality of the sound. The drumming was
impressively fast, whilst the twin vocals from Henry and Tom
especially guttural and intense. Unable to catch any of the grunted
song titles, one can only assume they played some material from
their demo and perhaps a new one or two. There’s promise in this
bunch, but a solo or two wouldn’t go amiss.
Bludgeon took to the stage next,
and the last time I caught this band (two guys last time, three this
time, now with bassist Manny), they had the unfortunate task of
playing to just me for most of their set when they opened up for
Mortal Decay a couple of years ago. Now with a much larger crowd
cheering them on - it was actually the largest ovation of the night
- they managed to brutalise the venue with a Mortician-style
ferocity. Personally, the drum machine-driven, sample-laden set got
a little tedious for me, and whilst the same could not be said for
the crowd, who started the first pit of the night, as I began to
turn off. The vocals, which had sounded impressively sick in the
soundcheck, took a back seat to bog standard grunts during the
songs, and the energy of the band was not too great. The
indecipherable song titles once again meant that I couldn’t write
anything down (yes, I’m doing really well so far), nor would I be
able to identify anything if played again, apart from by the
samples. The addition of a Disgorge cover, whether the American or
Mexican one we’ll never know, went some way in varying the sound,
and there’s always the fact that the crowd loved it, so who am I to
talk?
It’s been about two months since I last saw
Dam, so I guess it was about time I saw them again.
With a much shorter set and smaller crowd than usual, the boys got
into the groove looking a little uncomfortable, but still stormed
through tracks such as ‘The Difference Engine’ and ‘This Has Nothing
To Do With Apathy’. I was enjoying the show a lot more than a couple
of months ago, and despite the weak drum sound, it was fairly
entertaining, benefiting even more from a decreased number of
mistakes throughout the set. I even had the unique riff of
‘Eyeballing’ in my head for days - it was that catchy! The thick
wall of blackened death metal with long blasting passages nullifying
your hearing wasn’t really in keeping with the brutality of the rest
of the bill, and the crowd reaction was only lukewarm. I think it’s
going to take another strong set of theirs to fully convince me, and
I’m sure that won’t be far off. An enjoyable set, if a little
confusing as to how they got on such a bill.
Nailed were much more in keeping
with tonight’s theme. They confessed that not even they knew how
they get onto bills as the main supports, but it actually made sense
tonight - whether it was the questionable quality of the previous
bands or the actual musical prowess of these lads I wasn’t sure, but
they were surely a breath of fresh air. For a start, solos were
instantly recognisable amid the death metal chaos that ensued, and
the windmilling that accompanied songs such as ‘Tranquilities
Abortion’. ‘Structures For The Despised’ brought a sludgier edge to
the sound, which varied things pleasantly. Far from pleasant however
was the dedication of closer ‘Penetrate To Humiliate’, which was as
controversial as it was hilarious - you just had to be there to know
what I mean. Now there’s an incentive for seeing them again. |
| Finally Man Must Die took to the stage at the ridiculously late hour
of eleven o’clock - anyone who expected an early finish was clearly
in the wrong place. Just to compound the problem, one song (that’s
right - one song) into the set, after ‘Silent Observer’, bassist
Danny McNab fell behind the stage head first. Yes, that’s right, one
(albeit enjoyable) song into the set and there was the possibility
of it being their closer too. With some minor panic on stage with
people rushing to help, and some shameless plugs for future gigs by
vocalist Joe McGlynn, things were able to continue, albeit in a
severely curtailed format. ‘March Of The Clones’ and ‘All Shall
Perish’ crushed the audience with their technical brilliance, with
the odd hint of metalcore energy (just listen to ‘Silent |
 |
Observer’ if you don’t agree),
especially with the barbarian-like frame of McGlynn looking like he was about to knock out several members of
the crowd. John Lee’s tight drumming was even more impressive than
on record, with a meaty combination of blasts and breakaway double
bass pounding. Despite these excellent features, it couldn’t have
been much more than half an hour when ‘A Lesson Once Learned’ and
‘Severe Facial Reconstruction’ were announced as the last songs of
the night. These two fan favourites were a good choice to end the
night, and indeed they were fantastic, apart from the fact that most
of the audience had left by this point to catch their last trains.
So even those who survived until the bitter end weren’t even
rewarded with a whole set of the best band of the night. This show
will be remembered, but for all the wrong reasons, and this reviewer
still doesn’t feel like he’s witnessed a real Man Must Die set to do
them justice. Luckily there are ample chances to do so (I’m
beginning to sound like the vocalist now with all these plugs), such
as at the Damnationfest and with Kataklysm and Aborted in October.
I’m sure when the shows aren’t cursed like this one tonight they can
put on an excellent show. |
| |
| |
| |
Gathering of the Bestial Legion III
The Knitting Factory, Hollywood, California August 19th, 2007
Review by Dave SchalekI arrived at the Knitting Factory in
Hollywood at 8pm with a game plan in mind for the Gathering of the
Bestial Legion III festival of death metal on a sweltering August
evening. |
| |
| Here’s the band lineup and
schedule: Alterknit Lounge
3:15 - 3:45 - Life in Exile
4:15 - 4:45 - Nuclear Desecration
5:15 - 5:45 - Arctic Winds
6:15 - 5:45 - Witchaven
7:15 - 7:45 - Satriarch
8:15 - 8:45 - Violator
9:00 - 9:45 - Manslaughter
Front Stage
4:30 - 5:00 - Infamy
5:30 - 6:00 - Nausea
6:30 - 7:00 - Fueled By Fire
7:30 - 8:00 - Willow Wisp
8:30 - 9:00 - Diabolic
9:35 -10:05 - Mortem
10:35 -11:05 - Noctuary
11:35 - Resurrection
Main Stage
3:00 - 3:30 - Damnation
4:00 - 4:30 - Grave Desecration
5:00 - 5:30 - Mind Furnace
6:00 - 6:30 - Unsanctified
7:00 -7:30 - Nuclear Winter
8:00 - 8:35 - Rise
9:00 - 9:35 - Acheron
10:00 - 10:40 - The Chasm
11:00 -11:40 - Malevolent Creation
12:00 – Possessed |
 |
| |
Of course,
taking note of the last two bands, you would suppose that the entire
goal of attendance at this show was to see Malevolent Creation and
Possessed. That certainly was my stated goal, but I arrived at the
Knitting Factory with the game plan’s intent to first see Diabolic.
I decided to skip Violator, a retro thrash band that’s been getting
a lot of notice lately, as they ended up conflicting with Diabolic
and were playing in the Alterknit lounge, which has a capacity of
literally about 10 people or so. Diabolic,
a horribly underrated Tampa death metal band with multiple albums
under their collective belts and the mighty Aantar Coates on drums
was scheduled to play in the front stage area, which has a capacity
of maybe 50 people or so with a bar off to the side. I managed to
squeeze right up to the small stage as Diabolic started up a bit
early and ripped through a good set featuring songs from, primarily,
“Supreme Evil” and “Vengeance Ascending”. The small crowd showed
their definite appreciation with a pit that was present throughout
the set. Excellent.
I sprinted for the main stage area to, once again, squeeze towards
the front for Acheron, who
started about 5 minutes or so after Diabolic ended. Acheron’s first
visit to Hollywood was enthusiastically greeted as Vincent Crowley,
with absolutely huge stage presence and a thunderous bass, and crew
blew through a solid set of old school, crunch oriented blackened
death metal. Besides Crowley’s obvious talents as a front man,
Acheron also features Kyle Severn on drums, whose skills were also
prominently displayed. Once again, an excellent set and the show was
just getting warmed up.
Quickly, I ran back to the front stage area in time to catch most of
Mortem’s absolutely killer set.
Mortem, a vicious death metal band with great vocals from Peru, just
raged with the front bar area packed with a huge pit. Absolutely
monstrous and their enthusiasm was more than apparent. Huge applause
was given to the band at their conclusion.
My sprinting continued to catch the beginning of
The Chasm at the main stage.
Frankly, although they were given a warm welcome from the California
crowd, this band failed to impress me as their sound was muted and
they lacked stage presence and power. Unfortunately, I was less than
enthused by The Chasm pretty quickly and I ended up wandering back
to the front stage area to catch a song or two from
Noctuary, who also failed to
impress. Becoming a bit bored, I finally went to the merchandise
tables to pick up Malevolent Creation and Possessed t-shirts, which
were finally going on sale. I bought my Possessed t-shirt from
Emilio Marquez himself.
As soon as The Chasm ended, I halted my beer intake, went to the
bathroom one last time, and camped out right up against the stage
for Malevolent Creation and Possessed. I wouldn’t move from my spot
for the rest of the show. I’ve been listening to
Malevolent Creation since “The
Ten Commandments”, but had never caught them live. They certainly
did not disappoint with a killer set covering the span of their ten
album discography. Some great highlights included “Multiple Stab
Wounds”, “The Will To Kill”, and “Coronation Of Our Domain”. The
finisher was “Malevolent Creation” and I would definitely want to
see Malevolent Creation hit L.A. again in the near future as
headliners. Great, enthusiastic stage presence, a powerful roar from
Brett Hoffman, and tight musicianship exemplified their performance
and the packed main stage area went nuts.
It’s now well after midnight and everyone is awaiting
Possessed. If you ask anyone
which bands are responsible for the inception of death metal as an
art form, Possessed is always mentioned as their entirely too short
career has been enormously influential. Now, the classic line-up of
Becerra, Torrao, Lalonde, and Sus was not to be found this evening.
Instead, local death metal legends (and also horribly underrated)
Sadistic Intent (Emilio Marquez is the drummer, as well as the
drummer for Asesino) played as Possessed with the
wheelchair-confined Jeff Becerra on vocals. Now, was this really
Possessed? Well, everyone, including me, sure thought so as Becerra
was given a huge, warm greeting from the crowd when he peeked around
the curtain before the show began. People rushed up to shake his
hand and get a picture taken, so much so that club personnel finally
had to remind Becerra that a show was still to be put on. Finally,
Possessed take the stage and the crowd goes absolutely apeshit. I
haven’t seen so many bouncers work furiously to keep people off the
stage as much as this set. In addition, the entire venue was moving
as I was nearly crushed up against the stage. If you happen to view
the crap video that I shot during the set, you’ll see that my phone
is waving around wildly as I’m flowing with the crowd.
Throughout the set, which included highlights such as “My Belief”,
“Burning In Hell”, and, of course, “Death Metal” amongst many
others, Jeff had an enormous grin on his face and actually seemed
somewhat emotionally overwhelmed by the crowd’s support and
enthusiasm. His vocal performance wasn’t exceptionally powerful, but
who cares? That wasn’t really the point of this show, anyway.
Finally, it’s all over about 2 AM.I didn’t have a photo pass for
this show, so I was only able to use my camera phone. If you’d like
to see crap pictures and even worse video shot from my phone, head
on over to
http://metalrunsinmyveins.blogspot.com |
|
