Kampfar, Vreid, Iskald London,
The Underworld 16/02/2009 Review + Photo by James Young
London was bracing itself for a Norwegian threesome tonight, with
Kampfar making their debut performance in the UK, and a highly
anticipated one at that. Opening up tonight’s blackened assault were
the little known Iskald, whose
brand of melodic black metal definitely turned some heads. A
translation of the name is ‘ice cold’, which pretty much summed up
the gritty, almost thrashy style which rang through the venue. It
was hard to give these guys a proper hearing, with the fairly dire
sound which we had to endure, but by the time ‘Warriors Of The
Northern Twilight’ was played, things were slightly more coherent,
and much more pleasant. Simon Larsen employed a belting roar, which
turned almost death metal-like in the track ‘Eden’, and the band
seemed in their element, and very happy to play in front of an
ever-growing Underworld crowd.
Fully expecting to see Kampfar next, it turned out that the headline
slots had been alternating throughout the tour, and tonight it would
be Vreid’s turn to take to the
stage as second on. This seemed slightly strange considering the
abundance of their t-shirts in the crowd, marking a distinct
increase in support since the last time they played to an
under-attended Purple Turtle. It was good to see the band finally
get the reaction they deserve, as they ploughed through an hour of
top-draw Viking ‘n’ roll. Coming out to the tones of ‘Alarm’, the
sound was very much focussed in favour of Jarle "Hváll" Kvåle’s
bass, which gave the band a heavy rock vibe, even though the
resounding tremolo picking of Sture Dingsøyr was not far behind.
‘Speak Goddamit’ and ‘Disciplined’ showed that this band meant
business, and that is was time they were recognised as more than
just an opening quality band. Sture Dingsøyr has never been the most
exciting frontman to watch from a spectator’s point of view, but his
snarled growls and guitar work, which was popularised in Windir, are
certainly a great listen. Older, more abrasive affairs such as
‘Raped By Light’ stood in contrast with the newer, more calculatedly
heavy numbers such as the title track ‘Milorg’ from their new album.
With a crowd eating out of their hands by ‘Pitch Black’, which
brought the set to an end in up-tempo fashion, Vreid had done a
superb job tonight of proving to people that they are more than just
a bunch of ex-Windir members, but a fantastic band in their own
right. |
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Kampfar have been criminally
underrated in the history of black metal; they were one of the first
bands to implement folk and pagan influences into the genre, and it
was about time their longboat sailed to the shores of this country
to play some of their wonderful fare. It was always going to be
interesting to see how their Viking-esque hypnotic riffs and long
song lengths would work in a live environment, but the answer was
awesomely. Entering the stage to the instrumental ‘Valtro’, the band
savaged the venue from the off with some intense atmospheric black
metal commencing with ‘Inferno’. Guitarist Waltr Verschoor and
bassist John Baker had more of an understated stage presence,
hammering their axes rhythmically, but rather unsurprisingly it was
frontman Dolk who stole the spotlight. Topless and banging his
blonde hair every which way, I suppose the front row of screaming
girlies wasn’t a coincidence, but from a bloke’s perspective, you
have to give credit to his charisma, and his voice is nigh on
perfect for Kampfar’s material, which sounded very good indeed
tonight. Played early on in the set was the majestic Ravenheart,
which I had thought would have found its way into the encore,
considering its catchy melody and English lyrics. What it |
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did instead was ignite the already excitable crowd, and prepare them
for some more great tunes in the form of ‘Hymne’, ‘Dodens Vee’ and
‘Troll, Dod Og Trolldom’. The setlist ended with the magnificent
‘Norse’, in honour of all things Norwegian, but the night’s
festivities hadn’t finished, as drummer 1113 came out and praised
the London audience, and as a reward we were played ‘Bukkeferd’,
from the band’s first album, which reeked of old-school excellence,
and polished off what was left of our hearing and energy.
After such a blinding performance, Kampfar’s fanbase in Europe is
going to be as permanent as the tattoo on Dolk’s stomach, and
hopefully the headliners will be back (hopefully wearing more
clothes next time) to annihilate London in the future. |
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The Black Dahlia Murder, Cephalic
Carnage, Psycroptic, Sylosis London, Islington Academy
13/02/2009 Review + Photos by James Young
Friday 13th - unlucky for some, but not for London, where a motley
crew of English, Australians and Americans were unleashed on the
stage to do what they do best, that is, lay waste to a venue near
you. First on were Englishmen Sylosis,
who seem to be doing alright for themselves having been signed to
Nuclear Blast with only one album under their belts. Having never
heard their material before, it soon became clear why there they’re
rising so fast, with their headbangable mix of melodic death metal
and metalcore. Lightening fast leads from guitarists Josh and Bailey
made for a frantic yet melodic set, and there was a great deal of
energy on display, with an excellent sound to boot. Some choruses
were immensely catchy, such as the memorable ‘Reflections Through
Fire’, which got the crowd nicely warmed up, and things became even
more crazy when The Black Dahlia Murder vocalist Trevor Strnad made
a guest appearance, which opened a huge hole in the crowd which saw
bodies flying everywhere. This genre isn’t as trendy as it once was,
but bands like this still make it extremely enjoyable.
Psycroptic were one of my main
motivations for attending today, especially as they haven’t graced
the UK for a couple of years, and there’s nothing better than some
technical death metal to get your teeth into. The new album
Ob(servant) was rather hit and miss, and it was slightly
disappointing to find out that most of their set was taken from this
release. New songs such as ‘A Calculated Effort’ and ‘Immortal Army
of One’ which were showcased tonight never really lived up to the
unrivalled technicality of former years. Nevertheless, that didn’t
mean fun wasn’t had, as these tracks still delivered a rather hefty
slab of solid death metal goodness. The triggered double bass drums
of David Haley were pummelling, and the guitars providing the sharp
hooks you expect from the Tasmanian devils. Jason Peppiatt cut an
energetic figure also, spinning his single plait of hair to the
monster sounds which boomed forth. Whether or not the fans fully
engaged with Psycroptic seemed a bit uncertain – there was no real
movement and people seemed to have turned off, which is a shame
considering the quality musicianship on display tonight. Finishing
in fine form with the eight minute ‘Initiate’, the setlist may have
been disappointing, but the show itself was as impressive as ever. |
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Hydrogrinders Cephalic Carnage
seem to love coming to the UK, and that’s always a good thing
because their fans can’t get enough of them. It’s simply never
tiresome watching their unique mixture of all things grind, although
it’s often exhausting at the same time. The energy these guys expend
throwing their guitars around, rolling around on the floor, and
generally creating as much bedlam as it humanly possible made me
extremely glad there was a barrier in between the stage and the
audience. That didn’t mean our ears were safe though, as gems such
as ‘Lucid Interval’ and ‘Hybrid’ unleashed their visceral attack,
not only disregarding the musical rule book but rolling its pages
and smoking them. The guitars of Zac Joe and Steve Goldberg were
devastatingly scatty and powerful, but the star of the show was Nick
Schendzielos, who literally shredded his bass, giving a
‘microwavable popcorn’ sound, bubbling and busting all over the
place. The (marginally) easier on the ear track ‘Dying Will Be The
Death Of Me’ worked very well live, showing that the guys could even
pull of clean vocals. The set closed in hilariously bizarre fashion
with ‘Black Metal Sabbath’, which in this case was a doomy black
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tribute to touring friends Akercocke which saw the band don absurd
masks (er, guys, Akercocke don’t actually wear corpsepaint…) and do
a lot of gyrating. As far as technical grind goes, you can’t do much
better than this band, and this set was absolutely out-stoner-ding. |
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The Black Dahlia Murder are one
of few melodic death metalcore bands who have some staying power;
whereas many bands split up when they run out of ideas or change
their style completely, this bunch just grow stronger with age. They
looked completely different to the band I remembered - various
members have come and gone, the most recent addition to the bands
line-up being guitarist Ryan Knight, who has only been with the band
a couple of months. This didn’t seem to slow things down at all
though, with the band blasting through an hour set at maximum speed,
despite a pretty awful sound at first. The fans absolutely lapped up
every second, killing each other to such aptly named songs as ‘I
Worship Only What You Bleed’. Trevor Strnad is one of the most
energetic frontman in the industry, never standing still once, and
has a tremendous bark when spitting out the vocals to ‘Deathmask
Divine’, ‘What A Wonderful Night To Have A Curse’ and ‘Elder
Misanthropy’. The band have been through a few drummers in the past,
but Shannon Lucas does the job splendidly, hammering his way through
some ridiculously fast |
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double kick drumming and blastbeats. With an energy that could rival
At The Gates, it seems like the melodic death metal crown is in good
hands, and there is no sign of The Black Dahlia Murder letting up
any time soon. A great diverse night of metal. |
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Meshuggah + Cynic + The Faceless
Venue: House of Blues, Sunset Strip, West Hollywood, California
Date: February 3, 2009 By: Dave Schalek
North American metal fans have been salivating over the prospects of
this tour featuring Meshuggah, the newly restored Cynic, and The
Faceless, incredible technical musicians all, but I wasn’t
necessarily one of them. Although I certainly appreciate all of
these bands, none of them reside in my favorite genres of choice.
Frankly, I wasn’t really planning on hitting this tour, considering
the concerts and festivals that are going to be hitting Los Angeles
this spring (not to mention the fact that Steph will only let me get
away with so much). However, after a truly horrible week (from my
“other life”), and after finding out that all of my metal buddies
were going to be there, I decided at the last minute to head out to
the HOB Sunset Strip in West Hollywood to catch the show. Making
matters easier was the fact that I had just won a couple of hundred
dollars in a Super Bowl betting pool, and it was burning a hole in
my pocket. |
At any rate, I’ve seen The Faceless
a couple of times previously and I was never all that impressed.
However, “Planetary Duality”, the band’s second full-length and
coming after some tour experience, is a good album, so I was hoping
that would go a long way towards improving The Faceless’ stage
craft. Luckily, my predictions were correct as The Faceless were
very tight throughout their energetic set. The beyond sold out HOB
crowd was very appreciative of The Faceless’ performance, going so
far as audience members sort of inventing a new form of pit slamming
featuring a crab walk of sorts. The Faceless were excellent
throughout their short set.
Let’s be honest, Cynic can
really no longer be considered a metal band; they’re a progressive
rock band with a few heavy moments. “Traced In Air” has been
well-received, but the band that kicked started a sub-genre of death
metal in the late 80s/ early 90s is long gone. Nevertheless, Cynic
were afforded the respect that they deserve as virtuosos by the HOB
crowd throughout their set. Although technically precise, I found
Cynic’s performance to be a |
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bit too long, and low key, although the closer, “Integral Birth”,
was up tempo.
The jam packed crowd at the HOB was there to see
Meshuggah, who just dominated
the stage with a crushing performance. To be honest, my level of
familiarity with Meshuggah is close to non-existent, but I can
attest to an overpowering performance from the band, particularly
that of vocalist Jens Kidman. At any rate, the crowd certainly got
their money’s worth as Meshuggah just roared. Maybe it’s time for me
to go through Meshuggah’s back catalogue…
Overall, a good show, with a little something for everyone.
Check out all of the nonsense at
http://metalrunsinmyveins.blogspot.com |
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