Following
the release of their latest, crowd-funded album, Obituary was back with a
vengeance last Thursday for an unmissable night for any old-school death metal
fan. I, for one, being the death metal aficionado that I am, could not have
been more excited to finally catch these death metal icons. Opening up the
festivities for the evening were no less than 3 bands, each of them offering a
different take on heavy music, making up for a nicely balanced line-up. Within
this lineup of opening bands (of which all of them were completely unknown to
me) were some duds as well as some pretty pleasant surprises.
Kicking off
the show was the Midlands based UK death metal band Rotting Repugnancy, whose
set I will quickly skim to talk about the following bands. While there wasn't
anything inherently wrong with the bands' brand of brutal death metal, I
honestly didn't find much appeal in watching their set. There were a couple of
groovy riffs here and there but for the most part I wasn't all that convinced.
One could easily tell these were competent musicians, which leads me to suspect
that the overall sound of their set was to blame. Being well aware that this is
death metal that we're talking about, I found the guitar sound to be a little
too muddy for its own good and lacking a bit of precision and crunch to give it
a "fuller" sound.
Next up was
a fresh new band from Germany, playing for the first time in Paris but visibly
with the intention of not making it their last. As soon as the sound checking
was done, Dust Bolt rushed to the stage and immediately made the jump to light
speed with their insanely energetic crossover and thrash-revival sound. Visibly
drawing inspiration from bands like D.R.I, Municipal Waste and Suicidal
Tendencies, these young-bloods blasted off with an insane amount of energy,
running across the stage, waving their instruments around like passionate
musicians living the dream. These musicians, fueled with such pure passion and
energy, visibly won over their audience that night and effectively managed to
give a good deal of them a strong appetite for some friendly violent fun in the
pit. If there is one lesson to be learned from this set, it would be that
Thrash is definitely not dead, and that so long as we have passionate musicians
and passionate fans, thrash will never die. Going all-in for their first
Parisian show, Dust Bolt left the stage with some well-deserved praise, having
effectively conquered some new territory through their musicianship
well-deserving of an upcoming headlining set.
Up next on
the bill was a band whose name visibly did not strike a chord for a good deal
of us but whose members obviously did. M-pire of Evil, formerly known as
Primevil, is an old-school speed metal act from Newcastle founded by ex-members
of the genre-defining band Venom, including its founding guitarist Mantas. For
anyone wondering where the magic of Venom went after their now-classic first
three albums, look no further: Mantas and his team kept the essence and spirit
from the early days of Venom and have been touring and writing music under this
grossly unrecognized new name and new formation. It somewhat saddens me to know
that such creative potential resurfaces only now, since such a band would have
probably gotten a lot more recognition and influence, had they formed during
the time when Venom and thrash metal was at its peak. Tony Dolan, having
replaced Cronos in Venom for nearly 15 years, still was at the top of his game,
as was Mantas. M-pire of Evils' set mostly consisted of classic Venom songs, with
occasionally a couple of new original songs blended into the setlist. With the
exception of a few sound issues that were quickly solved, this set was an
incredible treat and an amazing surprise for any heavy metal enthusiast.
Finally it
was time for Obituary to play the evening off. As silly as it may sound, I was
pleased to find that guitarist Trevor Peres was still rocking his Stratocaster
and that frontman John Tardys' passion for camo shorts had not died out after
all these years. The band started off their set with the song "Century of
Lies" and "Visions in my head" off of their latest album
"Inked in Blood", off of which they will be playing the most songs
alongside their classic debut album "Slowly we rot". Another great
surprise was the presence of lead guitarist Kenny Andrews handling the solos,
considering that the bands' previous show in Paris had been as a 4 piece. While
not crucial, the presence of a lead guitarist did make for a nice addition.
For the
next hour-and a half to 2 hours, the crowd went absolutely insane, turning the
venue into a full-on death metal warzone for the entirety of the set. John
Tardys' instantly recognizable howling screams certainly haven't aged a bit,
and neither did any of Obituarys' classic 2-beat thrash grooves and their
ever-so-crushing mid-tempo riff breaks.
In short, Thursday
evening was an incredibly enjoyable evening, with some great opening acts and a
top-quality performance from Obituary, who still live up to their reputation.
Relying on their simple yet effective formula for nearly 3 decades now, these
death metal veterans know all about consistency and doing what they do best.
Robin
PS: A
special thanks goes to the guys from Garmonbozia booking and Relapse records for
making this review possible!
Rotting
Repugnancy
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/RottingRepugnancy
Dust Bolt
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/dustbolt
M-pire of
Evil
Official
Website
http://www.mpireofevil.com/
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/mpireofevil
Obituary
Official
Website
http://www.obituary.cc/
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/ObituaryBand
Obituary setlist:
1.
Centuries of Lies
2. Visions
In My Head
3. Infected
4.
Intoxicated
5. Bloodsoaked
6. Immortal Visions
7. 'Til
Death
8. Don't
Care
9. Violence
10.
Stinkupuss
11. Back to
One
12. Dead
Silence
____________________
13. Back on
Top
14. Inked
In Blood
15. I'm in
Pain
16. Slowly
We Rot
No comments:
Post a Comment