Incin

 

This new and highly anticipated festival catering for the extreme black and death metal audiences had been creating a lot of interest almost as soon as it was announced and with each new band getting added, the bill just kept getting better and better. Finally the day had arrived and with 15 bands playing two stages, plenty of merchandise and even some meet and great sessions it was no surprise to find a big queue snaking down the street at 2pm as the doors awaited opening. It was going to be a really busy day trying to cram in as much as we could and see as many bands as possible. At the start it was a case of one band finishing on the main stage and a rush to get to the smaller one upstairs to see the next one. As the day drew on there were a few unfortunate casualties as it just wasn’t possible to see all of the groups although there was none that anyone with good taste in music particularly wanted to miss. I guess there was a bit of a division between those favouring the black metal greats such as Nargaroth and Taake and those wanting some more pulverising death metal such as Malignancy and Aeternus and choices did have to be made. With the best intentions in the world once some bands started nothing was going to shift us away from their set. A spanner had also unfortunately been thrown into the works by an airline who delivered Carach Angren hours after they were meant to be in the country meaning they played upstairs at the same time as Taake. I and many others missed them, hopefully they will be back to do a headline set sometime in the future as this was the day’s only real gutting moment, completely out the hands of the event organisers who excelled at running everything else like clockwork

First up were Premature Birth and I had completely forgotten that I had seen them before recently supporting Shining. Despite their name suggesting brutal death this London based band play black metal but believe you me the brutality is there in spades especially due to the bass heavy sound thickly rumbling through the venue. The heady scent of incense was also billowing off the stage adding to the dark atmosphere and the band immediately established themselves as dramatic and powerful. Singer Dev’s vocals bite and bark through the pounding intensity and pace wise they play like the clappers rattling everyone walking in from outside and commanding a solid phalanx of head bangers down the front. Last time I said that this lot were ones to watch and there was no doubting this statement seeing them again Keyboards are present but certainly not overstated and pompous, lurking in the background but adding a refined texture to the all-out brutality. There were times that I was reminded of Emperor but at their fiercest, none of that prog wankery going on here. I’m pretty sure they finished with brand new EP track A Ceremony Of Power which certainly strikes as being worth investigating further.

Time to dash upstairs for more Brit blackness in the form of Primitive Graven Image. Despite reviewing a few of their albums I had never managed to catch them live before and wanted to make up for this. The smaller room was rammed and we were packed in like sardines but this just added to the intensity and there was room at the front to snap a few pics of the band in their corpse-painted finery. Looking good and sounding good too, the mix was different to downstairs as rather than bass heavy this was all sharp and snappy and with vocals added you could also say particularly snarly too. Drummer Vordhr is particularly ferocious driving the pace along and firing out a cymbal smashing tumult on songs such as ‘Design’ from their earliest album ‘Traversing The Awesome Night’ Indeed it was darkness that surrounded us from the atmosphere and with the ricocheting percussion it sounded as though we were under attack from snipers as it volleyed off the walls. We celebrated the impending chaos with ‘Into The Godless Chambers’ with vocals giving a surprise as some high pitched trad metal warbling suddenly invaded amidst the otherwise frost bitten scorn. Apart from this operatic surprise you could almost imagine the likes of Carpathian Forest spitting this out and I certainly enjoyed seeing the band in action at last. Hopefully it won’t be the last time either.

Back down for Slegest who were bringing Løyndom to London! This Norse band are a project helmed by Ese who used to be in Vreid and their aforementioned debut album had scored highly on these pages. They calmed the pace down allowing ‘Wall Painted Black’ to exude dark and sinuous tones from the guitar playing. Atmospherically they brought some depressive textures into play which really got a leaden groove as they solidly riffed with the tenuous talons of their song craft really getting their claws into us. Luckily they told us the next number was the opening track off their debut album as otherwise I doubt I would have done a good job deciphering the fact it was ‘Ho som haustar aleine.’ There was a more heroic charge about and it got heads at the front bouncing away to the furrowing licks forged out. Slegest were a bit of a treat as not normally the sort of band one would expect to see over here other than the fact they were on tour with Taake and it was great to get this somewhat rare opportunity to see them. There was a bit of a post punk vibe to some of the guitar work, one part reminded me a fair bit of Pandemonium from Killing Joke and I swear I caught a bit of Adam And The Ants there too, not what one would expect from a Norwegian band of this ilk. The guttural vocal bark naturally took it all down other paths and the chugging, stomping beat led to a solid and commanding show which was highly enjoyable.

Many are still regurgitating lunch but no time for that we have Regurgitate Life to contend with! I again found myself a bit surprised to find this “band” was just one person. Still whilst black metal bands do it alone at home it was not the first time I have encountered a one man death project live on stage. With the fluid axe tumult and a battering drum machine at play it was certainly convincing enough and there was quite a lot of precise technicality going on here too. The audience seemed to be enjoying things despite the lack of a full band and it was amusing when he cued a song up by mobile phone and the wrong one started to play “I think our drummers pissed” came the quick retort brushing that aside. We knew Sammy Urwin the guy behind this had a sense of humour anyway, it was evident from the trippy shirt he was wearing! At the bar at the back we did get a bit of a dirty protest as someone had definitely regurgitated something in their pants. Cheers for that, it did add a bit to the atmosphere I guess. Back frontwards as quickly as possible we were given a thorough going over and it was obvious that the drum machine could play fast and the wolverine barks from the vocals were backing them up formidably. A number called ’20 Years’ slowed it down a bit and there was some Death (the band) etched fretwork going on amidst it all too. This probably was not something I would have chosen to watch and listen to but no denying I can think of far worst ways to spend half an hour. (PW)

Eastern Front came on stage dressed up for war and harsh winters. After enticing us with a bleak Eastern European atmosphere to begin, a portly man in a long coat hissed at us while the drummer impressively fired the bullets. A low rumble came from the bassist. He of the long coat growled and stared at people while the furious intensity continued without gimmicks, corpse pain apart. The tortured-looking man screamed and roared. I heard a tiny melody but black metal bludgeoning was the order of the day. The drummer was having a ball. These warriors on stage must have been very hot with all that clobber. The music itself was cold and murderous to the point of inciting the darkest of dark thoughts. The moshing began in earnest. Blizzards of punishing black metal enveloped us all. Eastern Front strangled us with their grim and frosty fare. The growly man introduced “Blood on Snow” as the “final epitaph”. The familiar pattern of turbulence started up. Eastern Front are not the future of black metal. They’re not the future of anything, really. But I suppose that’s the point of this belligerent nihilism. I enjoyed it. (AD) 

It really is a great mix of visitors and homegrown talent here today and next is the turn of London based De Profundis.  The band have been hard at work on new material and some of it is being unveiled here live for the first time. The band all line up in matching black shirts and get ready to unleash their brand of technical black and death metal and after the intro forge into Twisted Landscapes, which for anyone not having heard them before is a very good description of what they sound like. This lot are a giddy experience who musically never stand still for a second. The complex arrangements work as a hugely co-ordinated assault and there is no denying that this band can really play. Amidst them lost in a mass of hair come the growls of formidable front man Craig Land and I think a few jaws may have hit floors during the first couple of numbers as far as those witnessing the band for the first time are concerned. Frankly mine joined them when they aired new track ‘A Strange Awakening.’ The complexity seethed into a thudding morass of powerful drumming and dexterous rhythmic thrusting, which has obviously been practiced thoroughly to sound so fluid. It’s fast enough for a ruck down the front but most are simply trying to get to grips with it all. This is no music for a casual observer but a master-class of musicology and will like the last song title take some listens before rewarding fully with ‘Illumination.’ With a new EP about to drop and Bloodstock confirmed De Profundis are really going from strength to strength.

Also part of the Taake tour are Spaniards Noctem who despite being around for a while and racking up several albums are completely new to me. Well they won’t be forgotten in a hurry that’s for sure. What a demented bunch of nut jobs this lot are and the stage display is nothing short of mental as lead singer Beleth charges about with white contact lenses making him look all the more of a lunatic. As for the music there are two words needed to sum it up “fucking savage” Their brand of blackened thrash goes like the clappers as the band pose around sticking tongues out and gurning like crazy. Lining up on stage they battered away and cleaved hell for leather. The pit obviously was not quite up to standard for the singer who launched himself in to ruffle things up a little before jumping back on stage to continue haranguing us. Slowing down momentarily they built up a cataclysmic gravity and somewhere along the line the vocalist managed to douse himself in blood making the gory spectacle even more intense as he roared away. Short sharp and vicious the set seemed to fly by Job done! (PW)

Now watching Unfathomable Ruination get ready was entertainment in itself. There wasn’t much space for the five of them in the intimate atmosphere upstairs at The Garage. The bassist showed off his technical flair while the singer looked like he was inspecting a building site before taking off his top and revealing himself to be a hardcore kind of geezer. I felt the welcome breeze of flowing hair around me as Unfathomable Ruination launched into some brutal action-packed technical death metal. Put simply, it was joyful chaos. The small room was perfect for capturing and containing the energy. The crowd responded to this technical riot which fused styles. Brutal with deathly triggers, constantly mobile and transforming, unimaginably there was a grindingly progressive edge to this. “Toe-tapping” was how the geezer described ”Suspended in Entropic Dissipation”. The spectators were united in pounding the upstairs floor. A reduction in pace was the cue for unbridled fury and more potent punches. The crowd responded again. Meanwhile a technical extravaganza was coming from the drummer and the bassist. A new track was announced. All I heard was “Chaos”. The aggression remained joyous. The excitement was manic. The geezer introduced a fresh-faced mate to reinforce the vocals on “Futile Colossus Decapitated”. The juggernaut restarted. All credit to Unfathomable Ruination for their technical skill, infectious and boundless energy, great personality and fantastic audience interaction.

I made a quick dash through the moshpit downstairs to catch the start of Nargaroth. Now this thick-set gentleman from Germany seems to be a bit of a cult figure and was well supported here tonight. As Eastern Front earlier had finished off with an air raid siren, so Nargaroth started with one. This band’s black metal is of an old school type and clearly inspired by Norwegians. It’s pungent and majestic in its dirty way. Preaching hate, Mr Nargaroth looked Mr Black Metal. This is where I had a slight problem. I became transfixed by Mr Nargaroth’s ridiculous gestures and posturing – a grimace here, a bowed head there, slow head movement, outstretched arms, clawed hands facing upwards. Christ (or should it be anti-Christ), we had the complete collection here. There was even had an old book to gaze at. This was a theatrical visual performance. For me, singing or croaking about Black Metal seems to miss the point, but “Black Metal ist Krieg” is what the faithful expected, and got. But as the hour-long set went on, I found it hard not to be swept away by the deep and dingy guitar lines. I stopped looking at Mr Nargaroth and his exaggerated gestures, and imbibed the sheer power and hypnotic quality coming from his band mates. Ringing funereal rhythms, oblique lines of nastiness and authoritative drumming succeeded in cutting away my initial scepticism. This is old school black metal of a gripping and shadowy kind. That strange bounciness that goes with this genre rang out and grabbed us in its majestic way, becoming anthemic and irresistible. Leaving aside the gestures, Mr Nargaroth and his corpse-painted gang put on a powerful musical performance. (AD)

I have seen Amputated many a time and admit to hating them in the past but put that all down to the gobby attitude of old singer Morbid Mark. Thankfully this changed on New Year’s Eve catching them with new singer Mark Gleed and at last I could enjoy the music without wanting to throttle the front man. New album Dissect. Molest, Ingest certainly hasn’t dragged them out of the sewer and you need a gory sense of sick humour and a diet of vintage video nasties to really appreciate their grinding death assault. The intro set us up neatly for butchery and the band explode into things with the delightful ‘Gorging On Putrid Discharge. The crowd reacted rather rowdily and it was close to all kicking off to ditties such as ‘Cunt Like A Sewer.’ Thankfully Mr poo pants from earlier was not around to give any of the songs a scratch and sniff flavor allowing us to get into the grooves and piggish grunts and squeals coming out the speakers. I watched the carnage from a safe distance with a much needed suicider as ‘Infanticidal Dysmorphia’ kicked things off and then almost choked at the announcement of new number ‘When Whores Met Saws’ thinking it was a title that Gorerotted definitely missed back in the day. Naturally despite the titles everything was tackled in the best possible taste even if this was not the most serious of sets witnessed during the day!

I decided to stay downstairs now and despite attempts to witness Aeternus by my reviewing comrade the room was too packed to even get into so afraid they and Malignancy got missed. It was down to the ever formidable Anaal Nathrakh to cause chaos next and we waited patiently for them to come on entertained by the “how the fuck do we get a backdrop to stay up” antics on the stage. Dave Cunt was seen looming around glugging from a 2 litre bottle of cider like his life depended on it. I heard he was suffering from laryngitis which may have partly explained need for lubrication but when they finally came on there was no arguing that it had not worked. It did take a little while to get fully acclimatized to the sound of what I think at first was Constellation Of The Black Widow. Cymbals were shattering things like china and the mix was thick, ugly and suitably bruising but quickly gelled together as the scummy pond life from Birmingham’s filthiest underground players rattled away. One thing that was instantly notable was that no Mick Kenney was here and a totally exasperated Dave was left to tell us that due to visa problems his visit had (again) been cut with about 5 minutes notice. Still the show must go on we were told and indeed it did courtesy of ‘Forging Towards The Sunset.’ It was too much for some and the first crowd surfers came over the barrier perhaps in a futile attempt to get on stage and dive but security were having none of that, wrong venue completely. That hardly stopped things going mental in the pit though as ‘The Lucifer Effect’ combusted into gnarly violence. There is nothing subtle about this in the slightest and it hits like a sledgehammer to the head. Thankfully there is just about enough room unlike shows in smaller venues to stand ones ground but it is equally battering sound wise all the way back to the bar. They mixed it up and played angrily and tightly here firing out a good few classics such as ‘Submission Is For The Week’ and ‘Drug Fucking Abomination’ for good measure. At times it came across as shambolic, chaotic and crusty as fuck and chaos reigned here as people stumbled about. Dave reminded us about last time he played this venue with Mistress and that it was the night that Johnny Morrow passed away. Apparently there were only 15 or so people there which isn’t exactly correct. It’s a night I remember well and for anyone wondering the other bands were Labrat, Murder One and Criminal on the 21/6/2002, I just found my review of it!  That aside Of Fire And Fucking Pigs seemed like a great number to have us combusting, this is Incineration Fest after all!

Personally I had pretty much been blown away by my first live encounter with Nargaroth and was wondering if Taake were going to be able to measure up to it. Oh thee of little faith, when have they ever let us down on their frequent visits to the UK? Not tonight that’s for sure and Hoest was as ever on fine form looking absolutely great in decrepit Tomb Of The Blind Dead monk robe and face paint that reminded strongly of Death in Argento’s Inferno. That Papa Ghosty chap would no doubt have shat himself in a duel off between the two! That aside there was instantly a storm of Norse fury fired out with huge guttural roars and driving pace from songs such as the heathen clamour of ‘Nattesid Ser Porten Vid 1’ which had heads banging away and fists pumping. Naturally there were many death grunts both on and off the stage and we were whipped into a maelstrom tinged with some of those great harmonic burgeoning riffs and chants that the band excel at. Bouncing drums and springing sounds brooded over numbers such as ‘Over Bjoergvin Graater Himmerik Part V’ (I believe) and it had people pogoing up and down. There was as ever nothing in the way of banter and those looking for something infamous to happen, tough luck. It was all about the music and the band packed as much as possible into their time slot mixing manic and frenzied parts with melodic intricacy which was completely captivating. With the singer standing like a malevolent statue in front of the microphone the band forged out riffs leading into an explosive Hordaland Doedskvad Part III the chant of which left my ears ringing for the next day or so after the show, which was a knackering day but one that left plenty of memories in its wake

So as far as Incineration Festival is concerned it was a blazing success all round. Hopefully it will be a date that we can look forward to as a yearly event especially when so many other day festivals that used to be on have fallen by the wayside. Many thanks to the promoters, bands, crew and everyone behind the scenes making it such a great day! (PW)

(Review Andrew Doherty & Pete Woods) (Photos © Pete Woods)