This gig was originally meant to be at Nambucca down the Holloway Road but as many are no doubt aware the venue was suddenly and unceremoniously shut down. It’s the same old curse of gentrification and greedy scumlords putting rent prices up and forcing people out of business. Our thoughts are naturally with those who ran the place and put on many great shows there; another tragic loss. The Boston Arms, pub, venue and The Dome round the corner has weathered many a storm and it’s at this Victorian North London watering hole we find ourselves at tonight for bands visiting from Belgium and Finland.

It’s just the two tonight, no local support and for once I can say I have never seen either before, which is somewhat of a rarity. It’s my fault entirely as far as the headliners are concerned, they have visited before but at the time I was late to the party, only discovering them on last album.

Fresh off a few Euro dates including some others in the UK first up are Slaughter Messiah with their brand of blackened thrash and as soon as they take the stage it’s obvious this lot are metal to the hilt, all cut offs, patches and panda eyes. With red lighting behind them and a horror fuelled intro they certainly look a picture and quickly explode into hellish action with the opening couple of cuts off their sole album to date ‘Cursed To The Pyre.’ Casting those of us in attendance straight into the fire they take us ‘From The Tomb Into The Void’ in style.

Sound is dense and gravid, and vocalist bassist Lord Sabathan sounds gravid but occasionally unleashes high falsetto screams. He postures around and seems in good mood, well-practiced on stage from past years fronting the mighty Enthroned, he takes in the audience, leering in our faces and jams it up with the guitarists, never standing still for a second. To be honest there should have been more witnessing this display of speed and savagery but the band acted like they were playing to a packed house throwing themselves into things, the singer taking a second to crack open a beer and salute us.

A death belch and a volley of neck-cracking riffs and sledgehammer battering follows and they dig up the dead with ‘Blasphemous Exhumation’ The lighting guy decides to change things up bathing them in pink and purple pastel shades. Somehow that works and by now it’s getting busier and heads are a banging. ‘Black Speed Terror’ is both the name of a song and the modus operandi.

Everything about this is pretty much pulverising and by the race to the finish line they are rewarded by pumping fists as they cleanse us with Bathory cover ‘Die In Fire’ complete with the singer from the headliners joining in. No burial needed here, annihilation and cremation have ultimately been delivered.

Naturally as soon as I got in the venue, I had eagerly gone to the merch stall hoping to pick up anything from the many demos and three albums and EP’s that Havukruunu have released. Sadly, as expected everything is out of print including the latest stuff. Should have guessed that by the prices they fetch on certain auction sites. No point crying, for the next hour we have the Finns in front of us along with the task of trying to work out what they are playing as everything is rendered in their native language.

It’s not too hard as the set list is on the stage allowing us to cheat a little and they too open with the first song from latest album ‘Uinuos syömein sota.’ With this album having been a ‘bolt from the blue’ and making my personal album of the year in 2020 I obviously wasn’t complaining in the slightest. The storming and fist pumping bravado is immediate. The quartet get an excellent sound, the only thing missing from the course of their set is backing choirs and the weird keyboard sounds that occasionally intersect their sound. These would have probably been sampled if included and without them we get a real live experience without need of gimmicks and trickery.

The blackened violence is possibly not one would expect from band members wearing Savatage and Judas Priest shirts but there is plenty of melody to be found here as well as sweeping vocal clamours from frontman Stefan. The folk-laden stomp and pagan cleave of Kunnes Varjot Saa is completely triumphant. I couldn’t help wondering if this lot have ever played with Amorphis, if not they certainly deserve to, as their fans would lap this up.

New EP number Kuu Erkylän Yllä pitches us headlong into battle and drives away with storm and strife. Older numbers such as ‘Myrskynkutsuja’ are full of steely grit and demand audience participation as they plough through us. The songs have the strength to put us far from the venue in our imagination just by closing eyes and being transported off. There’s a full-on Sami battle fervour steaming through Pohjolan Tytär and this is nothing short of glorious, rugged and ruthless. I had noted the band had recently been playing a cover of Children Of Bodom’s ‘Hate Me’, which would have been a neat touch but it was not to be tonight. The show had passed in a bit of a blur and culminated with the slightly proggy strains of Tähti-Yö Ja Hevoiset. It’s an upbeat finish leaving us with smiles on faces to stagger out into the night hoping that the band would be back in the not to distant future. Perhaps Naturmacht Productions might reward us all with some represses too as I’m sure Havukruunu would have sold plenty tonight.

(Pete Woods)