I’ve attended plenty of gigs at the iconic Brudenell Social Club over the years but this three band package, as far as I can tell, is the first time I’ve seen a death metal show there. I’ve seen hardcore, black metal, post rock, etc but it appears the death metal genre hasn’t visited the venue from my experience and there are potential reasons why because the stage is unprotected in the main room, no barrier as people can stand right in the front of the band making for an intimate interaction.

However people were rather shy tonight, preferring to stand away and give the opening act Disillusion from Germany some space to unveil their melodic and progressive death metal. The band was completely unfamiliar to me, but they left me with a certainty to check them out properly with their excellent songs which kicked off with ‘Am Afgrund’, a monstrous double digit track with copious elements as initially the sound was a tad lightweight but soon picked up as the opener gelled and the band members relaxed a little. It was clear the audience new their material as I watched them sing the lyrics and become fully absorbed by their music which blended melodic death metal with deft progressivity and a hint of technical adroitness as they followed it with ‘Alone I Stand In Fires’ from what looked like complete reverence of their ‘Back To Times Of Splendor’ album when any song was played from it.

I did wince at some of the cleaner vocal elements as they came across as too croon like, but generally they added plenty of texture and alongside the spoken pieces the band was a myriad of styling personas proved by ‘The Great Unknown’ and the exceptional ‘Alea’ which was released as a single in 2016 and I absolutely adored. Chat was minimal but it was clear the band was in awe at the reception they received as they flowed into ‘…And The Mirror Cracked’, another epic creation packed with groove and aggressive riffing. With the last track, ‘Tormento’’ upon us the band returned to progressivity, with some backing track atmospherics minimally applied as the tune was a wealth of charismatic riffing and vocalisations making Disillusion a fine opening act for the evening.

I have been waiting to see Persefone for a number of years now and they didn’t disappoint with their Andorran algebraic assault embellished with dazzling instrumentation as I think they started with ‘The Great Reality’. Their singer was a blur of activity and if anything, a little too full on at times, wanting the obligatory ‘hey’ chant at every opportunity even when the songs had switched to more tranquil phrasing. The guitar work was sublime, flowing from one hook or riff to another with seamless cohesion as a brief chat ensued prior to ‘Prison Skin’ thanking us for coming out and that it was their first tour in four years.

With a total tech-fest on offer the song was bewilderingly effective, the ambient sequencing balanced by fret gymnastics and some hefty dense metal as it was here I thought the vocalist needed to tone things down a tad but is a minor point. ‘Merkabah’ followed and with the semi-acoustic strains filtering in the song was loaded with dynamism, tempo fluctuations marrying up with the progressiveness that created a slight post-rock feel. ‘Living Waves’ was next as some electronic sampling was heard before the song twisted into normal Persefone styling with tons of guitar tweaks and twirls dancing and flooding over the appreciative audience who again seemed to know every single tune they played.

Chat was minimal for these guys too as ‘Katabasis’ was aired from the bands phenomenal ‘Metanoia’ album released earlier this year. There were some blasting forays here, spiralling the song to a ferocious onslaught as they closed with ‘Mind As Universe’ from the bands ‘Spiritual Migration’ album retaining the previous heaviness and developing a small pit which was utterly pointless and looked stupid if I’m honest, but didn’t dull the enthusiasm everyone had for Persefone’s excellent performance.

With the bar seemingly been increased with each band so far Germany’s Obscura had plenty to do to eclipse the performances of Disillusion and Persefone, but they did but in a different more cataclysmic way as the band strode on stage with no intro or fanfare and proceeded to demolish the Brudenell with opener ‘Forsaken’ the opening track from their latest opus ‘A Valediction’. I wasn’t sure the ego platforms were required for the guys to stand on and pose, but at least you could more easily see the band even if they looked like their heads would touch the roof.

Obscura were a whirl of sonic calculus, their unmitigated bombardment teemed with deluging riffs and obliterating speed as I was thoroughly impressed with the sound the band had. ‘Solaris’ followed the opener as their tornadic guitar riffing continued unabated as some smoke was ejected upwards at the front before Steffen Kummerer had a very brief chat asking how we are or words to that effect before catapulting into ‘Ocean Gateways’.

There was a Morbid Angel vibe going on here, with the song offering some slime infested sludgy slowness that the crowd absolutely loved as the synchro headbanging was short but captivating enough. The band seemed to alternate the speed of the set with slow tunes and all out hypervelocity as the crowd were shouting song titles continually at the band. ‘A Valdeiction’ linked with ‘Devoured Usurper’ as the former had deluges of technicality and contrasted with the slower latter track with its pervasive density and crushing sound.

The songs kept coming with ‘The Anticosmic Overload’ and ‘Orbital Elements II’ blazing into us with their unparalleled wizardry as we were asked if we wanted another song and the band blasted into ‘Akróasis’ with its saturating density and inherent blur-fest before concluding with ‘When Stars Collide’. Here we got more warp speed drum work and was definitely not a ballad as the singer suggested it was going to be. I did expect an encore but the crowd seemed satisfied with the songs they aired and promptly dissolved to the merch desk to pick up whatever they could.

A fine evening of technical and progressive death metal, all the bands were stunning and completely different to each other making this a great gig all round. I hope the Brudenell puts on more death metal shows as it was clear by the attendance that the market is there for it.

Review: Martin Harris
Photos: Andy Pountney