First major gig for me in 2023, unless you count seeing British Lion with Steve Harris in Huddersfield as major as well, depending on your point of view. My shooter and I decided to get the train over so we could sink a few whilst there was the right decision even if the single train ticket between Leeds and Manchester was extortionate at over £24. Still, it did give us a very easy trip over and time to nip into the City Road boozer for a quick pint before heading off to catch the first of the bands playing today.

With tight 15 minutes changeovers between bands I wondered who would be the first act to not start on time and/or overrun and I didn’t have long to wait to find out. Hitting the stage in the frigid venue was Birmingham death metallers Infested Angel who I’d seen previously in Leeds in September 2021 who impressed me there and impressed me further with their guttural dismal deathly onslaught. I did think the sound was doing them no favours at first but once you attuned to their rancorous filth it was nigh on perfect.

Their inhuman battery had that minimalist aura that crafted a nihilistic assault on all their songs but in particular ‘Eden’, ‘Torture Condemnation’ and their closer ‘Harmony Of Drought’, ensuring the day got off to a great start. I did intend to buy their stuff later that afternoon but it slipped my mind, though I did rectify that when I got home through their Bandcamp site.

With more liquid refreshment required and since my shooter and I had got a decent spot near the front of the stage on the left we set up camp there to await local Mancunian act Argesk who offered a change to melodic black metal but also the first culprit to start and finish late. With Leth Fourr doing some sort of monologue briefly behind his keyboard the band launched into their opener.

One thing that I couldn’t quite get was why two band members had corpse paint on and the two didn’t, was this some sort of subliminal light and dark messaging going on or did they run out of the stuff prior to the show?

Still they put on a fine display their melodic blackness intertwined with a quite loud keyboard mix wherever you stood and sometimes to the detriment of the other instrumentation but the increasing number cheered to every song aired, the pick of which were ‘Lord Of The Boundless Void’ with its atmospheric blanket as there were plenty of similarities to Cradle of Filth in the 1990s and to a lesser degree Old Corpse Road but quite why the keyboardist decided to sport a keytar was baffling and just added to the confusing imagery as they closed with ‘Drowned In Freezing Waters’ sending their set way over time with consequential impacts not just for other bands but fans, myself included, later that day.

Lancashire bruisers Bloodmores didn’t hurry to set their gear up to make time up, and why should they, as the band did seem to take an age to get things right but the results were decent in the end as they kicked off with ‘Virulence’.

Their blend of death and thrash was molded extremely well and whilst the songs lacked a little impact to me, they didn’t to the gathered throng in the middle scurrying around in the pit like demented Morris dancers as songs like ‘Too Close To The Sun’ and Crypt Of The Blasphemous’ ensured high momentum and their obvious aficionados had a fine time with their groove infested deathrash that was played fine but lacked the memorable factor, though I will certainly go watch them again if they venture nearby.

I was pretty excited for Sheffield’s Ba’al, a band that I’ve seen four time previously to this show and each time they have impressed me with their hostile yet melodic post-black malevolence, and this gig was no different, playing just three tracks during their 30 minute set.

Clearly people were not familiar with the band but by the end of it I am certain they had gathered a fair few new fans and deservedly so. Their bleak enshrouding iciness was excellent, blending the clam atmospheric phases with ferocious outbursts amidst their sludge filled bottom end that filled all the songs.

‘An Orchestra Of Flies’ offered a doom black annihilation, and even though the bassist was having a few issues the band carried on regardless linking every track cohesively and seamlessly as the structuring and dynamics were flawless, though the pit was not necessary for this kind of music to me.

With the lateness of bands starting now approaching 20 minutes plus that impact really was starting to annoy me, even though I could do nothing about it as another local bunch were due next, but not before the usual refreshment break. The Machinist delivered a volatile and fierce set tinged with an industrial blackness amongst the deathly riffing that came across as sounding a little like The Berzerker, complete with programmed drums.

The band was bathed in green light, whether deliberate or not, it did work to produce a toxic terror as the demented pit Morris dancers now looked like they were on PCP even if there were only about three of them. Twin vocals were deployed throughout and added a certain degree of contrast to their songs with deep tones alternating with much the harsher screeched variety and created much more energy on stage than maybe the previous acts had, except Ba’al.

The smallest wall of death was attempted whilst the band continued their deathly industrial vibe as my shooter decided to walk straight through them for the bar with people laughing as said pit people either tried to bounce off him or took one look and pivoted away, with some punters laughing at the spectacle. Did The Machinist do a good job, yes they did, and they certainly incited and excited the crowd with their songs even if I did think I’d heard a fair bit of it before.

I have attempted to see West Yorkshire black metallers Völniir two times before this, the first was at Rebellion at the Reaper Festival with a friend who promptly face-planted the floor as he passed out, and had drunk only half a bloody lemonade, the second it clashed with something I was already going to instead, so I was hoping for third time lucky.

The band did not disappoint, their stripped back blazing blackened wrath was just what I needed as the corpse painted four piece unleashed a scathing caustic assault that rarely let up for their entire set.

Once again the small contingent that seemed to think a pit is essential at every gig was met with a flat response as clearly most watching the band just wanted to watch them inflict their grievous obsidian malice delivered with considerable aplomb on songs like ‘The Adamantine Gates’, ‘Wolves Among The Dead’ and closing tune ‘As Night Falls, Let Her Reign Begin’ all of which ensured the band was the most vicious of the day generally, with plenty of heads nodding in approval at their set and songs.

This was the fourth time I’ve seen Andracca and if truth be told they have left me a little nonplussed each time as they were the first band to use smoke eschewing from some underworld portal on stage. Unfortunately they failed to instill any sort of rectification for my indifference towards them.

Their black metal was well played and whilst I can see what they’re trying to do, at times I just couldn’t get the feeling of thinking I’d heard that riff or hook somewhere else, which may be my imagination, and to a degree the audience wasn’t that interested either except the usual hangers on. That indifference pressed so much that my attention wandered to a lone can of Stella that had been stood in the middle of stage untouched for the last two or three bands as a trip to the bog ensued followed by starting on shorts to dull the mediocrity.

Devastator match exactly what their band moniker is, the blood strewn, corpse painted horde pulverised the audience with their annihilating black thrash fusion that injected vast sonic adrenaline into the crowd, and myself particularly as they the crowd to a pulp as soon as opener ‘Worship The Goat’ started after the intro.

The band was being assisted by a stand in drummer for this set which was very decent of him and pulled off a fine performance. The pit started up as a spin dryer movement with people burning off calories, and alcohol, with every song as they followed the opener with two short ones ‘Send Them To Hell’ and ‘Death Slut’. The band was relentless, war metal devastation that no one matched on the day as ‘Spiritual Warfare’ flattened the crowd before a dedication to Quorthon and airing ‘Baptised In Blasphemy’.

The thing that made Devasator so ferocious was lack of pretentiousness, their single aim was total sonic obliteration and they did it with some class as they ended with ‘Hail Death’. Staggering stuff indeed!

Cardiff black metallers Agrona had inflicted their music on me a couple of times before and I was looking forward to catching them again to see how they had improved in the couple of years since I last did see them play. Unfortunately their usual vocalist Adara was due to play her final show with the band but was ill, but huge thanks to Charlie Rogers for standing in at incredibly short notice.

Corpse painted and looking ready to sacrifice anyone who cared to depart this mortal coil the band was a big contrast to Devastator and it worked extremely well. Their symphonic blackened horror was melodic yet malevolence as I caught the title of ‘I Chose To Burn’ with its straight up skin stripping blackened rage enmeshed in a certain degree of eloquence musically by all the guys playing.

The band looked the part too, with some stage garb as their set was littered with a corrosive onslaught as ‘The Treacherous Dead’ proved though I felt the drum sound, particularly the snare, seemed a little weak, but is a minor point considering the efficiency their sonic virulence was leaving everyone in no doubts as to why they were third from the top on this bill.

Necronautical have made considerable waves in the underground scene for a number of years now, but it is fair to say in the last couple of years their popularity has increased substantially, as has the musical prowess with which they play in the live environment, where they were playing a co-headline set here. I had noticed that vocalist Russ had spent a great deal of time watching most if not all of the other bands that had played previously, which you don’t see very often.

However, they did start extremely late, in fact they started after they were due to come off and meant that a person I was talking to had to go because of transport issues; read into that that there isn’t any if you travel a fair distance as they were. The band was excellent and even if previous times I had found them a little sterile I really did enjoy this show, whether inebriated or not as there was a majestic quality that the other bands didn’t have (or didn’t need) especially with the excellent female vocal presence as the crowd was sizeable by now but not packed out.

Their epic tracks were superbly played and though the band was a little static on stage their music was all encompassing as on ‘Occult Ecstatic Indoctrination’. The lighting afforded was decent too, subdued then incandescent creating some cool backdrops for the photos as you can see in the gallery, as once again some wanted a pit but wasn’t exactly greeted with fervor, but they did it anyway.

‘Slain In The Spirit’ was played with some brief chat I couldn’t quite decipher except I think he said “it’s good to be hydrated”, hails to that, as the blanketing atmospherics billowed from the songs opulent musicality that linked to some degree with ‘Hypnagogia’. I did wonder at the Slayer cover of ‘Disciple’ but it was played well and as ever the shouts of Slayer started up even if very briefly and assured the band of rowdy send off.

Now those set time delays had an impact on myself and shooter because my shooter had arranged for us to get a lift back home at the official end time of before 10pm which meant we could only see about 15 to 20 minutes of Hecate Enthroned’s excellent set. I am sure that the early finish was built in to allow for delays but it doesn’t account for people needing to get home on pre-booked transport be it (planes), trains and automobiles, OK maybe planes is pushing it but you never know.

With a 60 minute set allotted the band went straight into their tracks with ‘Beneath a December Twilight’, I believe as Joe Stamps (Ba’al) lead from the front on vocals with the guitarists more than making up for the missing bass. Noticeably some people had vanished which was a shame as the band were superb even for the short time I had with them, their eruption of scintillating and majestic black metal was unparalleled on the day and I have never quite understood why the band has never become bigger than they have despite being around for over 25 years.

The smoke worked perfectly for atmosphere creating that luminous smog as the lights bounced off it for a surreal effect on ‘The Shuddering Giant’ and ‘The Spell Of The Winter Forest’ as the crowd seemed to reappear from wherever they had skulked. Unfortunately time was pressing as I departed once they started up ‘The Slaughter Of Innocence, A Requiem For The Mighty’ and album that they had already played a couple of tracks from probably because it is the album’s 25th anniversary.

With that in mind I reluctantly left Hecate Enthroned to summon demons and craft sonic witchcraft knowing that this was a fine all day event and one I hope will be repeated again, maybe later this year.

REVIEW: MARTIN HARRIS

PHOTOS: ANDY POUNTNEY @shot_in_the_dark_photography2