It was a bitterly cold evening in Leeds this night, the hardy throng that had queued up outside some half hour or so before doors endured sleet and snow with the wind knifing through you, whereas as I went into a pub called the Dry Dock, where other smart individuals had also plonked themselves. With a fair amount of time to await doors I sat trying to warm up chatting to some young fella about gigs and music along with my mate, but eventually braved the elements to get into the venue which was a farce if I’m honest.

I get that security is tight these days but the delay for people getting in meant many missed the openers Pest Control due to security “wanding” everyone, which took ages, even though I was lucky enough to have gained entry before paying punter due to being on the guest list. However, in the security conscious new millennium it is a necessary evil, that impacted on Pest Control audience numbers for about 10 minutes or so of their set.

I’d seen Pest Control last year supporting Enforced in Manchester and was impressed then with their crossover thrashing mayhem, but here they firmly clicked with me, their violent hardcore tinged thrash was the perfect start to this glacial night as the intro piece ‘Extermination’ led into them smashing into ‘Masquerade Party’ and following it quickly with ‘Buggin’ Out’.

I particularly liked their explosive riffing that was riddled with caustic melody as ‘Iron Cage’ and ‘Don’t Test The Pest’ proved, as noticeably they seemed to be playing tracks in order from their album ‘Don’t Test The Pest’. The more thrash like ‘Struck Down’ was slower, relatively speaking that is, giving people plenty to nod their head to before sectioning their set with the interlude ‘Hibernation’ as a backing tape.

Indeed it appeared the band was playing all of their new album and the momentum it generated was excellent and whilst the band weren’t the most animated on stage, the music with which they razored the crowd with was blisteringly effective. ‘Total Distraction’ and The Great Deceiver’ slashed across the now much bigger crowd and bearing in mind they only had a 30 minutes set or less they had played eleven songs by now, giving you an idea as to their corrosive face melting hardcore styling as they concluded with a couple of older songs, ‘Infestation’ and ‘Pest Control’ with the former have a fantastic bass riff break giving the pit added impetus to finish their set with, as I ventured to pick up their album on vinyl.

I had been lucky enough to see Virginia violence mongers Municipal Waste earlier in the week in Manchester as part of the Kreator and Lamb Of God package that was doing the rounds in Europe and the UK. Seeing a band twice within a few days gives you the option to see how they tailor their shows and MW certainly did that as the pit was instant the moment they kicked off with ‘Demoralizer’ to a fantastic reception from the crowd.

Are we warmed up yet, Tony snarled, as ‘Breathe Grease’ followed with its crossover ferocity. With the band having more time than in Manchester I did wonder if we would get some extra tunes, and we did, as Tony asked if we were ready for some thrash songs and that this is a drinking song then promptly crashed into ‘Beer Pressure’ complete with centrifugal force circle pit as bodies seemed to be hurled around ceaselessly.

This next one goes out to Kreator, Tony stated, as ‘The Thrashin’ Of The Christ’ was aired and noticeably I think the band must have been reading my mind of songs I really like by MW as they’d played three of them by now. The venue had filled up and with the freezing multitude warmed up the band never dulled for a second, blending the set into one seamless enraged mauling that continued with ‘Poison The Preacher’ and ‘Grave Dive’. Asking us if we were going to download was greeted with a cheer as the aforementioned ‘Grave Dive’ injected more momentum to an already searing set.

A circle pit started up before ‘You’re Cut Off’, as requested I might add, and linked in with the very popular ‘Sadistic Magician’ which the band had available as a bright yellow shirt and was also very popular with fans. Slower and slightly moshier ‘Slime And Punishment’ gave the crowd some head banging time as I think Sami from Kreator was watching the carnage from the venue’s rafters as the band played the ever crowd favourite ‘Headbanger Face Rip’ with the suggestion of crowd surfing.

They obliged of course and as this took place some punter was ejected from the venue via the emergency doors that I suspect may have been because of smoking cigarettes, which was a stupid and inconsiderate thing to do, if that is what happened. ‘High Speed Steel’ was accompanied by a woah at the end as there seemed to be no end of personal set favourites being played that continued with ‘The Art Of Partying’.

Tony was continually asking how much time they had left, and inserting tracks whenever possible, of which this was one of them before some chat about covid, restrictions etc and another request for as many surfers as possible as the vocalist chucked water into the crowd. Another song was inserted, this time ‘Unleash The Bastard’ and by now time really was up for the band as the crowd shouted “Municipal Waste is gonna fuck you up”, though they did chant it earlier and Tony said, “later, later”. Now was their chance and the vocalist bellowed “Municipal Waste is gonna…” giving the audience chance to air their voices and finish it off as they delivered one of the best sets I’ve seen this band play, and I’ve seen a few I can assure you, eleven previous to this one.

Continuing the number of times I’ve seen bands, I had seen Kreator 16 times prior to this show with the first going back to 1989 in Manchester and if one thing is consistent about the German thrashers, it is that they rarely, if ever, disappoint when playing live. They generally have something new to offer fans usually of the visual kind as their set lists of late have focused more on their later material, which the dude in the pub I was talking to said was more power metal based, which left my mate and I puzzled about when we walked to the gig. With a smaller stage than Manchester the band opted for two impaled dummies stage left and right as adornments as opposed to the four hanging ones in Manchester.

‘Run To The Hills’ started and those in the know knew this was the backing track to them coming on stage after ‘Sergio Corbucci Is Dead’ had aired subsequently as the band detonated with ‘Hate Über Alles’. The opener was phenomenal, its ultra-violent title chant by the band, coupled to the pristine pernicious riffing of Mille and Sami was formidable. It was well known that on Kreator’s headline shows they were playing a special set, and I mean those shows without Lamb Of God, (apparently Mille and his horde don’t like rest days on tours) and were going to play an old school set and whilst this was true to a certain degree, for a really old school set then songs from the first four/five albums is ideal.

However we got a mix and as Mille bellowed “hail” at us the band slowed down for the denser ‘Hail To The Hordes’ as people were throwing cups in the air, a fad that seems to be infecting gigs I’ve been to recently, they were doing the same in Manchester two nights ago and at Napalm Death the previous night to this and at Archspire the following night (yep it has been a busy week). The first old track, ‘Awakening Of The Gods’ started (with a wall of death I might add) utilising a kick drum beat to get the crowd clapping and even though they played only a minute or so of the song it blended with ‘Enemy Of God’ nicely with its awesome riff. With screeching guitar from Mille the band went into ‘Phobia’ a very popular tune with fans with some smoke eschewing skywards as the crowd went berserk in the pit.

By now the craving for older songs was well and truly whetted as Mille asked how we are feeling and told us this was an old school set as they played ‘Betrayer’ where the diehards sang the lyrics and the newer fans went along with it. By now I noticed that one of the guys from MW (Ryan I think) had appeared to watch the band at the right moment for the old tunes. With the crowd enjoying rotating around circle pit the old schoolers amongst us had a tease of nostalgia as they followed it with ‘Satan Is Real’, which was disappointing, as good as this song is, as I expected them to continue with another old one.

The song was pounded out, it’s stomping beat hammered home by the inexorable machine that is called Ventor on drums; the guy worked his absolute balls off during this set, never missing a beat… that I noticed anyway. With some chat about this being Kreator’s “State Of Unrest” tour Mille thanked us for waiting three years as he also told us the next song was written during the pandemic times and launched into ‘666 – World Divided’ accompanied by the mid-section choral accompaniment via backing track and worked extremely well. As the band disappeared off stage two people decked out in cloaks and wearing “violent mind” masks, and baring illuminous red spears walked on stage for the visual spectacle. With the intro piece ‘Mars Mantra’ playing at the same time we knew the next song was going to be ‘Phantom Antichrist’ and as the band returned and the demons vanished the song burst into life and linked it with ‘Strongest Of The Strong’ as Mille dedicated it to us saying we are the strongest of the strong.

By now my craving for the old stuff was getting unbearable and was quenched when they played ‘Extreme Aggression’, my shooters favourite tune, where the speed sky rocketed and the pit dementedness spiralled as screaming leads pierced the mix and I noticed that Ryan had reappeared alongside Tony for the old tunes which they thoroughly enjoyed I could see. ‘People Of The Lie’ was next and with this sort of momentum I thought the pit would fizzle due to its constant energised antics, but it never did as the band went straight into ‘Extreme Aggression’ and was my song of their set.

Its incessant speed was monumental and was by far the most aggressive track of the night, even when they added ‘Endless Pain’ from their debut as its follower. When the riff change on ‘Endless Pain’ came up Mille asked for a circle pit, as if the crowd wasn’t doing anything, which they bloody well were. Returning to mid-catalogue the demons returned and as smoke billowed ‘Violent Revolution’ was extremely catchy before the last doublet of the set was played. Mille looked annoyed for a moment because the expected flag of hate failed to materialise at the appropriate moment as the crowd shouted hate when he said “it’s time to raise the flag of…” as repeated attempts of shouting “hate” lead into the songs savaging riff and speed.

I felt their version of the song here was far more vicious than Manchester as once again Ventor was utterly relentless, especially as they concluded their set with quite possibly one of the fastest thrash songs of the 80s, namely ‘Pleasure To Kill’. The wall of death was constructed again and as they delivered the death blow to their set the crowd upped the impetus for one final surge in energy, and with the set ending in true heavy metal style, Mille proclaimed we will be back. As the outro piece played the band threw picks, drum sticks and sweatbands into the crowd which they grabbed without mercy.

An absolutely superb night of thrash and crossover, one that will go down in memory in Leeds for a very long time by two well established acts and one exceptional up and coming band.

REVIEW: INFERNALI

PHOTOS: ANDY POUNTNEY

@shot_in_the_dark_photography2