Sepultura, Jinjer, Obituary & Jesus Piece – Manchester & London 11/24 ⋆ Ave Noctum

Manchester Academy – 8/11/24

First up on this varied bill were Philadelphia’s Jesus Piece, who have been building an impressive reputation in recent years, not least due to their incendiary live shows, and tonight was an opportunity for them to showcase themselves to a slightly wider audience.

They wasted no time tearing into the ever expanding crowd who returned the favour with a lively pit. The band were fairly limited in terms of space but threw themselves around and Aaron in particular cut an intimidating figure as he contorted and glared at the front rows.

Their beatdown hardcore might not have been to everyone’s taste but they undoubtedly made a lot of new friends in their short time, and the crowd were suitably warmed up for what was to follow.

After a short turnaround, the atmosphere became darker in the room as death metal stalwarts Obituary opened with ‘Redneck Stomp’. This pulsating instrumental passage served as an extended intro piece getting the pit warmed up before John Tardy appeared in a sea of green light and led the band into a brutal ‘Threatening Skies’.

The pit responded appropriately with bodies flailing around and this was kept up for the whole set. ‘By the Light’ flew by before we were given the ‘The Wrong Time’, the first (but not last) offering from the latest album. A few minutes later, the magnificent ‘Chopped in Half’ led into ‘Turned Inside Out’ causing the pit to up it a gear.

There were a couple newer tracks which sat nicely alongside the older classics, before the set was inevitably brought to a close with the delightfully maleficent tomes of ‘Slowly We Rot’. There are undoubtedly faster, heavier and more brutal death metal bands out there, but there are few that can match Obituary’s groove laden finesse, and their instantly recognisable sound.

Tonight they showed exactly why they are still revered after 30 years in the business – It will be interesting to see how many of the current flavours of the month are still around in 30 years. (AP)

Hammersmith Apollo 13/11/24

Unfortunately, the universe conspired against me, and I got to sit in my seat as the dying notes of “Slowly We Rot” were being droned out as Obituary finished their way too bloody early set.
I’m not really too familiar with Jinjer, but every time I see the name I’m reminded of the South African rock band Just Jinjer which formed out of the ashes of the death metal band Abhorrence, with none of the 3 bands sounding anything alike.

The blue and yellow lighting (okay it may have been a dark orange) welcomed the Ukrainian quartet on stage to enough applause to explain their slot on the bill. Their style of technical death metal had far more melodic elements than I expected, with drummer Vladislav Ulesevich doing some truly remarkable stuff behind his kit as bassist Eugene Abdukhanov emphasised his work with precision and Roman Ibramkhalilov filling in the wall of sound on his guitar.

What really impressed me, however, was Tatiana Shmailyuk. These days so much magic can be created in a studio, so to effortlessly go from death growls to wails and shrieks, but more importantly harmonious clean vocals, without missing a beat and while constantly on the move and writhing into all manner of contorted positions, showed some true ability and talent.

I didn’t get many song names, but did hear that the “Someone’s Daughter” and “Kafka” are from the new album to be released early next year, as was their final song of the evening “Rogue”. Certainly not generic or monotonous and giving those few songs a listen while writing this review confirmed how technically adept they are, making what they did live as a unit all the more impressive.

I was happily singing along to “Davidian” when it was abruptly cut short and the lights dimmed… only for Sabbath’s “War Pigs” to ring out of the PA, which had every one of us singing along with Ozzy. This was follow by the original version of the Titãs song “Polícia”, a song Sepultura covered on the “Refuse/Resist” single, which also happened to be the show opener, after a mash-up of album intros from “The Curse” until Zyon’s in utero heartbeat had the band donning their instruments and setting the night alight.

Without much fanfare Derrick Greene informed us that now was the time for audience members to start fighting for their “Territory”, and they took that sentiment straight to heart and the jostling for a small section in the centre of the dancefloor quickly had a maelstrom form around it. Staying with the 31-year-old album, “Slave New World” also went down a treat as the heavy groove of sole remaining original member Paulo Jr.’s bass reverberated around the Apollo along with newest member ex-ST drummer Greyson Nekrutman’s manic tom rolls over Andreas Kisser’s solid thrash riffs.

I was pretty amused when security ushered a young chap that was being a dick and lobbing empty drinking containers (cos they’re thankfully not glasses) down from the circle into the pit during “Phantom Self”. Sadly, he eventually returned a couple of songs later, but this time far more sedate and I’m not sure if that was owing to his parents no longer leaving him unattended or the stern talking to, I’m hoping he received. Fuck! I’m getting old. Also old, but still with plenty of “Attitude” were the band on stage and as Derrick growled over the rolling drums, we were all chanting along to the chorus. Something I mentioned to a friend was I knew the words to every song that was over 20 years old and was singing along without a second thought, but while I knew the newer stuff, it just wasn’t the same and sure I’ve listened to “Means to an End” plenty of times, but it’s not like I grew up listening to it and its part of my subconscious.

Same goes for “Kairos”, I anticipated every tempo and riff change, as it’s nearly 15 years since it was released but it is not the music of my youth, and that didn’t stop anyone else from enjoying it as much as I was. It’s also hard to believe that ‘Roorback’ came out over 20 years ago already and the short and quick “Corrupted” had Andreas’ lead abilities displayed as his fingers nimbly hit every note. We had a brief respite from the heaviness with the acoustic and extremely tribal “Guardians of Earth” which showcased the way music can quickly go from serene to utterly manic as the choral vocals became anguished roars of frustration regarding the plight of the Amazon.

Feeling rather stripped down in comparison was “Choke”, where the no frills approach to the more hardcore sounding song still managed to have a flurry of embellished drumming before blasting into the substantially faster “False”. Andreas then invited us to head back to the first album he was on back in 1987 for the absolute monster thrash song “Escape to the Void”, where the heaving throng of bodies threw themselves at each other as the song was delivered at what felt like breakneck speed. Inviting members of the other bands, along with a few lucky fans to join them for something they said they haven’t done in ages, the creation an epic drum circle which could only add to the majesty of “Kaiowas”. Clearly a favourite for many us, as it was when Sepultura truly exploded around the world, the opening bars of “Dead Embryonic Cells” had the baying masses waiting for the initial breakdown to unleash what was left of their reserves, and Greyson didn’t disappoint with the kicking and nor did Andreas with his lead.

Returning to their last album, we had “Agony of Defeat” where the slower, more deliberate pace of the song was welcomed by all. This is the only version of “Orgasmatron” I am familiar with, as I was never much of a Motörhead fan and to be honest wasn’t even aware it was a cover until I had an official copy of “Under Siege”, and had heard it played at the metal venues in ZA 1000’s of times.

Played just as many times was “Troops of Doom” but hearing it live always brings such a rush when it’s counted in and the massive mosh pit goes completely berserk. Definitely aiming to finish on a high by wrapping up their set with “Inner Self” and “Arise”, the pit I thought would’ve been spent after nearly 2 hours continued to whirl as the leads rang out to everyone’s delight.

The light’s may have dimmed, but we all knew better than to think the night was over and indeed it was not. Greyson took to the stage on his own and offered up a technical and enjoyable one man show on the drums which eventually bubbled over into “Ratamahatta” with everyone bouncing in appreciation. Sadly, as soon as the familiar guitar and drum pattern of “Roots Bloody Roots” began to be pounded, we all knew our night and 40 years of Sepultura would be nearing the end. And long after the last notes had been played and the queues at the merch stands were gone, our memories and T-shirts from this great night shall live on. (MG)