Whoa where is everyone? Bumping into people was the first thing we were all doing on walking into the venue tonight as it was packed full of dry ice, even the toilets were swamped and if I pissed on anyone’s leg I can only apologise I was busting. Right, band somewhere in front, bar behind, that’s about right. As for photos well that was going to be completely another story.
First up were Septic Tank (perhaps it was leaking, might explain the pea-souper) and if you have not heard of them that is not too surprising. If however I tell you that the band are made up of Scott Carlson (Repulsion ex Cathedral) Lee Dorrian and Garry Jennings (ex Cathedral and I do so hate saying that) then it should all make sense. It’s a good debut show slot to get but who could have denied them it. This old idea that has finally seen the light reminded a lot of the last band I had seen supporting Voivod here, Doom. It was a very different sort of doom than that which we associated the vocalist with but it did not seem to stop him sounding as violent as he did back in those very early days back in Napalm Death. His mannerisms were as we have seen a stack of times in his ex band apart from throttling himself with the microphone chord as he gurned and strode around the stage. There was a really filthy crust laden sound with a neat swaggering groove about songs like ‘Fatal Eclipse’ and it was obvious that the crowd were getting into it with catcalls of play some Acid Reign being shouted out at Gaz. They may not have got one but apparently I was informed that they got a Chaos UK number in there somewhere. One thing was for certain as everything violently exploded out the speakers and rattled through the dry ice to take heads off, was that this was very reminiscent of the sort of sounds that defined both metal and punk and threw them together in a heady collision. Thrown out at neck cracking pace Dorrian started counting up from one to ten as bass, drums and scything guitar rattled away and had heads banging right back to the bar. It was a short sharp shocking debut show but one that put this rancid rust bucket well and truly on our radar.
I have to admit that I am a ghoul when it comes to Necrophagia and despite the credentials of the headliners they were the main draw for me. It has been a whole decade since they last played here in 2003 and I was very happy they were making the stopover on way to the Neurotic Deathfest. The intro music summed them up and was as frosty as the malevolent hauntings at The Overlook Hotel but there was no time to ask Lloyd for another drink as thick grinding sluggish riffs slewed out the speakers. There was still dry ice and a smell straight out the mortuary as we cleaved into ‘Embalmed Yet I Breathe.’ Many bands talk it up about being all about the horror but none to it like this lot, frontman Killjoy lives and bleeds for the gore and the group’s songs worship the greats. We were flung back to the heartlands as ‘Return To Texas’ revved up and gave us a lesson that we understood, the saw is the law. It was difficult not to fixate on the bearded and deranged looking frontman, hands wrapped in bloody bandages, manic look on face and venomous roars as he played with various body parts but I did notice that for some reason new guitarist Abigail Lee Nero was not here. The band’s Facebook says this is due to a medical reason and they were continuing as a four piece so hope she gets well soon!
There were a couple of things I was specifically waiting for and the first arrived in the form of the unmistakable words “You Ungodly Warlock.” It was time to go back to The Beyond for ‘And You Will Live In Terror.’ It was suitably vile and violent and the crowd reacted causing death on the dancefloor. I ducked the one attempted stage diver of the night and literally heard the sound of his face hitting the metal barrier. Somehow he shook it off and got back into the audience but I am betting some dentistry is necessary after that ill thought of idea. Can’t blame the enthusiasm though and the song sounded excellent. Can’t really complain about the amount of tracks played off Holocausto either, the opening cut of ‘Blood Freak’ bit deep and as it went into a full charge the pit erupted and beer flew all over the shop. There was no way that they could have avoided playing ‘London 13 Demon Street’ considering the venue and The Exorcist 3 summoned the winding grinding groove of ‘Blaspheme The Body.’ The set was a long one thankfully and the torture was brutal but there was only time for a couple more and unfortunately no ‘Flowers Of Flesh And Blood’ but what are you going to do when it is up against Zombie Flesh Eaters and the Dead were Among Us and Cannibal Holocaust? That was good, that was very good and they best not keep us waiting another ten years or else! All hail the ‘Whiteworm Cathedral” can’t wait!
Security had been leaving us to our own devices during the first couple of bands and the dry ice was clearing. I missed the first song by Repulsion started taking pictures and then found we had three songs only. Oops considering how long a Repulsion song is that was rather clever. At least I could now concentrate on enjoying them a bit more over the whopping 20 odd track set and boy it has to be said they sounded utterly fantastic. Grind of this age does not deserve to sound that clean in the mix but the sound guy had down a fantastic job here, one that saw songs like ‘The Stench Of Burning Death’ nice and crispy (pun intended). Not often I say this but this was the first time I had seen this band and really cannot remember them playing here before back in the day. Scott Carlson and Matt Olivio had a veritable sea of space between them but just pretty much got down to it dismembering bodies, splattering cadavers and no doubt bursting festering boils. One thing that really impressed were technical guitar riffs which sounded absolutely blinding and added to the sheer intensity of the music perfectly.
It has to be said that although the crowd did a good job of battering each other to Necrophagia they had obviously only just been warming up as now the pit was insane and I found myself guarding a much needed beer with my life. ‘Eaten Alive’ was kindred to the support band and between the pair of them there were plenty of the UK Video nasties cited during the evening. ‘Helga’ may not have been a scream star that I know of but the fact she lost her head added a touch of humour about it all and took us to the 1991 Rebirth demo in the process. The one problem with the set was it absolutely flew by and despite the amount of songs they simply charged through them at practically double speed before culminating the only way they could have done with ‘Horrified’ Luckily the journey had been good even if taking us through the ‘Crematorium’ to ‘Six Feet Under’ where there were ‘Maggots In Your Coffin’, made it seem like we were on some sort of guided tour of death. Towards the end we got Venom cover ‘Schizoid’ and ‘Black Breath’ which sounded tremendous with circle pit punk riffs and a flattening chugging groove going out of control and causing carnage. A great night of death all round, can we do it again please?
Review and photos © Pete Woods
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