LIVE REVIEW: Bloodshot Dawn drop jaws as Northern DeathFest sees extreme (metal) comaradarie

GIVEN the extreme nature of the music aired at Northern DeathFest outsiders would be surprised at the smiles and camaraderie emanating from both the stage and throughout the audience. It was as if the sense of belonging amongst metal fans had become a tangible entity to an aural assault backdrop.

While the headliners were odds on to impress the seven bands performed to such an extent there was no low points, no mid-set slacking, no tailing off. Instead of which there was playing to such a high standard that by the time the final chords of the evening played it was a delirious exhaustion for all.

Openers Rupturation set the metal ball rolling at the ungodly hour of 14:30. Any cobwebs lurking in the rafters or muddy heads were shaken, battered and delighted.

Given the history behind the three-piece their set was an astounding, wonderful definition of rising, death metal nailed on.

Fresh from their success in Heat One of Northern Ireland's Metal2TheMasses Lock Horns mounted the stage with intent. Their take on progressive metal has nothing to do with standing around looking at fretboards. This is high energy in human form, with static practically electrifying the stage.

But, amidst the frenzy the playing had a panache and precision that was beautifully beguiling.

Like Lock Horns Stranglewire have an album out soon, but any future gazing was shattered as they produced death metal from unearthly dimensions. Their psychologically twisted music came dripping with hatred for the human race.

Dig behind the assault and there is something disturbing about the delivery from Stranglewire. Disturbing in a good way...

The Crawling have emerged in recent months as something of the darlings of the doom/death/misery metal scene, and deservedly so. The menace they have developed through playing far and wide invokes a sense of despair in their music - much to the delight of the audiences.

That oxymoron sums up The Crawling. Their miserable anthems are joyous to the sceptical, cynical bastard that lurks in us all, but on their playing at DeathFest was welcome.

Tighter than a shark's arse and as terrifying as facing a shark's maw Overoth know what they do and on Saturday they did it as well as ever. Knowing that they had a later afternoon set, knowing that many pints had been sunk by the audience like a death metal blunderbuss they spattered Limelight2 with shots carefully aimed to dismember.

Riffs and soloing aplenty as always, but to keep the crowd engaged was impressive. But then again they live up to what their fierce reputation as always.

With an hour's break for gear change Reprisal faced a difficult challenge but frontman Tom wasn't about to let any bugger come back complacent. A single finger to any faders these Buckinghamshire thrash bastards were here to let Belfast know they are a band here to stay.

The fine line between thrash and death was tred well and they are a band that will surely be welcomed back to the city.

As for Bloodshot Dawn...the last time they played Belfast the audience jaws dropped. This time jaws hit the floor. They were very good last time They were beyond great on January 28th.

There is an elixir that they have concocted deep in some dungeon in Portsmouth that melds ferocity and mind-altering metal melodies.

Numbers from Reanimation (Phil's review s here) were balanced with a healthy smattering of older material, but what was consistent was the interplay and balance between Josh and Morgan intricacy and the heaviness of the band in toto.

Northern Deathfest proved a couple of things -beyond the audience draw of extreme metal. Firstly the talent across the UK is astounding. And, Northern Ireland 'heavier' bands ae growing and developing at a pace that could barely be credited five years ago.

Review by Jonathan Traynor
Pictures by Darren McVeigh
Additional reporting by Zakk Traynor

Cacophony of creative chaos from Behemoth on monster album 'The Satanist'

WHEN the term Extreme Metal is bandied about one band's name always springs to mind - Behemoth.And despite various tribulations, not least Nergal's battle with leukaemia, they have emerged with quite simply one of the best examples of the genre in a tremendous new album.

The Satanist is the band's tenth album, and it is a beast of a platter - filled with the brutality of death metal and the complexity of black metal; a brilliant concoction of the essence of Behemoth.

More measured and mature in this case does not mean a mellowing in the Behemoth vision. The ominous opener, Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel bristles with evil intent, Nergal growling as Inferno pounds as Orion (bass) and Seth (guitar) weave dark spells.

Indeed it is Inferno that is an anchor amidst the cacophony of creative chaos throughout the album.

In the fires of creation Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer is a remarkable testament to the blackened metal that Behemoth have produced.

Title track The Satanist is a menacing ode to the dark side, but Nergal is clear when he says that each fan can take what they wish from his metaphors of evil - but is the literary nature of such dark imagingings pretentious?

"To me it's not pretentious at all," said Nergal. "It's very straight up, very sincere and a devastating conquering statement. There's no compromise or bullshit or gimmicks.

"What I love about it is that it just speaks for itself. On one hand it's a very black and white title: 'The Satanist; is like a fucking nail through the hand of Jesus Christ, period. No more, no less. But then again as with everything else you put a hundred people together and ask them what the name 'The Satanist means t them and you're going to hear a hundred different opinions which thay can discuss and fight over."

For a tenth album from the Polish quaret it bristles with creativity, with all parts knitted together, no less than on Beh Sahar. But what does it all mean?

"There’s a lot of symbolism and reflections and impressions in there, and it’s using millions of metaphors to express a certain very sinister and very captivating atmosphere, but there are no answers," said Nergal People always like to have a deeper insight into what we do, but that’s not what we want to give with this record.

"The way I see it is that between us we can make a huge fucking pyre and set the world on fire, but what we’re doing is just giving you the matches, giving you the spark, what you want to do with it is up to you. Personally, if I sat down with the lyrics in front of me I too would probably come up with a lot of different interpretations and concepts, it’s a never ending process, and that’s exciting to me.”

To emerge with such a tremendous album after Nergal's illness is a statement of the band's unity and purpose, but the future was in doubt for a long time as the front man fought leukaemia.

With the search for a bone marrow donor ultimately successful Nergal underwent a transplant, leaving the hospital after six months and beginning down the long road to rehabilitation.

“I knew I was pretty much fucked and there was a battle to be won, and I had no fucking idea if it was going to take six months or twelve months or maybe four years, because with cancer you never know," he said.  

"I learned from being in the hospital that there are things in life that you can control and things that you can’t control. The sooner you realize which is which it’s going to make your life so much easier, and since then I started to «focus on the right things. I could be determined, I could have discipline, I could have faith, but everything else is not under my control, and it really was a case of just crossing fingers for the best possible outcome. I was fortunate enough that that recovery period was relatively fast, and that I was really strong and very determined to get back into shape made a real difference.” 

What exactly Behemoth have achieved on The Satanist is weirdly life affirming for a band with such dark intent. The playing is peerless, the mood black and the lyrics powerful: in the context of what can be seen as at times jaded and hackneyed scene Behemoth have achieved a remarkable album.

They are Behemoth and they are from the Pagan Vastlands, and for that we should be thankful.

The Satanist is released on Nuclear Blast on January 31st.

Additional editorial input on this review from Zakk T.