Limelight properly fucked up by triple terror of Zombified, Ceseless Blight and Fuckhammer

LET'S face it, when the headline act is forced to cancel because of their van breaking down in the nether regions of nowhere, and one act down a member then Saturday's Distortion Project had all the recipes for a disaster.

Instead there was a glorious triple header trip into the dark regions of the psyche on Saturday (November 30th) evening at Limelight2.

Zombified, Ceasless Blight and Fuckhammer played like harbingers of coming Armageddon, horsemen of the apocalypse and just downright noisy bastards.

Fuckhammer took to the stage without their bassist, but still managed to deliver a relentless pounding with tracks from their Hammered to Fuck release standing out, especially Abortion Addict.

However, it would be remiss of us not to mention their hyper speed version of Sabbath's Symptom of the Universe. Stripped of acoustic sections and with a faithful rendition of Bill Ward's drum madness it was just a great take on this classic.

The black metal persistence of Ceaseless Blight then came forward, silhouetted on stage almost throughout their set; this was a full-on onslaught of riffing, with a particular emphasis on bass lines in the mix. However, the drums were off, with the snare beats completely missing at times. Fix that flaw, and add a bit more variety to the twin guitars and this could have been a great set rather than just a good one.

As to Zombified...Who doesn't like a wee bit of extreme metal now and then to help cope with a world gone mad; death metal extravagance to push away the worries and strains; total noise attack and full on assault always help...

By far this was the best Zombified set we have witnessed recently - killer from all parts, delivered with panache and power.

It's hard to pick up a stand-out track when so much was total grace in growls, gorefest guitars, bastard battering bass and drums beating out primal pounding. The Forgotten Art of Strangulation and Human Cull were awesome, however, along with Grind and Immolation.

So, no headliner, Fuckhammer a man down...did this deter any of the bands? No. Was it, nevertheless a great Distortion Project show? Yes, of course it was.

Zombified surreal Sunflower booster at HMV with Little Miss Stakes

HALLOWE'EN is one of the most ancient of Pagan festivals, hijacked by the early Christian church and calling November 1st All Saint's Day - Hallowed Day, thus (and there is more to this if you want to get anal about it...) All Hallow's Eve was born.

Hijacked by the retailers and commercial interests the lemmings annually traipse off to outfitters, don make-up and queue up to buy over-priced tickets to clubs with over-priced drink.

How refreshing it was then to see a Hallowe'en show with good purpose and good intent - and a healthy level of nastiness...

Gathered together in the unholy matrimony of metal Little Miss Stakes and Zombified occupied the city centre's HMV store...much to the consternation of some late night shoppers.

Little Miss Stakes schlock horror take on the Misfits and Wednesday 13 was, of course a perfect fit with their over-the-top codology lyrics. But the best way to play it, is with a straight face - even one hidden behind make-up.

Doctor Frankenstein and a nice take on Dracula lyrically all were both amusing and delivered with aplomb. Despite the constraints of the set-up even the keytair worked out well for atmosphere. This was not so much an homage to predecessors but a Belfast take on horror rock.

Zombified have had a busy year, and with the DP13 gig and shows with Amputated they are prepared with a tight sound, no matter any issues that playing in a record store may present.

Taking their set as a whole they perform with purpose; a massive melange of black, death and thrash, played with a straightforward purpose; entertainment with deadly energy. All of which made it more surreal to see elderly shoppers looking in from the adjoining mini-mall in bemusement at windmill headbanging, technical guitar attacks, a pounding rhythm section (despite the set-up limitations) and much growling with menace..

Human Cull, Murder Serpent and Outbreak were just a selection of the terror attack. 

For those with a penchant for the deep end growl and technical end of death/black metal (and we count ourselves among them) Zombified are the perfect antidote to the vanilla flavouring of many of the mainstream bands pouring out of the US and England like a plague of banality.

They are now in fine fettle to round up the year.

And a fair shout for the Sunflower Festival (2014 tickets now available) for backing this Hallowe'en treat and to HMV for hosting it!