Concert: Metal Threat Fest Warm-Up Show – Barbatos, Angelcorpse, Destroyer 666, Ares Kingdom, Nuke, Peucharist (7/14, Reggie’s, Chicago)

Guess who didn’t get tickets to Metal Threat Fest in time to take off the whole weekend and go? THIS LADY. With class at 8AM Saturday, however, I wouldn’t have been able to stay the whole weekend even if I had wanted to. And so it was that I got tickets for the “Warm Up Show” on Thursday eve, inasmuch as fucking Destroyer 666 plays the “Warm Up Show.” The saddest part was that since everyone else stayed, I drove down and back by myself. At the same time, school has been stressing me out bad lately, and driving long distances while listening to Electric Wizard is kind of my zen place.

Me and the pals missed the first couple of bands, due to our getting stuck in traffic on the way to the Metal Haven Grill. I was starving by the time we got there, but fortunately they had 10 inch Polish sausages wrapped in bacon so that situation very quickly rectified itself. I don’t think that it has been a restaurant for very long as they still seem to be establishing a full menu, but my meal at least was delicious. They also had records and CDs to buy, and some books (like the Slayer Mag Diaries, which is the best book ever).

I snagged Forgotten Woods, an Arckanum album that somehow slipped beneath my radar, and some Kommandant, whose patch is on my jacket and whom I like, but for some reason didn’t own any of their stuff.

Well, we got stuck in Chicago afternoon traffic, so we missed Peucharist and Nuke, but we did get to the venue in enough time to see about half of Ares Kingdom’s set. Ares Kingdom is a band that a lot of my friends love that I don’t know much about because… I’m an idiot and also I need about four more hours in each day to be able to get everything done and listen to everything that I would like. I did greatly enjoy their set though, and I had pretty high expectations having had it built up for me so much.

Ares Kingdom

I’m not sure what led to the decision to have Destroyer 666 play next instead of in the headlining slot, and it’s kind of a bummer because a friend suggested that they might have played a slightly longer set (?). But make no mistake, this is what I drove down for and it was totally worth it. They played a variety of stuff, the ones off the top of my head that I remember being Lone Wolf Winter, I Am the War God, Wildfire, Live and Burn, The Calling, Hounds At Ya Back, and Trialed By Fire, which they dedicated to Selim Lemouchi of The Devil’s Blood (may he Reign in Chaos). Also, they did a cover of Motorhead’s Iron Fist, which was about as fun as you would expect. It was a fantastic set, the band was spot on, everyone was happy, no one was rousing rabble, and Mr. Warslut seemed practically cheerful (he only called a couple of people “fucking cunts,” and considering that they were filming the set, they probably deserved it).

Destroyer 666

Please forgive me for snapping photos, Mr. Warslut. It’s just for the blog.

Next up was Angelcorpse, who I was also excited to see. I love me some war metal, and having listened to pretty much nothing but Revenge leading up to this shindig, I was ready for some. Unfortunately, I’m not familiar enough with their catalog to give a run-down of the setlist, but it was much akin to being punched in the face repeatedly, which is kinda what you want when Angelcorpse plays.

Angelcorpse

The night ended with Barbatos, who I had never heard of, but is a project of Abigail vocalist, guitarist, and bassist Yasuyuki Suzuki. They play a kind of mix of punky, blackish thrash, and are fun as shit. While it would have been cool to get a full set from Destroyer 666, I was totally fine with Barbatos finishing up the night as they were fun, exciting, and a great ending to the first night of a metal festival and a warm up for a four day party (which I unfortunately could not attend the rest of).

Barbatos

I ended up with a lot of stuff; there was no merch for Angelcorpse or Destroyer 666 that I saw, but I cleaned up with the music. Along with the albums I bought at Metal Haven Grill, I acquired Destroyer 666’s Pheonix Rising and Cold Steel…For an Iron Age, Funeral Mist’s Devilry (I never owned it on CD, though I do have it on vinyl). I also got a Mgła patch, and from my friend Carlos, I got a Sacrocurse patch and a Transilvanian Hunger shirt that SPARKLES.

 

No, I’m not kidding. The logo has glitter on it. GLITTER.

**A note on Destroyer 666 because I feel like in the midst of all the hubbub I should probably say something: their set was absolutely fantastic, and if anything was done to offend anyone, I certainly didn’t catch it. Going in I was a little worried because I thought that someone might use it as a chance to cause trouble, but contrary to my fears the crowd was absolutely wonderful. KK Warslut briefly alluded to the recent blog posts about him a couple of times so it was clearly on his mind, but they played a hell of a set and were extremely gracious, and the crowd was supportive as well. So, by chance anyone from Destroyer 666 happens to come across my little blog—Thank you guys for coming here, and I hope the rest of the tour was a brilliant as the Chicago show.**

I apologize that this review is not as good as it should have been- I know Destroyer 666 well enough, but the other bands are still pretty new to me (I know Angelcorpse in that I know that they are like other stuff that I like, and I enjoyed the shit out of it, but I don’t know specifics). While I only got to go for one night, what I saw of Metal Threat was fantastic, and as this summer has been very stressful for me with school it was nice to have a day off to enjoy myself and get out of the Twin Cities.

I’ll be working up a review of Macabre (!) and Ghost soon, both of whom I know a lot better than the bands that played this night.

-Hagalaz

Concert: Behemoth/Myrkur (4/30, Mill City Nights, Mpls, MN)

When I heard that Behemoth was planning a tour in which they were going to play The Satanist top to bottom, I knew I had to go. I absolutely love that album, and Behemoth has yet to disappoint at a live gig. (Seriously. They have one of the best stage shows ever.) The fact that this was happening on Walpurgisnacht was, well, an added bonus. Who would pass that up?

Anyhow, I had somehow managed to forget that Myrkur was opening until a couple of days before the show. I reviewed her EP over at Burning Fist when it first came out and was really impressed with it, and just as equally dismayed by the sheer amount of hate that she got. The full-length album, M, was far less interesting to me (I never ended up getting it and I don’t really feel an aching need to), and I kind of lost track of her beyond vaguely jumping into conversations on the internet on occasion to slap people on wrist for being douchy. (Seriously. There are legitimate reasons why people are upset over Myrkur, and I understand those. But there are a lot of meatheads out there who think girls have no place in metal, and those people… can fuck off and die. But this is a concert review and that is a post for another day.)

Myrkur

Myrkur’s live performance went, for me, much like the records did. I really liked the stuff she did from the EP, and the rest I thought was a little repetitive. However, I was really impressed to see her play keyboards and guitar both, and I was glad that she got such a positive reception from the crowd. A friend of mine mentioned that parts of her set sounded a lot like doom, and I found myself agreeing with that assessment. She ended the set with a cover of Bathory’s “Song to Hall Up High,” though, and I, uh, may have gotten something in my eye…

I was happy that she played some instruments herself

Then, after a fairly lengthy pause, Behemoth took the stage. Behemoth is consistently good as a live act, but tonight they pulled out ALL the stops. In terms of just the stage show, Behemoth hauled out video screens for this one and showed video clips throughout the set, including the super creepy video for “Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel.” (If they have done this in previous times that I have seen them, I don’t recall it.) Nergal also carried out one of those swingy-ball-o-incense-thingies that they use at Mass at one point (shut up; I’m not Catholic, I don’t know what it’s called). There was also a mock Communion, and the fans in the front of the stage got to eat up a bunch of Communion crackers. Also, Orion spit blood all over a crucifix he was holding upside down at the end of “Amen.” It was more live blasphemy than you could shake a stick at, along with a mosh pit that was positively churning the entire time.

Fire: Never not a great idea

Swingy-ball-‘o’-incense-thingy

Of course, Behemoth played The Satanist all the way through, ending with “O Father, O Satan, O Sun” and coming out for the last part with the horns on like they do. (So cool.) They played a handful of other songs afterwards, however, including “At the Left Hand ov God,” “Slaves Shall Serve,” “Antichristian Phenomenon,” and “Conquer All.” It was a fantastically fun show, and my doom metal buddy was even impressed despite Behemoth not being his typical thing.

Inferno destroying everything. Seriously. He is one of my favorite drummers

Happy Walpurgisnacht from Behemoth \m/

I actually did come away with some merch for this one. It had been a long time since I had a Behemoth shirt, and I couldn’t turn down this one with the Virgin Mary on it. It also occurred to me that I didn’t have a Behemoth patch for the jacket, which seemed wrong for someone who has now seen them four times, so I got one of those as well. I also picked up Myrkur’s EP; I had had a digital copy of it before from when I reviewed the album, but when my iPod corrupted in the fall and ate all my files I lost it.

“Put me on the blog, mom!” Demanding Cat is demanding. (I know you are jealous of my kvlt Hello Kitty blanket) 

The text on the patch that you can’t read very well says “The Satanist”

April has been absolutely nuts with shows just about twice a week, and now I feel like we’re about to hit a massive dry spell (there’s some really cool stuff coming up this summer, like Swans (!) and The Body, but it’s more spread out). However, Behemoth on Walpurgisnacht is a pretty good way to end a busy April, and very fortifying for the end of the semester that I’ll be fighting through the next couple of weeks.

I’ll be back next week; I’m almost done with Nergal’s biography, so I’m planning on writing on that, as well as the new Rotting Christ (I’m still on my first listen, but my rash impulse is to say this is even better than the last, which I loved), and I still need to write that post about why you all are so wrong about Reinkaos. (I’d put a winky emoji but I feel like that’s inappropriate.)

Until then…

-Hagalaz

Concert: Absu/False/Christworm/Treasons (4/19, Triple Rock, Mpls, MN)

This week’s adventures in metal shows featured Texas-based black-thrashers, Absu. Since the show fell on a Tuesday, I was running a little late (I work Tuesday nights), and I missed the first band (Treasons, I think it was). This was a much more comfortably attended show; I didn’t have to hide in a corner by the bathrooms to avoid getting smushed like at Pig Destroyer. At the same time, it’d be nice for Absu to get a bigger turnout- it was a smallish crowd last time as well.

Christworm

The second band, Christworm, went on shortly after I arrived. I was really impressed by them; they played a kind of sludgy, doomy death metal. I texted a friend and said that it was cool to hear a band like this amongst all the death metal around here, and that friend then informed me that Christworm is actually from Baton Rouge, LA, which… explains why they sound so different from all the bands around here. Ha. Christworm is the sort of band that makes feedback between songs on their sets, though, and I’m pretty much always down with bands that do that. I was really impressed with them, and I’ll be keeping an eye on them in the future.

False

Next up was False, who always put on a good show. They opened with “Heavy As A Church Tower,” which never fails to give me chills, and followed up with a song I’m not familiar with (I… need to get their full-length album. I know people in that band and it’s just embarrassing that I don’t have it yet). Rachel paced in front of the stage for the bulk of the first song, and once again I was reminded of how much she looks like some kind of big cat when she does that. A very solid, strong set.

Proscriptor hasn’t got a lot of hair, but the other two guys got it covered.

Finally, Absu! I like Absu; I don’t listen to them as much as I should (I was hoping to pick up Abzu at the show, but alas, they had no CDs for sale. Will have to do that with the spring shopping binge I’m plotting), but when I do, I am very aware of the sheer musicianship of these guys. Seeing it live, however, is always insane. They are so tight and so spot-on and the drumming is always so phenomenal, it’s crazy how those three guys make that much monumental racket.

Ezezu handling some vox

Absu played a variety of songs from their extensive catalog, including a song off a new album we were told would be out later this year, and Ezezu handled the majority of the vocals for the bulk of the set, since Proscriptor McGovern was busy destroying his drumkit. Like last time, the band took a short break and had another guy come fill in on drums (anyone know who this was? Hit me up if you do) while Proscriptor came out to do several songs just on vocals.

A closer pic with everyone in it

Proscriptor on vox

Absu!

(I’m… actually pretty happy with that last pic. Huh.)

As I said earlier, I had planned on buying some music but Absu only had vinyl with them, and while I dig vinyl I generally only buy it in special cases (see doom; rare black metal). I have added “more Absu” to my mental list of things, though (and it occurs to me that that should probably become a physical list if I am to actually remember anything on the list. Hmm).

Anyway, every band I had the good fortune to see on this night played a solid set. False tore it up as usual (nice to see them again since I missed them before Abbath), Absu was absolutely dumbfoundingly good, and I was introduced to Christworm, whose set I greatly enjoyed.

Next up, Behemoth! Playing The Satanist in its entirety on Walpurgisnacht. Should be a good one…

-Hagalaz

Concert: Pig Destroyer/Call of the Void/Invidiosis/Ambassador Gun/Aetheric (4/9, Triple Rock, Mpls, MN)

Two days after getting to see Abbath, I headed down to the Triple Rock to witness Pig Destroyer play their first ever Minnesota show. I was lucky enough to see them before at Maryland Deathfest, and was fortunate to get my ticket early as the show here sold out. For such a huge turnout I only knew about three other people there, but I made some friends in line at the door. They were from Des Moines, ironically, and we traded Vaudeville Mews memories.

There were quite a few openers for the show, the first of whom was Aetheric, a local band that I have not heard of before (but I recognized their guitarist from around places). They were very good; I was really impressed with the guitarist and vocalist both. Lots of melodic, squiggly bits, which is not something I encounter much in a city with so much death metal. I will have to keep an eye on them in the future.

Go, squiggly!

Ambassador Gun was next (they switched places with Invidiosis and I spent a few minutes really confused), and they played as solid as set as they did the last time I saw them. I’m not very familiar with their catalog, but AG’s brand of punkish death metal was really apropos. (Also, they were and are always a really tight and solid band and it hopefully will not be two more years before I see them again.)

Ambassador Gun is never not good

The pit off to a good start early in the evening

Invidiosis was the last local band to play. I have heard a lot about Invidiosis, and some of its members are friends of friends, but I have never seen them before this show. I felt like this set was the odd one out of the night, being more death metal and thrashy than the punk-infusion that characterized all the other bands, but it was a fun and well-executed set nonetheless. Also, Invidiosis is also apparently touring in South America soon, so that’s cool. (And I’m pretty sure that one of their band members works at the liquor store where I buy my beer.)

Invidiosis

While I enjoy watching local acts, especially when it’s stuff that’s new to me and Ambassador Gun, I was ready when Call of the Void took the stage. I like their stuff and am very familiar with album covers from the record store, but seeing them live really made it click for me. (This is not that strange, I think- for me, grindcore always makes more sense live). Call of the Void was absolutely tremendous- loud, heavy, fast, and fun. I expected a lot from them, and they did not disappoint.

Call of the Void

And a shot from further back

Pig Destroyer took the stage at last, and… played a pretty long set, actually. I was very impressed. As I mentioned above, it was their first ever show in Minnesota, and Pig Destroyer live is a rare event anyway. The result was an extremely receptive crowd that made me glad that I had chosen to stand behind the rail- it generated one of the craziest mosh pits I’ve seen (certainly the craziest I’ve seen at the Triple Rock), with people stage diving and pretty much constant churning. I tried to get a panoramic shot of the crowd at one point and that failed miserably. Oh well.

The guests of honor- Pig Destroyer

Unfortunately, my pictures don’t do the pit much justice

Pig Destroyer killed it musically as well in what I can only assume is the grindcore equivalent of running a marathon. There was a lot of build up for this one, and understandably so, and they absolutely delivered.

This show was part two of the insane metal show month that is April 2016, and it served to remind me why I love watching live grindcore. I own grindcore albums, and they’re great, but there’s something about the energy that translates perfectly into a live setting. I need to try to see more grind; I saw a lot in Des Moines but not as much since I’ve come up here.

Just saw Absu, so that’ll be up soon as well. And then, Behemoth. (I missed Apocalyptica last night. I just couldn’t do it. It’s crunch time in the school semester, and I just can’t do everything.)

-Hagalaz

Concert: Abbath/High on Fire/Skeletonwitch/Tribulation/False (4/7, Mill City Nights, Mpls, MN)

Decibel’s lineups for their annual tour never disappoint, and when I saw that Abbath was headlining this year’s edition there was no way I was going to miss. (I also never got to see Immortal, so there is that.) I was also really excited for the chance to see High On Fire, whom I have never seen despite the fact that it feels like they play here every other month, and Tribulation, whom I have also never seen.

My overall excitement was flagged a little by the fact that it was on a night I had class, so I GUESS I WILL JUST MISS TRIBULATION AGAIN. Someday. Someday I will see them. (Seriously. Every. Freaking. Time. Which deity did I piss off for this to happen? The one that governs graduate students? Because after seven years of grad school I believe that there is a malevolent deity in charge of it.)

Ahem. Anyway. I had class, so I had to arrive late and I got there about midway through Skeletonwitch’s set. Admittedly, I didn’t pay very good attention; I like Skeletonwitch fine, but I’m always a little distracted when I have to walk in on something halfway through. I wasn’t aware that their lineup had changed so much, as I’m only the most casual of fans, but I was impressed with their new vocalist. I saw enough of their set to hear a range of songs, including “Beyond the Permafrost” and a brand new track.

I didn’t get any pictures though, because I forgot that I am now snapping terrible pictures until later on in the evening. Whoops.

Next up was High On Fire, which was long overdue for me. They play here a lot, but I always have something else going on and never get to actually go. I have seen Sleep, but I hadn’t seen High On Fire, which is silly. They played “Speedwolf” and “Rumors of War,” and I noted that Matt Pike still hasn’t found his shirt, which means that God is still in his heaven and all is still right with the world.

I was back sorta far, which was ok, because there was much moshing. 

Doom.

Then was Abbath, who came out to a crazy, weird-sounding thing that was not unlike a movie soundtrack, which made me giggle. They opened with “To War,” which makes logical sense as the opening track on the new album, and then I got to deal with the crushing reality of the fact that Abbath and King ov Hell were less than twenty yards away from me. From that point on my brain kind of went into a weird euphoria and I spent the rest of the night alternating between singing along and screaming like a little girl in sheer excitement.

King ov Hell and his glorious hair

Dudes

You can see Creature if you squint hard. This is about the best my little phone camera can do

ABBATH!

Because I knew that they were going to play Immortal songs going in, but I didn’t expect damn near half the set to be Immortal songs. It was nuts. They pretty much alternated between the two all night. Most of the Abbath album got covered (“Fenrir Hunts” is fantastic live, by the way), and even though, with the exception of “Nebular Ravens Winter,” they didn’t play anything older than At the Heart of Winter, any Immortal is better than the alternative, which for me was never seeing anyone in Immortal play Immortal songs ever, and thus it was that I left that show a much happier person than I was when I went in. Also because they played “Solarfall,” and that’s about the point where my brain melted out my ears.

I admit, I had had a long and trying day and was very tired when I went to this show, and that paired with the knowledge that I’d be missing Tribulation again kind of put a damper on the start of my night. But I left there happier than I have been post-concert since that time I saw Mayhem and Watain on the same night. Holy crap. And if you think I’ve been doing anything but listening to black metal for a solid week now you’re kidding yourself.

Also, I missed our local False, who opened the show, and I just have to say- props to Decibel for letting those guys open. I don’t think that local bands get to open very many of the shows on the Decibel tour (and I understand why; there are always a lot of bands already playing), and it’s super cool that False was able to open for this. It’s also super lame that I missed it, but… well.

And let it be known, that the next day, in early April in Mpls/St. Paul, MN, we got heavy snow dumped on us all day. It didn’t stick, because the ground was too warm, but it’s worth noting that Abbath came to our cities in April and gifted us with a mini-blizzard.

-Hagalaz

 

 

More Pics from Behexen/Sargeist

As promised, some pics from black metal weekend. It occurs to me that I must not have gotten any pics of Behexen- was too busy headbanging I guess. Enjoy!

My farewell party. He was displeased that I was gone all weekend.

The lovely A at the Beat Kitchen, rocking the Emperor shirt

Kommandant’s vocalist. His new get-up is terrifying

Kommandant

Just one of the many curiosities from the awesome sushi place/Japanese grocery store

Mugging for the camera with my bow to match my battle jacket

Kvties

Jex Thoth

I liked her dancing

Sargeist

Ave.

-H

Concert: Sargeist/Acid Witch/Empyreus/Strix Nebulosa/Jex Thoth (7/6, Beat Kitchen, Chicago)

***NOTE: Alas, there are no vids this time. For some reason, WordPress (or this post in particular, perhaps) is not letting me embed videos. So I don’t have those for you. I do have a few pictures from the shows, but they aren’t all uploaded on my computer so I will have to do a follow up post of those.***

Night two of my and A’s black metal weekend was a significantly longer bill, featuring a wide range of music. I was a bit in shock that I was going to get to see Sargeist- I figured that would never happen, even less of a chance than Behexen. Also, I was looking forward to seeing Acid Witch as A really loves them, as well as Jex Thoth, because I have fallen pretty hard for that weird 60s occult rock stuff. The crowd was also substantially bigger than the previous night; I think a lot of people were there for Acid Witch, as they don’t seem to play live often. Also, as I mentioned before, I think Sargeist live is an even rarer event than Behexen.

The show started off with Jex Thoth, who danced up on stage wearing a Red Riding Hood-like cape (I have a similar one, actually!) and carrying burning sage. As much as I love my black metal, I’d say that she was seriously in danger of stealing the show- the crowd adored her, and she would often jump down into the crowd to give people sage to hold and to whisper in certain people’s ears. For me, the performance was really cool because it was such a huge contrast to The Devil’s Blood- Jex Thoth is constantly in movement when she’s performing in direct contrast with The Mouth of Satan- even though the music evokes the same era. It was very cool to see the Satanic 60s depicted in a different way.

Next up was Strix Nebulosa. Their approach to black metal was an interesting one considering the crowd- these guys seem to use a more pagan, nature-y commentary on the genre as opposed to a Satanic one. When the vocalist announced that “there is no God, no Satan, only Nature,” A and I exchanged looks; them’s strong words in that crowd. I missed the very first part of Strix Nebulosa’s set, but ended up catching most of it, and I have to say that I enjoyed what I saw. It’s not easy to pull off two-man black metal, and they managed to do it well.

The next band was a local Chicago band called Empyreus, whom I really enjoyed. Empyreus’ style of black metal was more bombastic than Strix Nubulosa’s, and you could tell that this group had been playing together for quite a while. I saw a number of people in the crowd sporting their shirts, so they clearly are well known locally. Their original stuff was excellent, and as an added surprise they played a very well received cover of Celtic Frost’s “Morbid Tales.”

After Empyreus, we switched gears entirely, moving on to the deathy doom of Acid Witch. As I mentioned above, I never really listened to Acid Witch, but considering that horror movies are my other big geekery, I am officially a fan now. Their use of synth is really cool, and I love the cackles that the vocalist throws in. Unfortunately, there seemed to be some miscommunication between the band and the venue in terms of how much time they had- Acid Witch had two more songs to play when they were told they had to stop. The crowd was upset, as seeing Acid Witch play is seemingly a rarer occurrence than I had realized, but in the interest of not pissing off the Finns (they don’t seem like the type you’d want to piss off), it was probably for the best. The guys from Acid Witch were also super cool and very professional about the whole thing, and I enjoyed getting to talk horror movie soundtracks briefly with them.

Finally, Sargeist took the stage, plunging us once again into Satan sans the Sam Rami-esque camp. By this point my neck was starting to get understandably sore (I haven’t done two nights in a row in quite a while), but I couldn’t help but bang my head anyway. My heart jumped up in my throat when they played songs that I knew from listening sessions with J, and it was cool to see several of the same guys in a slightly different element than the previous night. I assumed that they would just use the same members for each night, but turns out they brought the whole crew- while Shatraug (guitar), Horns (drums), and Hoath Torog (vocals) were back for round two, another guitarist and bassist joined them on stage.

Sargeist started out with “Satanic Black Devotion,” and also played “Black Fucking Murder” from the same album. After the show, a couple of friends of mine suggested that hearing “Let the Devil In” would have made the night just that much better, but damn if it wasn’t a hell of a show anyway. Sargeist played a little bit longer than Behexen did the night before, but the night was still entirely too short. On the way out, I thanked Shatraug for the wonderful weekend and wished him and the bands safe travels on their tour before heading back to the hotel for a much needed shower and to split a bottle of Surly Pentagram with A.

As I mentioned last time, Sargeist was completely out of merch, so I didn’t end up getting anything from them but the patch from the night before (which is good, honestly- it meant I had gas money to get back to the Cities). I ended up with a Jex Thoth shirt. The merch guy asked if it was ok if it had European tour dates from 2012 on the back, and I said sure, that I thought the little demon dude on the front was cute. He reminds me of Clive Barker’s artwork, or of the little wolf dude from the new Arckanum record.

A little blurry. But you get the picture (no pun intended)

Europe dates I didn’t go to

Overall, it was a killer weekend, and I’m very happy that I finally mustered up the courage to get down to Chicago to see someone. The trip down, I learned, is actually not all that bad, although the construction outside of Chicago (which I’m told has been there for a couple of years) was a real pain. I’ve never been to a city the size of Chicago, and I still haven’t really considering that A and I acted like stereotypical black metal fans and didn’t really leave our hotel, but considering the shootings that went on that weekend that’s probably for the best. Despite that, I know now that it’s not the worst drive to get down there, especially if we leave early, and that Chicago is a perfectly reasonable destination to travel to for concerts.

Also, I saw two bands that I never thought I’d get to see live, and they were incredible. This weekend helped remind me of why I love black metal so much, and I’m really grateful that I had the opportunity to see Sargeist and Behexen.

Infernal hails!

-Hagalaz

 

 

Concert: Behexen/Kommandant/Akashah (7/5, Beat Kitchen, Chicago)

When I heard Behexen and Sargeist were playing back to back shows in Chicago, I knew that I had to go regardless of how many hippies I had to fight or goats I had to sacrifice to get there. I’ve loved Behexen ever since I went on a quest a couple of years ago to find out just who these dudes were that I kept seeing everywhere, and J’s love of Sargeist is quite infectious. The fact that the shows coincided perfectly with A’s birthday just added to the multitudinous list of reasons that we absolutely had to go.

The first night was Behexen, and the first opener was a band called Akashah from Illinois. Their name made me think of Queen of the Damned, which I think was one of Anne Rice’s better works, so that made me happy from a nerdy perspective. I enjoyed their set- although it appears on Encyclopedia Metallum that Akashah is a one man project, the live set of course featured a full band. Formerly a member of the N.S.B.M. group the Pagan Front, there was no hint of Akashah’s political leanings anywhere in their set. While I really loved the drums, my only complaint was that the guitars were often not in tune with each other. As a musician, I know that this could be accounted for by any number of variables (the weather, for example, which alternated all weekend between eerily pleasant for July and torrential downpour), but it was simply a minor hiccup in an otherwise excellent performance.

Next up was Kommandant, who I have been anxiously awaiting seeing live again since I saw them play a set plagued by technical difficulties at Maryland Death Fest last year. Just as last time, the music was fantastic; I love the sheer amount of percussion Kommandant uses, and the snare drums are a nice touch to the military-esque presentation. Props to the snare drummer stage left who lost a drumstick in the last song and still managed to make it work without drawing unwanted attention to himself. Also, Kommandant’s vocalist has added a new piece to his stage costume- a crown of thorns that sits right at his eye level. Let me tell you, I have seen many, many black metal shows at this point in my life, and his stage get-up was the creepiest thing I have ever seen. Someone has been watching Hellraiser…

Last but certainly not least was Behexen. I was thrilled to death to note that the young lady who sold me my shirt at the merch table was playing with the band- she absolutely killed on the bass, and finger- picked everything. I ended up right in front of Hoath Torog during this set, and I’m pretty sure he didn’t blink the entire time. It was an intense performance, and I’m really grateful that I got to see it.

Behexen played a number of songs from throughout their career, with a little added focus on the new album, Nightside Emanations, as will happen with tours in support of new albums. Some of the setlist included “Death’s Black Light” and “In the Temple of the Silent Curses,” from the new album, as well as older favorites like “By the Blessing of Satan” and “My Soul for His Glory.” An enthusiastic fan in the crowd demanded to no avail to hear “Circle Me,” a song that I think a lot of us were hoping for as I think it’d be super cool live. I’m not complaining, however; I saw Behexen, and I never thought that would happen. The set clocked in at about 45 minutes of raging hell.

[Some helpful person uploaded the whole set from Martyrdoom to YouTube. Enjoy!]

In terms of souvenirs from the show, I got to take away a t-shirt from the merch table (the last one! In a girlie large, nonetheless) and some more autographs. As I mentioned earlier, the band’s touring bassist was working merch, and she was kind enough to let me try on the shirt over my clothes to make sure it fit before I bought it (never can tell with those girlie sizes). Naturally, then, when it came time for me to try to get my record signed, I went to her to ask if they would sign it.

I have a real knack for grabbing “the last one.” Please ignore the cat hair

Hoath Torog signed my record and was really nice- it was a bit awkward that I didn’t have a pen. In the craziness that surrounded the morning that A and I left the Cities, I forgot to grab one of my silver Sharpies. Fortunately, the bartender had a pen I could borrow. Wraath also signed my record, although he seemed much less thrilled about it (two years in Minnesota, and I still haven’t figured out how to read Scandinavians).

Hoath Torog’s autograph. Photo taken with help from The Cat

Wraath’s autograph

A and I also grabbed some Kommandant merch. A ended up snagging a different shirt than mine (the new one, I believe, with the guns on the back), and even though that had an awesome red shirt, I opted for the old school one. I just love the gas masks. I was a rivet head back in highschool, and old habits die hard.

For the record, gas masks are uncomfortably tight. But I suppose you’d want them to be

The bullets sold me (well. That’s not blurry at all.)

We also picked up Kommandant patches, and I grabbed a Sargeist patch as well. I’m really glad I did, too, as Sargeist didn’t have any merch available the next night.

More patches!

It was an incredible evening full of a wide variety of terror. I got to see Kommandant, a Midwestern black metal band that I love, learned of Akashah’s work, and watched Behexen belch forth some brimstone. We retired to the hotel exhausted, and then I promptly started to not sleep well at all. Even more was in store, however, for the next night!

Ave,
Hagalaz

**I plan on making a post with some pics from the shows, but I need to edit them some. I left my flash off so as to not be That Guy, and they’re a little dark.

Concert: 3rd Annual Decibel Tour- Carcass/The Black Dahlia Murder/Gorguts/Noisem (4/4, Mill City Nights, Minneapolis, MN)

Note: My apologies for the formatting weirdness. I don’t know what’s going on.

***

Friday night I headed down to downtown Minneapolis to see the mighty Carcass! I saw them last year at Maryland Deathfest, but as a short person I had some trouble seeing everything (and I had to leave a little early), so I was looking forward to seeing them in a smaller venue. Plus I geeked out pretty hard over Surgical Steel– it was easily one of my favorite albums of last year.
When we got to the venue, Noisem was already playing, and we took the opportunity then to visit the merch booth. All of the bands had some pretty awesome stuff; my favorite thing was probably the Reek of Putrefaction coffee mug that Carcass had (I talked myself out of it because I decided that I probably don’t actually want to drink coffee out of an autopsy mug). I actually ended up with the girly shirt for once- they were out of mediums, which ended up being fine because the large fits me pretty perfectly. I liked how the shirt references both Reek of Putrefaction and Surgical Steel simultaneously, somewhat representative of the band’s career.

Also, pink blood-splatter!

Despite going shopping and saying hello to friends during part of it, I heard enough of Noisem to appreciate them (once again, I didn’t see a whole lot as I was stuck at the back at this point). Noisem plays old school, mid-90s era death metal; a friend said that he almost expected them to be wearing skater shoes and surf shorts. I need to spend some more time checking them out, because I really liked what I heard.

[Yet another brilliant band I missed at MDF last year. And that guy’s wearing a Minor Threat shirt! Win!]

Next up was Gorguts, who were spectacular. I don’t know much about Gorguts at all, to be honest, besides their last album Colored Sands, which I really loved. I am incredibly picky about my death metal, as I’ve said a million times before, and the band’s more recent output has been really enjoyable for me despite it being more technical than I generally like and more proggy. I thoroughly enjoyed their set, all the way down to their weird percussion on the drum kit.

[Drums.]

I wasn’t all that thrilled to see The Black Dahlia Murder- to be fair, I’ve never really listened to them, but they have one of those names that makes me skeptical. It wasn’t bad; they do what they do really well, even if it is a little bit too breakdownish for me at times. At least there weren’t any clean vocal choruses. Their bassist did really impress me, as he was finger-picking everything and playing some really fast stuff. Also, the kids really dug TBDM’s set and responded with tons of crowd surfing and moshing.

[His stomach-tattoo wasn’t doing it for me. Especially with the hashtag that it now has in front of it. o_O]

Last but certainly not least was the mighty Carcass, who made a comment about how everyone had gotten tired during The Black Dahlia Murder’s set and didn’t want to party with them (I heard from J, who is in Georgia now, that this is apparently a trend on this tour). Of course, the juxtaposition of the two bands makes you realize how much Carcass has slowed down since their gore-grind days, but I was thrilled to see them, considering that I missed the end of their set at Maryland Deathfest last year. And Carcass is exactly the kind of death metal I love- punky, with gratuitous, senseless violence.

They showed film clips during the set of really disturbing images, like surgeons cutting open body parts, etc. Of course, the music made a perfect soundtrack to these clips. Carcass played some songs from every album; unsurprisingly, most of the focus was on Surgical Steel, but they played some old grindy tunes and even a couple of tracks from Swansong, about which Jeff Walker made a joke about clearing the room. They also played “Captive Bolt Pistol,” which they claimed was their “ballad.” While I tend to get really tired during death metal sets and can’t really abide much more than an hour of a death metal band, Carcass has enough variation in their catalog that it never got tiring.

[Why did no one ever tell me that Bill Steer is HOT?!]
All and all, it was a great round three for the Decibel Tour. I’m interested to see the package they’ll put together next year- I’m still crossing my fingers for a Viking tour of some sort. Or maybe an obscure black metal tour, and they can help a band like Mgla get over here and stay awhile. Carcass was as completely fulfilling as I had hoped they would be, and I’m happy I had the opportunity to see Gorguts in a smaller venue as opposed to the monstrous crowd at MDF. The other bands pleasantly surprised me; a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
Keep an eye out over here. I’m going to be getting more active again. Promise.
-Hagalaz

Hey Guys!

Hey! I’m working on things! My review of Watain’s The Wild Hunt should be up tomorrow! And I saw Finntroll and Morbid Angel this week, so I’m hopefully going to talk about those! And maybe manage to somehow get all the reviews I want to write written!

…Anyway. In the meantime, you should check out my friend A’s new blog, Folkin’ Kvlt! She is just getting started, but she is brilliant and lovely, and I’m really looking forward to reading her stuff. Check it out here.

-H.