Very
rarely am I impressed by an obscure opening band on a death metal bill
but Finish lads Omnium Gatherum are an exception to that rule. They hit
the stage as the crowd was still entering the venue, playing a hard
hitting, bone crunching set splashed with keyboards and melodies as well
as powerful throaty vocals, like old In Flames mixed with bits of Dimmu
Borgir and Children of Bodom. The standout track was “Chameleon Skin”,
which impressed me so much I bought their new album “The Red Shift” on
the way out. Definitely a band to watch out for in 2009.
Next up were Austrian blackened
death quartet Belphegor who brought raging guitars, powerhouse drumming,
thunderous bass and songs about Satan to Leeds. I wasn’t too impressed,
then again I wasn’t too keen on their new album, however it was quite
amusing when the singer donned a leather, spike laden, gimp mask for
final song “Bondage Goat Zombie”.
Swedish death metal veterans Grave
are monolith in the death metal world, having been around for the best
part of two decades however, despite such an illustrious history, they
were reduced to a mere support slot
in Leeds. Going down the obvious road of aggressive guitars and fast,
furious drum work they pounded through their thirty minute set with
ease, however a poor mix throughout didn’t help their new
material in the slightest and the highlight was finale “And Here I Die”,
by which time the sound problems had finally been rectified.
Whatever the positives were for the
three bands that went before there was only one
reason why Leeds Rio’s was packed and that was for the mighty Nile.
Despite various factors like work and college the following day, the
Northern death metal brigade were out in force to see the Pharaohs lay
down their Egyptian sounds. As soon as it came to songs like “Papyrus
Containing the Spell to Preserve It's Possessor Against Attacks From He
Who Is In The Water” and “Cast Down The Heretic” the 300 strong crowd
erupted into mass mosh pits with bodies flying everywhere to the
powerful and technical sounds coming from the quartet and when Karl Sanders
broke out the twin neck flying V for “Ithyphallic” you knew it was
going to be something special. Adding in “Annihilation of The Wicked”
and “Sarcophagus” just sent the crowd into even more of a frenzy before
the penultimate “Black Seeds Of Vengeance” which got the best crowd
“sing-a-long” at a death metal gig I’ve been to. Finally Nile treated us
to a very special moment, “Unas, Slayer Of The Gods”, a nine minute epic
that has only been played to certain crowds on this tour. Last year’s
“Ithyphallic” showed why Nile are still classed as the saviours of death
metal, and it has stood the test in the live setting as well, hopefully
they’ll bring it back to Britain very soon.
John Consterdine
