Live @ The Garage (Upstairs), London, UK
August 27, 2014
Annunciation. Old school death metal. Quite possibly the best band in England. First gig with secondary guitarist Sonny (Secreum).
Overthrow, playing on the third anniversary of their first gig. Tight, deathy thrash, tastefully melodic. A professional performance with reserved precision.
My second time seeing Black Skies Burn. Deathy grind from some "chavvy shithole" north of London. Twenty second songs about Chris Benoit and what have you. Pretty much stole the show for the entire evening. Stoic stage presence with facial expressions drawn from the sort of statues that adorn Aztec sacrificial altars. There's something very wrong about an Englishman wearing a cowboy hat. Bargain of the night with a hard copy CD for £5 (listen here).
Wretched Soul. An example of an all-to-rare heavy metal subtype - heavily anti-Christian with clean vocals. And lots of unclean vocals too. Tonight was a well put together show, as far as showcasing the varieties of death metal. Old school to slam to thrash to grind to good ol' heavy fucking metal. Mercyful Fate 5.0, or whatever generation we're on now. Wretched Soul look and sound like something out of the mid to late 80's, and they do what they do well.
Anoxide are slamming brutal death, bordering on deathcore at moments. Definitely who the fans came to see tonight, this was their house. Some video here. Retained most of the crowd to the end for some onstage moshing, and the dancing didn't stop in the pit.
