Post by markwj on May 10, 2010 12:18:03 GMT
Bolt Thrower, Benediction, Rotting Christ, Merciless Terror
Central Station, Wrexham
5/5/10
After establishing in the morning that despite being broken I was still fit for purpose, that purpose was more destruction courtesy of a return to Wrexham of some death metal legends. As was much reported 19 whole years since the two lead bands had trekked up from the heart of the dark midlands to grace a local stage. In those days it would have been the Memo Hall at the prime time of the peak of the burgeoning scene, that place is now long demolished and the moment gone. however through the sterling work of promoter Ian lately there has been a great upturn of interest in things happening on the more extreme front here. Tonight proved the perfect marriage of the present and past, a great reunion of the old school crew and a reinforcement of a new wave of metal appreciation.
Bolt Thrower have kept their relentless war machine running through all that time, though this was their first full uk tour in a long time. I was lucky enough to see them up in bradford a few years back but dropped a major bollock in not getting tickets in time to their sold out birmingham show last year (of which i am frequently reminded by aggrieved potential customers!). Seeing this Wrexham date raised much excitement locally, and i was able to get a lift over with "Speedy" Caroline and Gwyn who were glad of their first opportunity to see them, and there meet others who like me must be getting onto a couple of hands full of times, the turnout after initial worries on sales looked very good and the atmoshphere was bubbling.
In typical fashion of the band that has always kept things on the level in terms of its roots in the underground Bolt Thrower had offered up the opening slots through a competition and for this date we had Merciless Savage over from Nottingham. Obviously pretty young and new but after the guitar sound was reined in a bit their death/grind was pretty effective, especially some of the heavier breakdown passages. the only constructive criticism i'd give is the vocalist should ditch some of the "rawk" banter cliches, for that is what they are.
Rotting Christ are over from Greece doing the whole tour but while i leant them an ear to see if they could change my opinion on a rather underwhelming impression when i saw them at the Damnation festival last year there was really no change. Ok, there's some thundering heaviness at times but there's also a lot of lighter riffs and polished structure that seem to move into some anthemic goth metal territory. They had a good reaction from those who were into it but not enough balls for me.
Benediction had also been seen last at Damnation and although the ubiquitous Dave Cunt (fresh-ish from Fukpig duties) had not been fronting them back in the old days here, he was well versed in the history and the sense of occasion. Their rough and ready death, powered along by drum legend Nick Barker had a good punk vibe running through it, Frank's bass having a good grind to it and funny to see him laughing at some of the obscure early requests shouted out for. There was also appreciation for kids up at the front who wouldn't even have been born the last time they played here and all in all their tight set was well received
The headliners took the stage to some triumphant march backing track and a lot of people there would certainly give them a returning hero's welcome. From the off their ultra heavy riffs groove along, rolling forward on pummelling double bass. the combined power of the two guitars and bass (jo bench, ahh...) is battering, though what they are also masters of is one heading off into harmonies. Their recipe for success remains brutal precision in their structures and the headbanging can't help but be triggered from this, despite my incapacity. The killer blast from the past of "WarMaster/Cenotaph" medley blows caution to the wind and i have a brief celebratory surf and dive in the mad mosh they brought on, fortunately enough sedatives had been consumed to mean i didn't feel a thing (Initially!). That's the only excursion into their distant past catalogue though as they rely on more recent material, sad for greedy me. There is a slight feeling that they are at cruising speed with a lot of these as opposed to full on blasting but hey, if this is pacing yourself it's fine by me, as tunes like "For Victory", "Powder Burns" and "No Guts, No Glory" lay waste. Carl is fine form up front, beaming smile and again giving the appreciation of their ongoing relationship with the scene. Curiously they have called a day to their recording career after their last "those once loyal" album feeling they can't top what they have already done, but live they still carry the weight to inflict a happy destruction upon us all. Lest we forget.
Central Station, Wrexham
5/5/10
After establishing in the morning that despite being broken I was still fit for purpose, that purpose was more destruction courtesy of a return to Wrexham of some death metal legends. As was much reported 19 whole years since the two lead bands had trekked up from the heart of the dark midlands to grace a local stage. In those days it would have been the Memo Hall at the prime time of the peak of the burgeoning scene, that place is now long demolished and the moment gone. however through the sterling work of promoter Ian lately there has been a great upturn of interest in things happening on the more extreme front here. Tonight proved the perfect marriage of the present and past, a great reunion of the old school crew and a reinforcement of a new wave of metal appreciation.
Bolt Thrower have kept their relentless war machine running through all that time, though this was their first full uk tour in a long time. I was lucky enough to see them up in bradford a few years back but dropped a major bollock in not getting tickets in time to their sold out birmingham show last year (of which i am frequently reminded by aggrieved potential customers!). Seeing this Wrexham date raised much excitement locally, and i was able to get a lift over with "Speedy" Caroline and Gwyn who were glad of their first opportunity to see them, and there meet others who like me must be getting onto a couple of hands full of times, the turnout after initial worries on sales looked very good and the atmoshphere was bubbling.
In typical fashion of the band that has always kept things on the level in terms of its roots in the underground Bolt Thrower had offered up the opening slots through a competition and for this date we had Merciless Savage over from Nottingham. Obviously pretty young and new but after the guitar sound was reined in a bit their death/grind was pretty effective, especially some of the heavier breakdown passages. the only constructive criticism i'd give is the vocalist should ditch some of the "rawk" banter cliches, for that is what they are.
Rotting Christ are over from Greece doing the whole tour but while i leant them an ear to see if they could change my opinion on a rather underwhelming impression when i saw them at the Damnation festival last year there was really no change. Ok, there's some thundering heaviness at times but there's also a lot of lighter riffs and polished structure that seem to move into some anthemic goth metal territory. They had a good reaction from those who were into it but not enough balls for me.
Benediction had also been seen last at Damnation and although the ubiquitous Dave Cunt (fresh-ish from Fukpig duties) had not been fronting them back in the old days here, he was well versed in the history and the sense of occasion. Their rough and ready death, powered along by drum legend Nick Barker had a good punk vibe running through it, Frank's bass having a good grind to it and funny to see him laughing at some of the obscure early requests shouted out for. There was also appreciation for kids up at the front who wouldn't even have been born the last time they played here and all in all their tight set was well received
The headliners took the stage to some triumphant march backing track and a lot of people there would certainly give them a returning hero's welcome. From the off their ultra heavy riffs groove along, rolling forward on pummelling double bass. the combined power of the two guitars and bass (jo bench, ahh...) is battering, though what they are also masters of is one heading off into harmonies. Their recipe for success remains brutal precision in their structures and the headbanging can't help but be triggered from this, despite my incapacity. The killer blast from the past of "WarMaster/Cenotaph" medley blows caution to the wind and i have a brief celebratory surf and dive in the mad mosh they brought on, fortunately enough sedatives had been consumed to mean i didn't feel a thing (Initially!). That's the only excursion into their distant past catalogue though as they rely on more recent material, sad for greedy me. There is a slight feeling that they are at cruising speed with a lot of these as opposed to full on blasting but hey, if this is pacing yourself it's fine by me, as tunes like "For Victory", "Powder Burns" and "No Guts, No Glory" lay waste. Carl is fine form up front, beaming smile and again giving the appreciation of their ongoing relationship with the scene. Curiously they have called a day to their recording career after their last "those once loyal" album feeling they can't top what they have already done, but live they still carry the weight to inflict a happy destruction upon us all. Lest we forget.