Serving as the main support act for the co-headliners tonight, Scottish technical death metallers MAN MUST DIE, delivered a decent 30 minute set, which got the crowd going and warmed up nicely for the first headliner. They did impress me enough that I will definitely be checking them out again at next months HAMMERFEST.

Everytime I have seen the might of KATAKLYSM, they have been outstanding, and tonight was no different. Technically, these guys are on another planet and with quality material to back them up, it’s amazing these guys aren’t bigger than they are. Still, the fans who turned up tonight would have been thoroughly delighted at what was on offer.

As they kicked in with ‘Like Angels Weeping (The Dark)’, other crowd pleasers like ‘As I Slither’, ‘Manipulator of Souls’ and the ever present ‘Crippled & Broken’ all went down a storm with the crowd, as they headbanged in unison with the band, as well as plenty of moshpits breaking out. What made the set even better was the sound was crisp and clear, so every bit of guitarwork and drum pattern was showed off to its full potential.

Brutal renditions of ‘The Ambassador of Pain’ and ‘The Resurrected’ were note perfect, whilst the doomier and the intertwined slower tempos of ‘Centuries (Beneath The Dark Waters)’ added a bit more atmosphere to what was, a superb set.

With this tour being DECAPITATED‘s first since the accident that saw Covan enter a coma and Vitek taken from us, of which there were many chants for him throughout the set showing he may be gone, but definitley not forgotten, it was great to see the band’s mastermind Vogg back in action doing what he does best. With three new members to the band, in the short space of time they have been together, they have gelled extremely quickly.

Krimh, Vitek’s replacement, was absolutley brilliant tonight as he performed complex drum pattern after drum pattern that would have made his predecessor proud, whilst although new vocalist Rafal Piotrowski (who could be mistaken for a young Chris Barnes) wasn’t the most interactive with the crowd, he didn’t have to be as this was only about the music speaking for itself.

The set was mainly made up from the last album, ‘Organic Hallucinosis’, with the first three songs, ‘A Poem About An Old Prison Man’, ‘Day 69′ and ‘Post(?) Organic’, being intertwined together with relative ease by the band, while the rest of the album back catalogue got a showing with the likes of ‘Winds of Creation’, ‘Mother War’ and ‘Three Dimensional Defect’.

A blistering rendition of ‘Spheres of Madness’ got the crowd going once again as they began to headbang with sheer ferocity, and as the final notes were played, this closed what was another excellent set of technical death metal of the night.

As the crowd began to disperse with probably some aches and for some, whiplash, you couldn’t argue that you saw two bands on top of their game tonight. It will be a gig that will be in my mind for sometime to come. Let’s hope its not too long before these two great bands are back gracing the shores and stages of the UK.

Ratings:

Review By Adam Fredericks

Arriving at venue, we were just in time to catch the last couple of songs by KEEP OF KALESSIN, whose black metal with thrash tinged style seemed to be going down a treat with the crowd. From what I heard of the likes of ‘Ascendant’ and ‘Kolossus’, both of which come from latest album ‘Kolossus’, they definitely warrant further listening, and probably seeing again sometime as this brief viewing was enough to wet my appetite for more.

After being impressed by their technicality and caliber of their material at last years Bloodstock Open Air, I couldn’t wait to see Canadian Death Metallers KATAKLYSM again. From the off, you could tell the band were loving this intimate atmosphere, as well as the crowd as the pit got going for the first of many tonight. Ripping through a brutal 40 minute set, the sound was crisp and clear and a pummeling performance by Max Duhamel on drums was awe inspiring as he produced numerous trademarked blast beats and together with the rest of the band were intent on total annihilation of the venue.

Given the back catalogue of KATAKLYSM, they tried to give each album a run out, with their set being full of their best work to date. Highlights included the impressive ‘Crippled & Broken’, ‘Let Them Burn’ and ‘As I Slither’, as well as the awesome ‘Taking The World By Storm’ from latest album ‘Prevail’. As the set closed with ‘Like Angels Weeping (The Dark)’, the crowd were chanting for more, which shows you the positive reaction they left on the crowd. KATAKLYSM also announced they would be returning to the UK early next year for a headline tour. If you love death metal, get your ass to one of their shows, you won’t regret it. I, for one will definately be there!

The last time Bay Area Thrashers DEATH ANGEL played Nottingham, their set didn’t last that long as they ran into technical difficulties. Thank god that was not the case tonight as they delivered a truly superb 75 minute set full of thrash classics both new and old. Mark Osegueda was in fine form as were the dual guitar attack of Ted Aguilar and Rob Cavestany as they blistered through tracks like ‘Voracious Souls’ and ‘Buried Alive’.

The new guys to the band, Sammy Diosdado on bass, and Will Carroll on drums have fitted in very nicely to the band and were extremely tight with the rest of the other members tonight. Also, a bit of a jam session being performed in the encore between songs highlighted this as they produced some quality entertainment. Pits were a plenty tonight, and it was great to see both the band and the crowd having an absolute storm as Osegueda on more than one occasion handed the microphone to the crowd to sing along with him, and plenty of banter was passed between both crowd and the band which made for an even better evening.

One of the highlights of the set was probably one of the songs they haven’t played since before the band first split, ‘Road Mutants’ and it was nice to here even if a couple of set pleasers had been sacrificed to make way for some of the older stuff they haven’t played for ages, which was perfectly fine with me. Other highlights obviously included ‘Thrown To The Wolves’, ‘Seemingly Endless Time’, ‘Stop’, and ‘Carnival Justice’ along with encore duo of ‘Lord of Hate’ and ‘Kill As One’. This capped off a wonderful night of metal, where both the bands and the crowd had an awesome time and one that won’t be forgotten for a while.

Ratings:

Review By Adam Fredericks

UK Dates:

London, Camden Underworld – June 28th
Leeds, Rio’s – June 29th
Nottingham, Seven – June 30th