Author: Rok Klemše
Photos: Nina Grad
Location: Kino Šiška, Ljubljana
Concert date: December 7, 2016
The incredibly varied concert year is slowly winding down, but before it properly bows out for good, Krampus, because we were nice naughty this year, has handed us a blasphemous package (by the way, the 2015 film of the same name, together with Gremlins, Die Hard and Bad Santa, makes up the perfect movie Christmas for anyone sick of the endless reruns of Home Alone). Into Šiška came a black-paper-wrapped package of evil, darkness and the occult, and out of it, like Stephen King’s clown Pennywise, jumped Absu, Possessed and Belphegor. The show was actually this close to being canceled because of a flat tire on the tour bus in Hungary, but thanks to the hard work of the organizers, the bands and everyone involved, it luckily didn’t come to that. Sadly, there was a delay, and Absu’s set got pushed to the very end of the night, so they played a shorter set than announced, but never mind, better that than the whole show getting scrapped.
As has become the norm on tours like this one, an Italian band opened for us, this time Milan’s Cold Raven. Apparently Italian bands still dig deepest into their pockets and, thanks to the “pay to play” system, buy themselves spots on relatively high-profile tours. So we usually don’t get any great highlights from the opening acts, and this time was no different. Just as their name makes no sense (a frozen crow? Seriously?), their music makes no sense either. With their black metal, Cold Raven unsuccessfully try to copy the sound of bands like Watain above all, and in barely half an hour we got a solid dose of unoriginal buzzing riffs, generic blast beats and monotonous vocals from a whiny frontman.
American death/thrash metallers From Hell came off a bit better, a band led by George Anderson, whose discography so far includes the debut Ascent From Hell. I mention it because an “all star” lineup of Paul Bostaph (Slayer etc., drums), Steve Smyth (ex-Testament, ex-Nevermore, guitar) and Damien Sisson (Death Angel, bass) helped George record it. Sadly, that trio doesn’t play with him live, so bassist Stephen Goodwin (ex-Vicious Rumors), guitarist Justin Sakogawa (Hatriot) and drummer Wes Anderson (ex-Blind Illusion) helped grind up Šiška instead. From Hell didn’t offer anything earth-shattering, but their vision of death/thrash was thoroughly decent, with the syncopated riffing especially destructive, and despite technical problems they delivered their set confidently and satisfyingly. Even more than their music, though, what stuck in my memory was George’s look, which resembled something that walked straight out of Mortal Kombat and/or Marvel’s Avengers, heh.
But let’s be honest, the first two bands were more of a nuisance than anything else this time, because the crowd was clearly waiting for something else. First up, Possessed, the band whose cult track Death Metal gave a name to an entire genre and who are still considered one of its founders, something even the godfather of death metal himself, Chuck Schuldiner, acknowledged in his lifetime. With their 1984 demo Death Metal, and even more so with the debut Seven Churches (1985), Possessed undoubtedly laid the foundations of the genre. There were guitarists Mike Torrao and Larry LaLonde with their evil-sounding riffs that already marked a certain departure from thrash, and then-bassist and vocalist Jeff Beccera with his occult, satanic and blasphemous lyrics. Beccera is the only original member left in the band today, accompanied by members of bands like Sadistic Intent, Gruesome and Coffin Texts. Possessed already thrilled us at Metaldays 2013 with one of the best performances of the festival, so expectations were high this time too. The guys lived up to them, even if this show wasn’t as intense as their festival one. The sound was excellent despite no time for a soundcheck, hellishly loud and clear, and the band was just wild enough. Jeff didn’t talk to the crowd much this time, but he gave everything vocally, though he was overshadowed by the animalistically good drummer Emilio Marquez, who beat that kit without a shred of mercy. In a good hour, Possessed raced through classics like Beyond the Gates, Tribulation, The Heretic, Storm in My Mind and The Exorcist, added the new track Abandoned, which will appear on their upcoming comeback album (and sounds like a logical follow-up to Seven Churches rather than to the EP), and signed off in the only way possible. Death Metal!
After a drawn-out stage changeover, Austrian black/death metallers Belphegor took the stage. They’re familiar faces on our stages, so we knew what to expect, and we got no more and no less than a dose of competently delivered black/death metal, accompanied by a suffocating smell of incense that filled the hall at Kino Šiška. Belphegor are getting close to the (kitschy) show of Behemoth, and otherwise didn’t offer anything too shattering this time either. Frontman Helmuth didn’t try too hard to engage the audience, and Belphegor played a completely standard set of classics from the albums Lucifer Incestus and Bondage Goat Zombie, with an emphasis on the still-current Conjuring the Dead. Toward the end of their hour and a quarter, the set was dragging quite a bit and getting more and more monotonous, and I don’t think I was the only one wishing the Austrians would wrap up early and leave the stage to Absu.
Only at half past midnight, thanks to all the delays, did we finally get the long-awaited Texan black metallers Absu, who hit European stages roughly every five years. Sadly, Absu got only a good half hour, so the trio of Proscriptor, Ezezu and Vis Crom tore through their set with their Sumerian/Celtic/occult-tinged black metal like a rabid dog. Absu took us on a phenomenal trip into their world of mythological occult black metal, ruled by the drum salvos of the inhumanly good Proscriptor. He takes care of not just the octopus-armed drumming but also the raw, aggressive vocals. It’s truly incredible how this guy can drum so intricately and sing at the same time, at full force. Even though Proscriptor was completely out of breath between announcements, the physically brutal performance didn’t let him down for a second. Ezezu and Vis Crom gave their all as well, and this time Proscriptor even stepped out from behind his kit and into the shoes of a pure vocalist, which he also pulled off with distinction.
Setlist
POSSESSED:
1. Pentagram
2. Beyond the Gates
3. The Eyes of Horror
4. Tribulation
5. Swing of the Axe
6. The Heretic
7. Satan’s Curse
8. My Belief
9. Storm In My Mind
10. Abandoned
11. The Exorcist
12. Death Metal
BELPHEGOR:
1. Feast Upon the Dead
2. Bleeding SalvatioN
3. Gasmask Terror
4. Diaboli Virtus in Lumbar Est
5. Belphegor – Hell’s Ambassador
6. Lucifer Incestus
7. Conjuring the Dead/Pactum in Aeternum
8. Bondage Goat Zombie
9. Apophis – Totenbeschworer
10. Totenkult – Exegesis of Deterioration
— encore —
11. Stigma Diabolicum
ABSU:
1. Terminus (…In the Eyes of Ioldanach) / Swords and Leather
2. The Sun of Tiphareth
3. Highland Tyrant Attack
4. Prelusion to Cythraul / … and Shineth Unto the Cold Cometh
5. A Shield With an Iron Face
6. Stone of Destiny (…for Magh Slecht and Ard Righ)
— encore —
7. The Gold Torques of Ulaid
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