Impiety + Support | Live - Fibber Magees, Dublin
If anything speaks for the power that extensive gigging can have on a band’s performance, then it’s more than obvious in Nephridium, who tonight showcase just how much they’ve come on in the last year.
Kicking off right from the word go into a super-tight and genuinely ripping brand of Death Metal, it’s clear that that the cycle of hard work the Dublin band have been sticking to is paying dividends. Already haven struck a powerful chord at Day of Darkness back in July, tonight they’re firing on all cylinders, with tracks from ‘The Great Wave’ demo tearing from the speakers .
Gone is the unsure stance of the vocalist and slight stiffness around the stage exhibited by band members when they played this same venue a year ago, as a proper air of professionalism is evident, none more so then when the group shred on in confidence despite one guitar going silent due to a broken string.
Some new tracks are aired, which show some encouraging progressions in mood and structure, with rampant technicality of passages that recall the likes of Deeds of Flesh or Visceral Bleeding in their constant rabid attack.
All this garners appreciative nods and many a banging head from the swelling crowd, with some nice slower and nasty sounding grooves keeping it enjoyably mixed up. It’s heartening to see members of the old school obviously only here for the headliners elbow each other and gesture towards the group in obvious appreciation, and general conversation cease for the show. Really deserving more than a quick opening slot considering the next band are unknowns, they nonetheless nail it. If they can keep this progress up they’ll be turning heads in all the right places.
Eternal Helcaraxe are an entirely different proposition. Being a name that’s been bandied about as a new Irish Black Metal band in the more orthodox sense for a few months now, it’s at least obvious that they’re not taking the visual aspect for granted, with a grand backdrop, and an array of banners, corpse paint, swords and axes being brandished as the group troop out of the wings. All well and good, but unfortunately a poor sound renders their set a somewhat distinct mess, with only the accurate and speedy drumming shining through.
Obviously aiming for a harsh guitar bite, with some worthy attempts at lifting melodies, the indistinct fuzz that is produced really puts a dampener on things. Perhaps suiting the totally messy Immortal-esque sound coming off the stage, special mention has to go to the bald-as-Satan-himself bassist, who provides non-stop entertainment throughout with much demonic tonguing of the air and alarmed glares at invisible foes. Fuck it, they’re obviously going the whole hog so why not?
The sound cleans up somewhat as the set progresses, and what we’re left with is a band with obvious potential, apparent technical skill and vision, but still very rough around the edges. With a more forgiving sound next time and some crafting of the songs we could have something impressive on our hands, but not a bad showing for one of their first outings.
While reflecting on the distance groups have come, it shouldn’t be forgotten that Invictus signees Spearhead have done very well themselves. Now pretty much completely removed from their own more Black Metal beginnings, the all out war that the British band’s latest effort, ‘Decrowning The Irenarch’ offers is a veritable avalanche of militaristic aggression.
Following the lead of the support beforehand, the English group deck the stage out in blood red militaristic banners and simply get on with a relentless pummeling of Fibbers. The sound is crisp and raw, exactly how it needs to be, with ‘In the Face of the Absolute’ especially kicking hole in no uncertain terms. The simple, direct bark of the vocals and on-the-button, martial sounding drum rolls help to generate a strong and commanding presence, which is fleshed out by some lead guitar acrobatics of impressive taste and skill.
The songs are dry, crisp sounding workouts, hitting all the right spots with little or no filler. A down-to-business performance that can hardly be faulted technicality, the serious subject matter of their songs is reflected in their restrained stage manner and lack of banter, but when you’re this good, you don’t need much else.
Impiety are the true draw for many here tonight. It’s not every day a renowned Black Thrash band from Singapore hits Irish shores, but curiosity the draw aside, groups of this underground calibre and longevity are a rare enough occurrence anyway to draw out the old guard in good numbers. Their style is a simple, but extremely effective one, drawing strongly on a fucking mighty drummer to deliver riff after riff of simplistic, even catchy violent thrash, but laced with the unholy roars and blasts of speed that place it on the fringes of war metal territory.
The frontman is an eloquent giant who shreds away like a demon, the band are nothing but patches, sweat and extremely ugly guitars and it’s all seriously enjoyable. The infamous stuffy heat of Fibbers is now at its zenith, and the drummer looks like he’s about to go up in flames behind the kit, but they thrash on. The drunken crowd respond in kind, several messy attempts at creating a pit of some sort collapse and random wild head banging and fist pumping is the order of the day, with an early gem, ‘Torment in Fire’, garnering a great reaction and an encore - much to the horror of the heat-exhausted drummer.
The group are genuinely appreciate of the reaction and with some final panted banter (“Dublin…you have no fucking mercy..at all!”) they lash out a new song and wrap it all up. A fine night of extremity ends in style.
Lorcan Archer ::: 07/09/2008
Photography by Lyndsey Putt