Enslaved: Spring Rites European Tour at the Underworld, Camden, London; March 21st, 2013

Me(n)tal-Meltdown presents – Folk Metal in England – A Day at the Warhorns Viking Festival

K. Ann Sulaiman reports to you from the Warhorns Viking Festival in York; a delightful town in the north of England that played host to a string of bands from across Europe for the weekend long Warhorns Viking Festival.

‘Live Evil: Angel Witch + Enforcer’ at The Temple, HMV Institute, Birmingham; November 9th, 2012

After waiting outside the HMV Institute on a cold, rainy Friday evening, and following a long queue mixed up with indie fans, metalheads were finally allowed inside to the venue’s top floor for some old school heavy metal and doom in the form of Age of Taurus, Enforcer and Angel Witch. Though not many people were present, owing to the scattered nature of the Birmingham scene, the show’s overarching atmosphere remained one of dedication to the heavy metal spirit. The numbers may have not been very strong, but the passion in the room was there from start to finish.

Without any announcements onstage save for the beginning of guitars playing, Age of Taurus opened the concert with their own style of traditional doom metal. Taking a musically “epic” approach to the crumbling riffs and groovy rhythms of their chosen genre, thanks to sweeping drum syncopation and guitarist Toby W. Wright’s grounded singing range. It’s more expected for traditional doom vocals to morph into horrified, low-tuned soars, and while Wright’s voice is much closer to the ground than the air, they still channel the blues rock-based patterns of singing so associated with the occult, horror film nature of the music. ‘Always in the Eye‘, ‘Unborn Destroyer‘ and ‘A Rush of Power‘ were amoung the songs on offer in this vein, before the band  soon finished with ‘The Bull and the Bear‘; a taster from their upcoming new album.

Less than an hour was afforded to the crowd, before Swedish speed/heavy metallers Enforcer came up to play. Despite the more gothic arrangement of black candles and gold-trimmed banners for their set, the group of fresh faced upstarts delivered a thoroughly energetic set which was a fitting contrast to the slower, lower sounds that preceded them.
Taking cues from the fast-paced notes of 1980′s rock ‘n’ roll and the heaviness of NWOBHM, frontman Olof Wikstrand and friends went straight into an outpour of free-ranged guitar solos and raw, intense singing and wails. It could have been the advantage of having youth on their side that Enforcer had played songs like ‘Black Angel‘, ‘Mistress of Hell‘ and the instrumental piece ‘Diamonds‘ with as much vigour as they did at the HMV Institute, yet it only added to the musical loyalty that was there. From the personal banter between the band and the impressive lack of tiredness from frantic instrumentation, which allowed them to slip quickly with ease into each track, it showed that these were young men who wore their hearts on their sleeves; the effect being that their joy also moved onto an audience which headbanged as furiously as they smiled. Even the much nerdier side of their music, namely through the action-inspired ‘Katana‘ was received as well as their darker, fantasy-based lyrical fare like ‘Mistress of Hell‘.

While Enforcer had brought a youthful kick to the show, main headliners Angel Witch brought the evening to a well-seasoned close with their old school, british heavy metal. Owing to the band’s role in the scene of NWOBHM which came to life around the late 1970′s – mid 1980′s, several of the audience came up to the front of the stage to watch their performance. Despite a recent line-up change for their current reformation, Angel Witch’s sounds stayed faithful and un-compromised to what can be heard on previous albums, largely thanks to original vocalist and founder Kevin Heybourne’s presence in the group.
The final hour and a half of the gig began with a introduction to Angel Witch’s sound from starting track ‘Atlantis‘, with its lively, dual guitar riffs and energetic pace. Though not entirely representative of the whole of the group’s sound, this choice of song helped give a good taste for newcomers of what to expect when followed by the more restrained and down-tuned ‘Dead Sea Scrolls‘. Though not a melodic rock band by any means, Angel Witch’s ability to switch within their own limits from a fast, “rocking out” mood to a more scenic atmosphere means that there is a good, auditorial shake up. Angel Witch weren’t as spunky as the younger Enforcer, but their musical stream’s shift in speed and strong performance meant that their traditional, old school sounds didn’t fall into monotony and – as was the case in Birmingham – the audiences attention were transfixed onto them.
While classic songs from the band’s back catalogue were being played out to an excited and expectant crowd; material from the newest album “As Above, So Below” were also given a live airing. In fairness, whenever an older band creates new music after many, many years, there is always the risk that their recent songwriting may fail to impress in a live setting, if not on record. However, since a number of the tracks on this record were written and then tried and tested live well before its current release in 2012, such a concern was thrown out the window. ‘Into the Dark‘ and ‘Guillotine‘ came out decently that night with their moments of zoned out, psychedelic rhythms and hard crushing notes.

The biggest drawback to the whole evening though, came not from either of the acts onstage but the venue’s initial schedule of a 10:00pm curfew. It made the show feel that it was ending much sooner than it had begun, but fortunately enough, there was enough time for Angel Witch to end with a live rendition of their self-titled song which was enjoyed not only for how well known it was, but also enabling the crowd to interact through the music by means of it being mandatory for them to sing along to the chorus.

Primordial ‘Redemption at The Puritan’s Hand’ UK Mini-tour; O2 Academy Islington, London, May 5th 2012

Primordial‘s two show trip in the UK came to a passionate conclusion at the O2 Academy in Islington. Though unfortunately cut short due to the venue franchise’s club night curfew, this restriction did little to deter the overwhelming rapport from an audience made up of loyal fans and relative newcomers alike; the latter mainly tagging along for Winterfylleth and Hell.

Video Killed the Live Music Scene?

Those who read my interviews on this blog (as well as other places) know that I always like to ask musicians about their experiences with music in the past and today. It’s a theme that I personally find interesting not only in regards to learning about the history of music and various scene traditions, but also because it gives an idea of what it was like in the past without the current, advanced technology of today. I enjoy hearing musicians and fans older than myself talk about the state of music in the past, and I find myself often drawn to reading about these people’s experiences in passing with the music scenes and fans of today.

Obviously, this means that a pattern of certain observations tends to appear:

1. There were no illegal file-sharing or mp3 downloads, which meant that the method of tape trading was limited and that to get the music you heard, you had to buy it

2. Lack of advanced mobile phones with videos, games and the Internet meant that people were engaging more often in conversation with one another.

3. Fans seem more invested in bringing out their cameras to film everything. In some cases, this means the whole show itself, from start to finish (as ludicrous as that sounds).

Steve Hughes ‘Big Issues’ tour, The Glee Club, Birmingham; March 28th 2012

 

Much hailed as a champion of sorts in the European metal community, Australian stand up comic Steve Hughes brought his brand of sharp, quick to the point comedy to Birmingham’s Glee Club on March 28th. However, while heavy metal is certainly a key part of the comedian’s identity (and thus routine), it tends to be overlooked how this is truly not the main, driving point of his act. There is always much more to a person than one asset of them on display, and the audience of the aforementioned night was treated to more than one side of Hughes as he shared his experiences as an Australian, music lover, colonial and occasional drug taker on a tour which looked at (and also bathed in) mocking the concept of political correctness.

Wolves In the Throne Room (Supersonic Festival), The Custard Factory, Birmingham; October 22nd, 2011

For what may be the last round of live shows ever in a band’s career, picking a multi-genre festival is not usually a first choice for many within the extreme metal field across a country like the British Isles. Yet for Washington’s black metal-influenced Wolves In The Throne Room, the Birmingham-based Supersonic 2011 Festival was right there in the band’s string of final UK dates.

JB’s, I hardly knew ye

Last week, an iconic rock venue in my area was finally sold at an auction, several months after its last ever gig. Because of the interest of land developers and issues with internal politics, not to mention the struggling economic climate, JB’s in Dudley had no choice but to shut down in January, 2011 – one of many other venues that have suffered the same fate across the UK.

At this point, it’s tempting to bring up a fond story that I may have about JB’s and all the various shows I got to see over there, but I can’t. The truth is, I never had a chance to give JB’s a try before its closure – by the time I actually heard of its existence, most of the shows were from tribute bands or indie rock groups which did little to gauge my interest back then (or even now). Furthermore, while it’s just as tempting to make this entire piece an ode to a deceased rock venue, it’s not really the point of the discussion I wish to get going here.

Judas Priest Epitaph Tour, The Civic Hall, Wolverhampton; July 21st, 2011

Outside the Civic Hall, lines to see heavy metal legends Judas Priest were so long that many had missed out on opening act of the night Rival Sons. Though these people were in time to catch a half-hearted set from Queensrÿche, the more memorable of the two bands before the headliners were Rival Sons, whose dose of blues rock and hard, heavy funk were more than enough to bring on a wave of fond nostalgia for the sounds of the late seventies when Judas Priest were starting out in the West Midlands.

Infernal Damnation Festival VIII at The Underworld, Camden; April 23rd 2011

Waiting patiently outside the Underworld in Camden, a haven for London’s alternative cultures; fans stood for the doors to open around mid-afternoon. The venue was dedicated to a day long festival of extreme music; capped by two renowned names in the “post-black metal” scene – Austrian avant-garde act Dornenreich and French shoegazers Alcest.