The death metal scene in the UK has been working particularly hard over the past few years to reinvigorate itself and gain a bit of momentum, and happily we are now beginning to see the results of the collective effort, with many more hardworking bands from the UK finally gaining slots on the large European festival circuits and younger bands supporting some of the genres true international heavyweights. As a celebration of this, the Altars of Death festival at the Purple Turtle in Central London showcases a varied selection of those bands old and new who have been contributing to the movement, and making a name for death metal in the UK both locally and overseas.
We get into the venue just as one such new band, Decrepid, begin their set, and a super smooth, almost decibel-perfect sound balance does very well to polish what is in reality a well executed but fairly anonymous mix of thrash and old school death metal. The London based band blast through several songs with enough aggression to keep things interesting, but ultimately there isn’t enough creativity here to leave you wanting more once their set finishes. Still, though, by no means a bad start to the day.
Flayed Disciple continue very much in the same vein of thrash and death metal, although their offering feels more incendiary than Decrepid’s. The band, again, benefit from a very good sound mix, but there is a tightness and passion behind the music that drives the band’s performance (and is probably what got them their place on the New Blood Stage at Bloodstock this year). The thunderous cover of ‘Angel of Death’ was a nice way to round the set off, and hopefully they will be making their way up from the South West to come and play the bars of London again soon. They will be more than welcome.
Hunger struck just before Basement Torture Killings were about to start, so after getting some food we rejoined the melee in time to catch Gorebound. Taking the stage wearing surgical gowns and covered in blood, the hopes of a tight deathgrind assault were immediately crunched against the dashboard in a complete musical car crash. For the first time, oddly, the sound is all over the place; all members of the band are on vocals, yet only two of them are properly audible (leaving us with one average and one truly terrible vocalist). Aside from the poor mixing, this was all a bit boring. At times the band only seemed half interested in what was going on, and there was very little songwriting on show, each song feeling like a rough copy of the one before it, which is not something you would expect from a band that boasts ex-Gorerotted members as part of its line up. The band needs to spend a bit more time together in the rehearsal room before trying to pull something off like this live. I need a beer…
Fleshrot have been one of the more reliable exports of brutal death metal in the UK, endlessly performing shows around the country and, most notably, being offered a slot at Neurotic Death Fest in the Netherlands last year. They have clearly benefitted from all this touring experience, blitzing through tracks from their latest album ‘Traumatic Reconfiguration’ with a real professional intensity and grit. Fleshrot’s music, although not quite technically mindblowing, contains plenty of hooks and tempo changes that prevent the material on display from feeling one dimensional, and it translates seamlessly from CD into the live arena. Thankfully we witness a very, very solid performance from the South Londoners that manages to reinstall a confidence in tonight’s event that hasn’t exactly been shaken, but has been questioned a couple of times so far during the proceedings. The final sentiment of “thanks for checking us out, we have some CDs at the back there, if you’re interested pick one up, because we need petrol money to get home” is testament to their work ethic, and it is safe to say that any money they received from tonight’s show is money well earned.
Infestation are hugely enjoyable to watch, and demonstrate why they have earned themselves a slot supporting the mighty Entombed at the up and coming Mammoth Fest this September. A thoroughly inebriated David Samuel, clutching a microphone in his right hand and a crutch in his left, proceeds to growl and bark his way through a brilliant set of old school death metal that plays by new school rules; the Morbid Angel meets Cannibal Corpse groove is a good mix of fun and musicality in equal measure, all of which is tight and efficiently played. Admittedly, there isn’t too much else that can be taken away from this set, and aside from the drunken antics at the hands of David Samuel, and Jamie Ilsley looking positively possessed as he screeches out the backing vocals, the rest of their show passes without much incident, but Infestation are responsible for cementing this entire evening firmly back in my favour.
By now, it is late and most people are fairly drunk. It’s Sunday, and we are all beginning to think about train timetables and cups of tea. What the evening definitely does not need is a slightly monotonous, sludgy set from London’s Dead Beyond Buried that doesn’t really do anything apart from delay the introduction of the evening’s headliners. It’s not that their music is inherently bad, as such, but there isn’t much here that we haven’t heard a fair few times before, and their brand of blackened death metal feels a little pedestrian in light of what has gone before them already this evening. On a smaller billing they might have stood out a little more, but if I’m being honest, Dead Beyond Buried need a bit more muscle behind their delivery to set them apart from the rest of the pack.
When in need of some reliable music, listen to Desecration. Waltzing onto the stage to Tom Jones’ “Delilah”, they blast into their brand of simple yet unassailably aggressive death metal. Genuinely pleased to be back in London, they grind through a set comprised of both older and more recent material (although the differences between the two are practically non-existent), with crowd pleasers such as “When The Heart Stops Beating” and “Bacterial Breakdown” serving as ‘the hits’ of the setlist. Some believe that watching Desecration isn’t the most varied of experiences, which is a fair criticism: it’s fast and it’s brutal, nothing else. But by the same token, the moment Desecration express a shred of progressive influence is the moment they lose their fan base; no one listens to this band for the melodic passages, and the final salvoes of ‘Aim, Fire, Kill’ should convince most of you that this is exactly how it should be.
This was an important gig for UK death metal. It was a great night out, but it also illustrated the fact that the movement right now is as successful as it is diverse, and we have a lot to be proud of in our local scenes as well as our internationally recognised acts. After a quick chat with some of the band members, I leave the venue full of optimism for the younger bands of death metal in the UK, but with plenty of faith in the old guard to pick up the baton should the youth fail to deliver.
Matt L
