Saturday, July 3, 2010

GIG REPORT: FORTÍÐ, ATRUM, SVARTIDAUÐI, PISSANTHROPE, CHAO.

CHAO
I arrived to the venue about half an hour after the scheduled start of the show and feared I had missed Chao, which were first in the line-up. That fear was unnecessary as everything was pretty silent when I arrived with band members and promoters waiting for more people to show up.

When things finally started it was business as usual in the Chao camp: Black metal! In my opinion Chao are the closest thing musically any Icelandic black metal band could be to “orthoblack” but they aren’t that really. They reek of it, sure, but at the same time manage to avoid many of the traps of the genre.

The band was really tight tonight and put on a good show. The members were drenched in blood and the vocalist as putrid as ever! There was a song in there I didn’t recognize and that was a pleasant surprise!

The band has already recorded it’s first demo but as financially unstable as the members are, as most of them are students, they lack the funds to give it the release it deserves. Anyone interested in helping them out should check out their link and contact them via MySpace or just drop me a line and I’ll get your email over to the guys.

CHAO ON MYSPACE

PISSANTHROPE
Now, this is a new band, so I’ll give them a bit of leeway for that. However, this band contains members of Carpe Noctem and ex-members of Svartidauði and Bölvættur so I don’t really get why it went like it went. The promoter of this event was pretty psyched about this band but after this gig I’m not really seeing why.

This wasn’t exactly terrible, but I’m not really sure what it was, I’m not even sure the members know what was going on. I’m just gonna regard this as a blooper and let the next gig be the first gig.

SVARTIDAUÐI
STD were not on the bill tonight but it was great they showed up and performed a short set consisting of a single song that was as hypnotizing as it was great! I have said it before, and I’ll say it again, that it’s a damn shame they only have one demo out now as their new stuff totally kills the old stuff that Melas Khole released. If I could I would have bootlegged this gig on t-shirt. Special edition.

SVARTIDAUÐI ON MYSPACE

ATRUM
Atrum are Atrum. Every gig is a guaranteed slaughter and it’s given that you’ll get your money’s worth when you see them! But, every time I sit down after a gig and try to describe them I spend a lot of time just trying to think of the right way to describe them.

Atrum are Panzer Division Atrum. They pretty much slay every time they play live and it will be interesting to witness their reBIRTH on the 27th of July. Contact the band for more info on that!


ATRUM ON MYSPACE

Voluspa Part III: Fall of The AgesFORTÍÐ
Now, this was the main attraction tonight. A bit of info first: Fortíð is the brainchild of Einar “Eldur” Thorberg which emigrated from Iceland to Norway a couple of years back. This move gave him the chance to take Fortíð to a new level and recruit members for a live line-up.

Tonight the band focused mainly on the new album, which was released earlier this year through Schwarzdorn, but old songs like “Víg Baldurs” made it through. I guess it’s because of the venue, but it seemed like Fortíð didn’t really get too much time to play. At least not as much time as a headliner should get, in my opinion. Perhaps it just went by too fast, I don’t really know. All I know is I would have liked to hear more of Fortíð’s epic heathen metal and it’s a pity that I will not be able to see them perform at Eistnaflug next week.

FORTÍÐ ON MYSPACE



All in all this was a pretty good gig but the promoter really should remember that sometimes less is more. Giving people their money’s worth doesn’t necessarily mean putting a shitload of bands on the bill and dragging things on. It’s great people have the heart and interest to do something like this but overdoing stuff can really kill things.

Personal faves: The subtle tribute of Chao’s bass player to Celtic Frost. The public announcement of Pissanthrope’s singer that he had to take a leak before the set, nice to see people so considerate. Last but not least a big horns up to the girl in the front row during Fortíð’s set, it’s the die hard fans that count!

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