Cryptopsy/Grave/Dew Scented/Aborted/Vesania/Hurtlocker
Live at the Camden Underworld, Febuary 10th 2006
By James Willcock
Firstly, due to the fact that I slept on the floor of my mates room the night previous to this gig (it was his 21st) and therefore didn’t make it home until 5pm on the day of the gig, only to check the Underworld website to find out doors opened at four, I actually missed the first two bands on (
Hurtlocker and
Vesania) and half of
Aborted’s set. This was an extra arse because I went to the gig specifically to see
Hurtlocker play. Bugger. The moral of the story- always double-check the opening time of a gig in advance, especially if you go out and get drunk the night before.
Anyway, when I arrived,
Aborted were on the stage. Hailing from Belgium, this five piece play a fairly brutal brand of death metal, similar to
Vomitory and
Decapitated. To be honest, the music was played well enough, and the style was all right, but the band seemed to lack a real presence on stage that would raise them above any other number of like-minded bands. Perhaps that’s because I walked in half way through, I don’t know.
After that came
Dew Scented, a German thrash metal four piece. If I had to select a band out of the ones I saw as my favourite, it probably would be
Dew Scented. This is mainly due to the fact I’m a much bigger fan of thrash than I am death, so simply through playing a different style to the other bands they have the edge for me. However, I can’t say that they were particularly impressive as a thrash band, merely setting up some fairly grooving thrashy riffs that were catchy enough at the time, but instantly forgettable after they left the stage. Their set was not helped by the fact I seemed to be one of the only people at the Underworld who was even vaguely interested in what they were doing, with half the people who were in front of the stage for
Aborted disappearing and not returning until mid-way through
Dew Scented’s performance. Even then, very little in the way of moshing kicked off, not aided by the vocalists mis-judged attempts to get the crowds going with semi-insulting encouragement to get moving, with the only response being the occasional “fuck off” from further back in the crowd. Simply a case of the wrong support band for the crowd.
Following on from that came the penultimate act,
Grave, a death metal band from Sweden. Stylistically, they play a hybrid of at times melodic and at other times brutal, blast beat death metal. They seemed to be much more the crowd’s flavour, getting a much warmer reception than
Dew Scented. They played a good, tight set of good quality death metal, which isn't too suprising, seeing as they've been around for the last 15 years, happily making their own brand of death metal.
Then for the headlining act,
Cryptopsy, from Montreal. Freshly re-united with their original vocalist,
Lord Worm (I don’t think that’s his real name), for their latest album, the crowd suddenly got much more involved than with any of the other bands on previously, with cheers as they took the stage and large, energetic pits breaking out within seconds of the first song being played, although not before a lengthy orchestral intro and the waving around of a chalice- I’ll get to that later. Not knowing the band, I didn’t know what to expect. The band plays a grind/death fusion of extreme metal, with plenty of riff changes and chops, with a very high class of musicianship, with a range of vocals all the way from deep growl to high-pitched scream. The whole affair is also peppered with the occasional, quiet, pseudo-jazz breakdown, reminiscent of
Ephel Duath, except they only last about three seconds. I can’t tell you exactly what they played, but I was aware that although there was a lot of new material, there was also a fair selection of older crowd favourites, particularly later in the set. After the band came back on for the encore,
Lord Worm proceeded to bring the chalice back out. This time he removed the lid to reveal a whole load of live worms. After indulging in a couple himself, he then shared his tasty snacks with those at the front of the crowd, before playing out the last few songs of the set. Not really my thing, but the crowd seemed to be quite into the whole thing.
Overall, I think this gig was one for the fans only, as I don’t think that many people that didn’t already know the material on offer (like myself) would have been particularly won over by any of the performances.
