With Summer imminent there are many ways in which to celebrate the holidays. Stuff your face with mountains of chocolate. Go somewhere hot and foreign, drink too much and turn a lovely shade of burnt. Bang your head like a maniac at a death metal show featuring legends of the genre. The choice is obvious.
Opening the evening, Austria’s Monument of Misanthropy (7) brought the brutality to teatime. A fair crowd had arrived at Audio to witness the band’s blasting modern death metal. The sound at times was a bit mushy with the guitars and vocals being clouded by the pummeling drums, but the band certainly warmed the audience up especially with their crushing cover of Death’s “Pull the Plug”.
The venue was almost full in time for NY death metal legends Immolation (8). Since recently releasing their latest effort Atonement, the band’s set featured mostly songs from the album. Despite the tiny stage and limited space for movement, the band performed well with frontman Ross Dolan’s unmistakable deep growls and guitarist Robert Vigna’s axe-bashing through tunes like “The Distorting Light”, “Kingdom of Conspiracy”, “Destructive Currents” and the classic “Immolation”. Audio erupted with applause in between songs and the band engaged with the crowd. After two successful Glasgow gigs following a 9-year absence from Scotland, Immolation must return in the future.
Closing the night was none other than regular Polish visitors Vader (9). Can this band ever do wrong? The venue was literally bursting at the seams with death heads who came to smash their skulls to the uncompromising death metal taking place. The band’s performance was tight, heavy and full of energy, and the audience acted accordingly. The set was varied featuring songs from Vader’s latest release The Empire (“Angels of Steel”, “Prayer to the God of War” and “Parabellum”) as well as fan favourites from throughout their career such as “Triumph of Death”, “Wings” and “Sothis”. The band also played a selection of songs from their debut The Ultimate incantation (“Dark Age”, “The Crucified Ones” and “Testimony”) in celebration of it’s 25th anniversary. Vader have killed it every time they’ve arrived on Scottish shores and this time was no different. Until the next time…
Vader: official | facebook | twitter | youtube
Immolation: facebook | twitter
Monument of Misanthropy: facebook | reverbnation
