A stormy night in Camden doesn’t stop a horde of melodic death metal lovers from venturing out to The Underworld. A three band line up with legendary headliners, At The Gates was more than enough to see off any woes of the blustery capital city.
Deserted Fear opened the night touching on all things death metal. All you can eat tremolo riffs, thrash beats and rhythmic vocals fed the ever hungry crowd. Hailing from , the guitarists were a commanding force on the stage and demanded every part of your attention. At the back, a super-styled drummer drove the songs forward with, in skating , tweaked hits and solid double bass rhythms. Overall Deserted Fear gave a strong performance and catered to the audience’s needs.
When the next band stepped out, I’ll be honest, I thought to myself “what the fuck is this?”. Glorified bondage gear, deathly spikes and crude makeup (black of course). Little did I know that what was to come would be a hyper, tight set from Sweden’s Nifelheim.
It was crazy. It was manic. And most impressively, the unrelenting force of the band didn’t let up at any point of their performance. Each one of Nifelheim gave their absolute 100% throughout it all and became an explosive force for the ever-growing crowd to chant along to. Despite some dodgy tros and questionable chorus-dripped guitar leads, Nifelheim were a fun, energetic band that could have given any performer a run for their money.
Swedish masters At The Gates have recently come back onto the circuit with a vengeance. They have said themselves that they have a new lease of life and tonight absolutely showcased their thirst for playing all out fierce shows. In all of their glory, they provided a tight and powerful set. Front man Tomas Lindberg came out with a heroic energy that did not dissipate in the hour and a half they were on the stage.
Providing classics from their Slaughter of The Soul masterpiece and instant, newer, hits such as “To Drink From The Night Itself”, the audience was forced into an involuntary frenzy in this now even more tightly squeezed Underworld. The only moment of rest was provided by the intro into “Death And The Labyrinth” from the named album before, again a master class of melodic death metal was handed to us in London.
At The Gates are at the top of their game and I was humbled to be a witness.
Pics by Watchmaker Studios
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