» Repulsion 2013 05 11 |
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AntichristAntichrist has received high acclaims from fans and critics alike for their sole full-length 'Forbidden World' and rightly so, it really is a solid piece of old school thrash. Antichrist in the live environment though is a different matter. This is the second time I witness them on stage and I was moderately impressed the first time around. Mind that it was midday on a cruise ship so I naturally assumed they all had the hangover from hell hence lacking inspiration. I was therefore looking forward to another opportunity of seeing them in a more favourable light. Still, there is some piece missing in the Antichrist-on-stage-puzzle
even tonight. They are well rehearsed and during the first few songs they
really try to put on a good show with excessive headbanging and promising
energy. The early crowd however is a hard-pleased one and during the middle
of the set the band starts to get idle as well. Too long a pause between
songs during the entire set and the vocals going up and down in the mix
like a yo-yo does not really help their cause either. The band is fairly
immobile and at first I suspected it to be due to the tiny stage, but
after seeing the following two acts I had to revise that theory. In all
fairness Antichrist pull themselves together and makes for quite a decent
finish, finally awakening the crowd, but by then it is unfortunately too
late. Performance: 5 chalices
of 10 (sorry, no setlist) General SurgeryIf the music of Antichrist stems from a time prior to the evenings headliner, General Surgery's ditto is a direct descendant. The old Carcass meets early Stockholm death metal sound might not be the most original one out there, but it sure is well executed! When the band enters the stage in their bloody scrubs they do it with a crushing authority without having struck a single chord, and then... pure devastation! General Surgery truly puts on a textbook example of how this type of music is to be played in a live environment. Their stage presence, energy and interaction are all top notch and they pull out every trick in the book with utter conviction. The frontman Erik Sahlström holds the audience in his pocket and his performance is admirably intense before an ever more frantic crowd. Performance: 9 chalices
of 10 (sorry, no setlist) RepulsionOne can really feel it in the air this Saturday evening inside the historical venue Nalen. We are about to witness something special. The almighty Repulsion has come to town and it is a very special occasion indeed. The extreme music pioneer's sole album 'Horrified' has been acclaimed as one of the most influential albums in extreme metal history and of great importance to early death metal, and given the familiar faces of the past and present Stockholm scene surrounding me that statement can't be anything but true. From time to time I feel like I have been crashing a local headbanger party circa 1990. The time is closing in on midnight when Repulsion enters the stage and the crowd is with them from the start and rightfully so. The band really seems to enjoy the occasion and offers a hell of a show. They play with passion and speed. Sometimes they even seem to go faster than in the original songs! Scott Carlson shows an almost split personality at first. Between songs he is almost like a shy schoolboy nervously fiddling his hair, but as soon as the first chord of every song strikes he turns into a veritable monster and the crowd with him. As the set progresses the monster eventually takes the upper hand though and devours the charming little boy. The talk in the gents before the show was how Repulsion would pull of a headliner set with a mere 30-minute full-length under their belt. The solution turns out to be simple yet effective, dusting off a few demo songs and taking their time between songs. Unlike the opening act though, they know how to use that time pulling off a few jokes and inviting guest musicians for two of the songs. Dr. Carlsson from General Surgery lends his axe for 'Maggots in Your Coffin', possibly the most intense moment of the evening, and a smashed Pelle Åhman of In Solitude performs the vocals on the Bathory-cover 'The Reaper'. The evening is reaching frenzied proportions when closing tune 'Horrified' is declared, but what we get is actually somewhat of a climax when Matt Olivo accidently unplugs his guitar mid-song. In retrospect that is a minor detail however and the only feeling left in my mind stepping out into the night is that of having witnessed a very special evening indeed! Performance: 8 chalices
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