Sunday, December 12, 2010

The Gods Detest All

Alright so it's been awhile since I've posted to this meager blog. I have no real excuse so let's just continue on with the concert review. Ancient Egyptian influenced brutal death metal band Nile is on tour again with Ex Deo, Psycroptic and Keep of Kalessin to bring forth the brutality across the States.

It's been about eight years or so since I've seen Nile. That was back on the Blackest of Black (the first one?) that Danzig organized and headlined. At the time my taste in metal was still in a precocious state, absorbing all the new shit that I could find. I was still fairly new to death metal at the time being familiar to Death, Vader, Dying Fetus and Nile. This was also the same year that I discovered Opeth, so imagine my excitement when I found out they were going to be sharing the same bill.

Since it was essentially a festival style bill, each band only got about 20 minutes of set time. So that meant that Opeth played two songs and Nile maybe four. But they didn't get a chance to as their equipment shorted out and led me to exclaim "Fuck you" at the inanimate amplifier causing the headache.


More after the jump...






Flash forward to last night's show, along with one of my co-workers who was equally excited to see Nile. We arrived to the venue, a small capacity club that I've been to several times in the past. Kind of run down but it has a good atmosphere and decent sound. On our way to get tickets I see Karl Sanders with a lady friend. I was pretty eager to take a picture with him then, but decided to leave him with his friend, especially as they left just after I bought the tickets. Oh well.

Turns out we missed the very first act but caught a song and a half of Malnurture. The name sounded pretty familiar, and looking them up afterward confirms that I have indeed seen them before. I believe they opened for Children of Bodom long ago or something. Either way, they're a competent melodic death metal band that I wouldn't mind hearing more of in the future.


During the set break we took ourselves to the merch table to see what was for sale. I picked up a white Psycroptic shirt with a pretty sick design on the front. Yeah I know, a white metal shirt. One of the reasons why I picked up it up and apparently a top seller.

I could swear that when the next band took the stage I was instantly transported to late 1999 when nu-metal bands ruled. The appropriately named, North of Nowhere, sounded like they would've been most comfortable sandwiched between head(p.e.) and Kottonmouth Kings. The only enthused fans were their girlfriends, possibly related to them in some way and half drunk. Barely stomaching a single song from them, I decided that stuffing my gullet with cheap beef tacos were a better route to take. And if the band were tacos, I'd have nuclear diarrhea from them. Pass.

After the delicious Mexican food, we arrived just in time to see the Nowhere dickheads tearing down their set. Keep of Kalessin were up next. I've only heard a few songs from them before and they didn't blow me away. Their set did nothing to change my mind. Competent musicians but pretty standard fare metal. My co-worker remarked that bassist Robin Isaksen looked like Skwisgaar from Dethklok. I'm inclined to concur.

We hit up the bar next door for a drink and upon arrival, Psycroptic had already begun a song or two. The sharing of a drum kit really decreases set up time. They put on a very solid show. Afterward I got to meet the temporary singer, Zdeněk Šimeček, who is filling in for Jason Peppiatt. Strangely, he gave me his business card. Perhaps when I start a tech-death metal band I can give him a ring.

The next band was Maurizio Iacono of Kataklysm's side project, Ex Deo. The brand of death metal they played reminded me of Amon Amarth. Unfortunately I found it really tedious and boring. What I did enjoy from them was their stage set up. The entire band was dressed in Roman period leather armor. This gave the band a great theatrical quality and really set them apart, visually, from the rest of the band. I wouldn't mind seeing more theatrics in death metal, especially when the bands focus on concept albums.

Finally, Nile took to the stage. They opened up with Kafir and proceeded through their entire discography including songs like Lashed to the Slave Stick, Sarcophagus, and Black Seeds of Vengeance. The entire crowd went nuts, including one girl who dominated the pit. My neck was sore from the headbanging I did and honestly cannot wait for them to come back to Phoenix again.

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