Incoming

To say we are excited about this would be an understatement.
Tickets available for the Liverpool date from http://whiplash4metal.com

The Amenta, Hour of Penance, Belphegor, Deicide @ The Masque, Liverpool 27/6/11

Bands: Deicide / Belphegor / Hour Of Penance / The Amenta
Style: Thrash/Death/Black
Venue: The Masque Theatre, Liverpool
Date: 27th June 2011
Promoter: Whiplash

On Monday night, probably the most high-profile metal tour to come to Liverpool since Sepultura back in the early nineties rolled into town, and of course, the crew of das Claw were there to witness the whole spectacle.

First up were Australians The Amenta, whose dark take on Death Metal seemed nothing too extraordinary, electronic/ambient/industrial elements aside. The fact that I had to struggle to hear them in the seemingly cavernous space of the Masque's large room probably didn't help either, sorry guys.

Next up, Hour of Penance, who again (from where I was stood stage left) suffered from a terrible sound, Paolo's vocals being so low down that it was literally like watching an almost instrumental set, apart from when the backing vocals came in. Shame, as I was kind of transfixed by their technical death/black metal, bringing to mind a more brutal Emperor.

Any problems at the sound desk were fixed by the time that Austria's Belphegor took to the stage, blasting out their brand of blackened death metal, whipping the crowd up and winning over new fans, although I resisted the urge to buy Belphegor underwear from the merch stall afterwards!

Strangely, this was my first time seeing Deicide, which is odd because I think that from that early crop of super-influential and genre defining Death metal bands from the late eighties/early nineties, up until Monday there was only really Glen and the boys that I'd never seen. Make no mistake, the insane vocal sound on the first Deicide album influenced legions of Black Metal hordes in the early nineties even if they don't like to admit it, partly because of a large section of the music press' seeming vendetta to make Glen Benton into some form of cartoon character in the at the time. This lineup features founder members Benton and Steve Asheim on drums, along with Jack Owen and Ralph Santonalla on guitars.

They come onstage in front of what must surely be a full house, and absolutely pummel the crowd with four or five songs without a break whilst the crowd pummel each other.  Seriously, I haven't seen a crowd go this apeshit for literally years, anywhere. Dead by Dawn is tossed into the set ridiculously early (I think like the second track?) and the crowd go insane. There is a small barrier along the front of the stage, and another one right above it to create a kind of tunnel for photographers, but the crowd are reaching right across and snapping the two together bang! bang! bang! against each other, only a brave man, a fool, or our very own SJW would venture in there for a photo! Playing a good mix of old and new tracks and some favourites of mine (Lunatic of God's Creation, Kill the Christian, Once Upon the Cross) and every track is delivered with such brutal ferocity it's hard not to get carried away.

Someone dives off the PA and manages to land about forty feet away from the stage right in the middle of the pit to huge cheers from the crowd.
Afterwards, we see a girl getting put into an ambulance on a stretcher, with her head and neck in a brace.
Deicide? They came, they saw, they handed us our arses.

In photos - The Amenta, Hour of Penance, Belphegor, Deicide (Liverpool June 27th 2007)

Burial - Basement Torture Killings - Abbadon Incarnate - General Surgery; Liverpool, 28th May 2011

OR - Chapter 26 (in which Patchie falls back in love with Death Metal)

Well, last Friday Thee Claw convened for an all-too-rare three pronged gig attack, with some Death metal going down in the hometown.

We arrived too late for openers Burial, but are assured by those who did witness that we had missed out.
Sorry guys, We'll be earlier next time!

So, the first band we got to witness were Londoners Basement Torture Killings (BTK) who take to the stage looking for all the world like escapees from Ravenhill Hospital. Their brand of technical death/grind a la Exhumed is based, pleasingly, around the old genre staples of serial-killer and gore lyrics, plenty of good stuff from their latest release "The Second Cumming".
Unnerving.

Next up were Irish band Abaddon Incarnate; no gimmicks or anything here, just a cracking mix of all our favourite subgenres coming together at once to great effect, unleashing a buzzing wall of noise. When blasting and grinding, they are as tight as anything, with triple vocal attack(!), but when they loosen up a bit, Clandestine-esque riffery buzzes through your brain, the drill-bit sharpness of the Sunlight studio captured perfectly. They have a split with Phobia available now on Underground Movement - get it.

Introduced by the diminutive but revered Jeff Walker (local boy does good) , Sweden's General Surgery take to the stage dressed in medical overalls, splattered in blood and gore, and proceed to dissect every one of us.
General Surgery are something of a grind supergroup (I hate to use that term) with members of Birdflesh, Bombstrike and Crucifyre in the lineup, and much like our very own Raven's Creed, this pedigree gives undoubted credibility to the boys from Stockholm.
We all get covered in blood, a death/crust/grind tornado blew it's way through Liverpool and we were all left reeling.
General Surgery never let up, even when they slow down it's to the pace of a saw through bone.

Well done to the Whiplash team for another amazing night (Death/Black party in the bar afterwards was a blast too!) see you at VADER!!!
Burial
BTK
Abaddon Incarnate
General Surgery
Whiplash Promotions