Tonight was an evening of a more traditional two band bill, a straight up, out and out blast of Extreme Metal.
First to hit the stage were Defects, a fast-emerging powerhouse of energy and barbaric intent. From the moment they hit the stage, they demonstrated that they were here with one target in mind and that was to absolutely destroy this place and all that was in it. With a new album on the cusp of being unleashed to our souls, the band were able to draw on the material and deliver it to us in waves of emotive aggression and controlled pandemonium.
The riffs were crunchy and muscular while the vocals being spat out were impressive with a visually illustrative passion. As the set progressed the crowd were being whipped into more and more of a frenzy in preparation for the Melodic Death that was awaiting them, and it even saw Maue leave the confines of the intimate stage to join the circle pit that had taken up residence beneath him which then ignited the swirling mayhem into even more of a rage. A hugely successful outing for the Londoners up north
Next up, a huge slab of Melodic Death Metal courtesy of the Swedish juggernaut that is Orbit Culture and they well and truly came out swinging. Bathed in red light for most of the set, they pummelled us with crunching and aggressive slabs of antagonistic metal. The vocals were powerful and authoritative and commanded a response from the crowd which was reminiscent of a pack of baying wolves sighting their latest prey, the strings were dexterous and intricate yet crunching and mesmeric while the kit was being pounded to within an inch of its life while deploying the rhythmic backbone which the other facets clung to for dear life.
The likes of ‘See Through Me’, ‘Alienated’ and ‘While We Serve’ were colossal in their deliverance tonight, each one lapped up by the packed-out venue, the liberation of each track was maniacal and muscular with the rest of the set entwining around the tracks to make for a colossal and beefy exhibition of technical and melodic death metal. The whole set from start to finish was a true lesson in how to deliver detonating Death Metal with precision, passion and fervour with each note and beat being on point and exploding.
As the band departed the stage and the house lights enflamed once more you couldn’t help but leave the building safe in the knowledge that you had just been a part of an evening of brutal death metal at its finest.
