It has suddenly got hot and that means Camden smells like a sweaty tramps pants. We glugged brews on street corners risking an asbo before going into the venue where we gladly discovered the air conditioning was working. The heat and cheaper beer from the shops meant that the first couple of supports did not fare entirely well with an audience, who on the whole were happy to stay outside chatting. Those in quickly got into the spirit of things however and the bands got some support and went down fairly well.

First of these were the strangely named Sepuku who I had not seen or heard before but were recognisable from being out and about at gigs around town themselves. Starting with a gnarly doom laden bass heavy riff the trio quickly picked up the pace ploughing into a vomitous slew of uncouth noise which although at first attacked like an undisciplined racket quickly gelled and got its talons in. ‘Now I Become Death’ was a grim statement and although not fully on the bestial side of things it was flung out with some technical gravitas rather than a drunken mess and showed the unsigned band have both talent as well as determination. There was plenty of bile spat out and spurred on by a baying rabble stage front the band got more confident as the set progressed. The drummer may not have deviated much from his repetitious beat and a Germanic thrash laden sound bristled through things along with some proficient spiralling guitar weaves. They played slightly too long for comfort but to give them their due how could one not like a song entitled ‘Deathcrust’ which they left for their final number.

With a name like Disfago and a bassist sporting a classic Amebix shirt even if like me you had never heard this band you really would have been a bit simple in the head or a novice to this sort of music if you could not guess how things were going to go down here. We expected crusty punk with a metallic thrashing edge and that is what we got. Another trio including some seasoned scene veterans this was quite a precise attack of caustic and apocalyptic doomish cold war noise. A brilliantly entitled Sarcofacharge was the first song which limbered in and then attacked with a barrage from the drums and yelled out vocals. The drummer went on to deliver some nice militant Crass like sweeps as the set went on and despite the metallic edge of things it seemed that the audience looked a little confused about it all and gradually people did seem to filter out. Some songs were fast and furious and quickly dispensed with and there was a lot of spirit about it all, no doubt if this was spewed out at a southLondon squat at silly o clock in the morning it would have had a crowd at riot levels. Mortarhate would probably have cut a single for this lot a couple of decades ago and I enjoyed this although had to feel that tonight they were too punk for the metal crowd who didn’t really appreciate them. Again a song title ‘Fail Satan – Beer Cider Whiskey Hash’ proved for the win!

I was really surprised and a touch delighted at the unexpected addition of <Code> to this bill. I was lucky enough to have seen them at their one show at this venue in 2007 with Shining, Skitliv and Hellsaw. They were a very different band then and as much into the theatricality as the music which was just what it deserved. Unfortunately the Norwegians from DHG who were in the band have departed and without Kvohst on vocals it would have been difficult for someone else to hit some of those giddy and delirious croons that flow through the songs. Speaking of which the group only had 30 minutes and there were just six songs tonight so the crowd quickly came in from the sun. The band literally charged on stage and into ‘The Cotton Optic’ and if like me you were not expecting the burly front man Wacian you may have got a bit of a surprise. They attacked it as a black metal number but really in doing so lost the strange avant-garde flow of the song so I found myself caught between two camps really, trying to like the new style but also hungering for the old. The sound levels were far too high at first but thankfully this did settle down as time went on. There was none of the Nouveau Victoriana corpse paint from the last show either which I have to admit I missed and this was just a band playing hard and fast but somewhat indistinguishable from a load of others out there. Still the old songs are classics and the new ones intrigued and will need a lot more exploration when a new album finally appears. Possession is the Medicine’ really was a fast and furious exorcism here and came across as pure Voivodian tinged thrash. Aort and Andras raged through things in a style more fitting to time in the likes of Blutvial and Reign Of Erebus. For me the highlight was always going to be ‘Brass Dogs’, a sublime number and I really did not expect the clean vocals to work here at all. To be fair they were attempted and handled proficiently if not as fantastical as in the past and the magnificence of this austere number may not have glistened but it certainly glimmered.

Due to an unfortunate gig clash I missed the last Aura Noir show over here but caught them abroad when Aggressor had just about been able to limp on stage for one song. Having also now seen Virus recently it is great to see him much recovered even if propped up on a stool for the set. With him stage right, Apollyon centre and Blasphemer at the left they may not have moved about loads but made up for it with some particular evil glares from Apollyon. They also blackly thrashed it out with a massive intensity from the second they came on until they raced through their set and played a vast array of material, frankly I lost count of just how many songs they raped us with. The crowd were pumped up and crammed in sweating in the heat and banging heads away to ‘Hades Rise,’ we were whipped off right back into the past for the ‘Black Thrash Attack’ of 1996 and of course there were brand new cuts from the just released and very good ‘Out To Die’ with the vicious groove from the title track being particularly effective. As it was the album launch it would have been rude to not play a fair bit of it and it seemed like many already knew songs such as ‘Priest’s Hellish Fiend’ well. Bolstered by vocals from both Apollyon and Aggressor this one nailed it fully. The last note I scrawled done was the word ‘Hellfire’ they played it, it was as hot as it in the venue and when we staggered out falling onto the street it was still flaming scorching. Ears ringing, limbs aching, head pounding and death grunts still seared onto the brain it was obvious that the ugliest band on the planet are also one of the best when it comes to giving us a good kicking live.

Words and Photos © Pete Woods