BehemA more than heavyweight line-up for a Monday night going on here and needless to say that partly due to this and no doubt the strength on new Behemoth album ‘The Satanist’ the venue was pretty much sold out. I had turned up particularly early to pick up £1.70 tickets for The Damned who are playing in April at 1977 prices, sold out doh! I could not even kick one of the touts to make myself feel better about this as police are all over the venue, even going as far as to set up camp in the foyer. If you were wondering why, it was due to the recent spate of scumlings using shows as an excuse to lift mobile phones. Good to see them being pro-active about it and anyone not wearing black was no doubt being watched carefully tonight!

That aside it was an early start for visiting Norse destroyers Svarttjern to take to the stage unfortunately without normal front man HansFyrste from Ragnarok but not letting this hamper their attack . With the band also made up with members of Sarkom and Magister Templi it was obvious this was going to be the real black stuff to frighten fans of some of the latter bands who were perhaps walking in unsuspecting of the barrage that suddenly spewed out the speakers. This had a thick and hateful feel to it and the band looked suitably menacing in the red lighting, stalking around the stage whilst the cold clinical sound was flung out without a shred of mercy about it. We lost a guitarist for a while but whilst many would have been floored he came on to rally the audience and head bang as his comrades got on with things, what else can you do with a new audience and a half hour set? Back in the breach and fully rearmed new album title tack ‘Ultimatum Necrophilia’ sounded far from dead (sorry) and thundered along with the drumming particularly making a meaty precise impression. Unfortunately an air of over officiousness was pervading the venue this evening and arguments over what we could do with our cameras meant missing part of their set. I managed to get back in and grab a beer to the finale of ‘Code Human’ which from further back had a nice cavernous feel about it the vocalists forceful shredding throat work easily biting unsuspecting punters lurking at the back. A good first impression for sure.

Nobody expects the… nope not that old chestnut again we really did expect Inquisition this time especially as last two attempts have had me missing them due to late / non shows. Outside the venue I had heard they were late but on way and we held breath and breathed a sigh of relief as the dastardly duo of Dagon and Incubus literally legged it in at the last second. All I can say is that their ‘Nefarious Dismal Orations’ went down fantastically and they were definitely one of the bands of the night for me. The precision that they get transforming songs from album to stage is really quite impressive and their sound was spot on. The gruesome twosome forged away with grinding winding riffs, battering drums and hellacious stygian vocal croaks. Combine them all together and the effect is not so much mesmerising as near on hallucinatory. Hugely atmospheric we worshipped at the cult of Dagon and this gnarly warty sermon pretty much rooted to the spot, woken suddenly by fiery moments of guitar masturbation and commanded by their dark crown. Obviously tracks from the last excellent album were but the occasional step back in time to numbers like ‘Crush The Jewish Prophet’ also got a welcome outing too. The half an hour the band had seemed to stretch, perhaps they had summoned some sort of necromancy to bend time but Inquisition certainly used every second to their advantage before blowing up our world with ‘Infinite Interstellar Genocide’, marvellous!

Unfortunately the same can’t be said about In Solitude who spent ages prattling about and ate into their set time to such an extent they only had time for a few numbers. Perhaps if they had not been so fixated with cloaking themselves in dry ice, low lighting and all that they may have got better use of their time (along with a decent photo or two) but no with some bands image is just too important. That said with the time they had left they impressed me especially as I always was a non-believer in their hype. New album ‘Sister’ had my ears pricking up with its gaze extending back to the post-punk and gothic era and I was looking forward to catching some of this live. In fact I think all they played was from this album and they finally started in style and quite explosively throwing guitars aloft and moving pretty dynamically from what I could just about make out through the fog. This musical curveball may like Beastmilk be far from original to an old bastard like me but the angst ridden vocals and angular riffing was delivered with enthusiasm and style despite cries of “your shit” coming from behind the barrier just by me. There was plenty of rock star posturing going on from a band who were probably not alive when the likes of Rose Of Avalanche were similarly strutting their stuff in the heyday. There is a call behind it all that is either a love or hate it one I guess and although no doubt the many waiting for Cradle may have been a bit miffed I was playing a game of spot the likeness coming up with everything from The Mission to Echo And The Bunnymen and Spear Of Destiny as I grabbed a much needed pint to unclog my lungs of dry ice. It was obvious they had studied their peers well, I really enjoyed title track Sister and just as I got into the swing of it all the words “shows over” dismally dashed any further hopes away, shame.

Carrying on the nostalgia trip for me were Cradle Of Filth a band who after their early shows circa 94-5 with the likes of Dissection were a band I had caught every London outing of for the next decade or so. Bands progress and change as do tastes and this love affair is long over but still the fact they were doing an old school set was surely something to get enthusiastic about? To a certain extent yes but so much has changed since those days including the band bar frontman Dani Filth (Paul Allender was not playing and James McIlroy is off with injury too).  You could say been there, done it all and been (almost) arrested for the t-shirt but you have to give the band their due and although the opening salvo of ‘Cuthulu Dawn’ sounded muddy and messy in the mix things quickly picked up with the arrival of classics like ‘Summer Dying Fast’ and ‘The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh.’ There was no denying the fact that many have obviously  found them a lot later than I did and had stuck around a lot more recently too as it was rammed at the front. It was a co-headlining show but there was no way you could particularly say who was the band with the biggest following tonight, it would be nice obviously to think that many were here for all the groups. Dani was hitting the high squawks and the low gruff parts seemingly better than the last couple of times I have caught them and Lindsay Scoolcraft’s vocal contributions as well as keyboard parts were welcome and highly noticeable during the set. There seemed to be a lot more together and enjoying things even a bit more than normal and the fact that there was no need for on stage theatricals turning things alongside recent songs into a pantomime performance made it all generally a lot more palatable.

‘Beneath The Howling Stars’ had some symphonic flourishes and although not everyone was going to agree with the frontman’s statement of them being included in a “night of great black metal” they were hitting the mark. Things were not too theatrical and overblown and the band seemed stripped down somewhat and again all the better for it. ‘Haunted Shores’ and ‘Born In A Burial Shroud’ brought an eerie sense of grand-guignol to proceedings.and all in all it was an enjoyable set although no doubt for those that did not like them and towards the end for me an overlong one. They had time for one last ‘Funeral In Carpathia’ after an excellent intro courtesy of Jerry Goldsmith and obviously although they have lost the sense of danger that often went with them Cradle proved they still have their place in the grand scheme of things.

Behemoth have never been so relevant and the sold out status partly showed this and if not new album The Satanist should definitely do so. It could well be on the list of albums of the year and enjoyed so much I had previously snapped up the special edition of it. Adam Michał ‘Nergal’ Darski’s hard battle with leukaemia has been well documented and the bands last big show at Bloodstock had been well received although in such a big environment had lost some of its charge and atmosphere. No danger of that tonight, the stage looks resplendent and from the slow brooding build to the full explosion of ‘Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel’ the band were in a word devastating.  I think a lot of people were waiting for their first encounter with the new songs and were not disappointed. Nergal had stalked on stage like some sort of cowl clad seer and the rest of the band enforced by Seth providing extra weight live honed down to things creating a massive sound. Although the trumpets may not have had walls come tumbling down they came pretty damn close and without pause the band ploughed into ‘Ora Pro Norbis Lucifer’ The formidable presence of Inferno behind the kit cannot be disputed and he practically blew those of us trying to get pics from the rest of the band behind their impressive microphone stands away. Old guns were naturally brought out and it was early in the set the unmistakable cleave of ‘Conquer All’ literally charged into battle. I think most of London’s Polish metal brethren were out in force judging by some of the calls from behind and this was what was needed for things to kick off and have the pit seething.

Back to Satanica (yep there is a theme for sure) saw the stop start precision and bombast of ‘Decade Of Therion’ further charging the troops and the tribal bombast of the drumming was spot on. It seemed like a good idea for a veteran like me of many past campaigns to watch from upstairs, I can use the excuse of getting some snaps of the band from up there and watching the carnage below during ‘Slaves Shall Serve’ as an excuse. Some real favourites were being launched one after another with ‘Christians For The Lions’ being particularly potent and certainly not for the sheep. Its biblical brutality was pretty much second to none. ‘Driven By The Five Winged Star’ was followed by ‘The Satanist’ in all its glory.  These were both grand declarations of intent and the dialogue of the lyrics of the latter was fantastic with the scything choppy musicianship equally impressive. The lighting really added to the atmosphere decking a stage that already looked like some sort of arcane temple in claret and cold blue hues. At times it all left you mesmerised and at others completely crushed. As the set drew towards implosion with some more new songs such as ‘Furor Divinus’ it had been a great night all round. Just as I decided to leave and beat the crush the words ‘Hail Satan’ rebounded off the rafters and echoed in my ears on the homeward straight a fitting end to a night of glorious blasphemy!

(Review and photos © Pete Woods)