With doors opening at 6pm, it’s a mad rush from the office to Islington tonight and with such a strong line up, the disappointment of being late is looming over our heads as we rush up the underground escalators. Unfortunately for openers Unfathomable Ruination, it appears many of tonight’s crowd are stuck in the traffic and the floor is depressingly scarce but this doesn’t stop the Londoners from quite literally slamming their way through a set of brutal death metal. With the rest of the night paying respect to the old school end of the spectrum, Unfathomable Ruination are fresh meat in comparison and despite being new kids on the block, are likely to have converted the few people that made it in time for their set, thanks to their technical riffs and blistering brutality.
Despite 25 years, seven full lengths and a very legible backdrop, Benediction frontman Dave Hunt is still as modest as ever as he introduces the band several times throughout the set. Really though, the British death metal legends need no introduction and their live show is confirmation as to why they have maintained such a strong fanbase. As always, the bolshy Brummies put on a tight as hell performance, with several classics off ‘Transcend the Rubicon’ showcased and with the venue started to fill up, it isn’t long until Dave’s requests for a pit are fulfilled by a small but energetic clan. It seems throughout the set that there is slight confusion over the length of their set and after being told they had plenty of time, are only actually allowed one more song, which so happens to be ‘I Bow To None’; slightly ironic when they are shooed off the stage abruptly just after but Benediction still had plenty of time to make an impression.
This tour has been advertised as the 20th anniversary of classic album ‘Covenant’, yet the album itself was released in 1993. Numbers aside, Morbid Angel fans pack out the floor ready to relive one of the greatest death metal albums of its time and it’s a chance for the Floridian death metallers to prove they’ve still got it after that album that shall not be named.
And they do, flawlessly. From opening with ‘Rapture’, David Vincent is bursting with energy and plays the perfect frontman with just enough communication with the crowd to get them riled up. The band are on absolute fire tonight – Trey Azagthoth’s fingers working at an impeccable speed through the likes of ‘World of Shit’ and drummer Tim Yeung does Sandoval justice with flawless blasting clearly found so easy, he’s able to throw a few stick juggles in too. Despite the sound starting off a little too murky, even for old school death metal, Morbid Angel gain clarity the more the set progresses. With ‘God of Emptiness’, ‘Lion’s Den’ and’ Angel of Disease’ all receiving a particularly raucous response, the consistent belters prove how influential ‘Covenant’ was and still is and the great news for everyone here tonight is, it’s not over yet.
The second half of the night plays homage to all the other Morbid Angel albums (don’t worry that album only got one song played) and ‘Where the Slime Live’ kicks off the second part in style. With ‘Altars of Madness’ also celebrating an anniversary of 25 years, it’s surprising that they don’t focus more on the debut (no Chapel of Ghouls? Denied!) but ‘Immortal Rites’ is still enough to create the largest amount of bustle in the pit. ‘Fall From Grace’ finishes off the proceedings from ‘Blessed are the Sick’ and before you even get a chance to cheer and await a pick being thrown out in the sea of people, the lights are on and the music is off. We can only hope that Morbid Angel return again soon with another excuse to play an album in its entirety (cough, Altars, cough) soon.
(Review by Lily Randall)
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