Sometimes it’s worth taking a step back and getting a broad perspective on what you are actually getting from a show. Tonight we have three bands, all of substantial pedigree and all with extensive back catalogues. Doing some research, I make it that across all three of these acts we’re looking at a cumulative total of 105 years of activity and 39 full studio albums, stretching all the way back to 1983 in the case of Vader. In my book, that’s something to fully appreciate!
With their 2025 release Stiltskin to promote, first up on this Saturday night are Norwegian death metal stalwarts Blood Red Throne. Despite a lineage going back to 1998, they are effectively the young pups of tonight’s bill. That’s solely by comparison, though, as what we actually have is an experienced and established act. That’s clear from the minute they take the stage; they have a confidence, presence, and level of musical proficiency that’s clear to see. Their first couple of songs are characterised by crushing double bass drums and riffs that deliver a solid death metal crunch. Vocalist Sindre Johnsen tells the crowd, “Hey it’s Saturday night, the bar is just there, use it for your convenience.” The crowd are warming to the band by this point and the first circle pits start to appear. Musically, there are fine displays of lead guitar work and soloing to take in, and the band build a positive rapport with the crowd as their set goes on, culminating in a full-on circle pit by their final song. I’ll give the final summary to the guy I was chatting with at the bar who told me he’d never heard of Blood Red Throne before the gig but thought they were bloody brilliant. Fans won, one gig at a time.
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Vader are another band with an extensive discography and long lineage, and they clearly had their own fan base within the crowd. This included one guy with a Polish flag featuring the band’s logo, who managed a crowd surf while holding the flag towards the end of the set—fair play, sir! With their 2025 EP Humanility to promote, the band have a history dating back to 1983. To my ears, you can hear that in the music. While this is death metal, there are heavy threads of thrash through it—to the extent that it often feels like that grey area in the late ’80s when death metal wasn’t yet a fully formed sub-genre but effectively a developing form of thrash. This really suits my tastes, as I’ve got a personal bugbear that sometimes death metal can be a bit too mid-paced. Not Vader. By the time they reach third song “Epitaph”, they are in full flow, and as they launch into “Reign Forever World”, the first crowd surfers of the night make their appearance. One of the highlights for me was the lead guitar work, particularly during “The Book”, which is punctuated throughout by great lead breaks and an epic soaring solo. “Triumph of Death” is a fantastic thrash stomp with more great soloing before we get to the epic raging death metal of “Helleluyah!!! (God Is Dead)”. By the end of their set, Vader are treated as conquering heroes; for a fair chunk of the crowd tonight, they were clearly the main draw..
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Kataklysm were described by tonight’s promoters as a “US/French Canadian-based melodic death metal syndicate.” I’m not quite sure whether referring to them as a “syndicate” relates to the number of members they’ve had over the years (I count 11—though other bands have surely had far more?) or whether they adopt a “Dennis the Constitutional Peasant” approach to decision-making. Niche joke there for the Monty Python fans. Whatever the case, any doubts that may have lingered over their ability to follow Vader’s stormer of a set are quickly dispelled as they launch into “Soul Destroyer” followed by “Thy Serpents Tongue”, with its iconic guitar riff, pounding blast beats, and stomp-along verse. In the early stages of this show, it’s the title track of their 2023 Goliath album that stands out—a blistering behemoth of a track followed by “Die as a King” from the same record. “The Rabbit Hole” is a pounding stomp of a song that gets many a head banging in the audience, leading into a short drum solo before “At The Edge of the World” and “In Shadows & Dust”.
Up to this point, there had been a steady stream of crowd surfers, but vocalist Maurizio Iacono asks for more. “You have to be better than Birmingham!” he demands, and during “As I Slither” and “The Resurrected”, the crowd oblige with a stream of bodies heading over the barrier. We also get a bit of a polemic from Maurizio as an intro to “Crippled & Broken” about the struggles of war veterans and the lack of support they endure. Pick of the final songs for me is “The Black Sheep”, a real neck-breaker of a track with catchy guitar lines and an anthemic chorus. Kataklysm obviously have a real following here and are given a massive reception at the end of their set. As I stated at the beginning, this was a trio of bands with massive pedigree, and they all delivered in spades.
Photos by SRK Lens
