By Jase Walker
You know what screams “the perfect thing to do on a 29ºC, clear as fuck day for the first time in four months in the Netherlands”? That’s right, go to a darkened room several floors up in Utrecht and get screamed at by some metal bands.
This time it’s one of those ÜK bands that’s been around so long they’re very much part of the furniture and featured more times in Kerrang! magazine than your dad’s seen your mum naked! Anyway, I digress, I’m quite excited for it since I’ve somehow managed missing these guys the gods knows how many times and what an absolute treat it is to have The Monolith Deathcult as support tonight also.
A fair bit later than was advertised, The Monolith Deathcult finally takes the stage and I’m eager to see what they have in store for the now fairly busy room. What’s not to like about kicking things off with absolutely crushing riffs, more double bass pedals work than you can shake a stick at, growling down the mic and tasty guitar licks? Also I didn’t miss them moving around and fretting each other’s guitars either, nice touch. I did not expect a random ethereal sample of ‘Heaven Is A Place On Earth’ to be used before leading into more earth shattering grooves but I definitely appreciate it. Solid stage presence, good sound, engaging songs and a pretty enjoyable performance on all fronts. Some similar vibes with Rivers Of Nihil’s older stuff (Before their big sax days), chuggy riffs that have a “rolling” sound to them with the way the drummer keeps smashing that double bass pedal while circling the rest of the kit.
Admittedly I’m not totally sure what makes this avant-garde as much as I’m enjoying it, I don’t find there’s anything particularly unusual about their approach to warrant it but some bits do give a heavy Devin Townsend/SYL feel. I do absolutely love some blast beats and good old fashioned hair windmills though with some black metal influences shining through. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a band get someone on stage to play cowbell with the drummer before, poor lad had a mess on getting on stage for it with a crutch and what looked like a bust up leg, pretty hilarious hearing her actually play it reasonably in time as well, these songs are like 6 minutes long! Great set to get things warmed up, bit disappointed with the static crowd though, they were worth a better response than that.
The room darkens and people cheer wildly as the band takes the stage while Dani eventually reveals himself at the bag with his head covered. The shows finally started and I get to tick off another band off my (admittedly shortening quickly) bucket list. Their unmistakable sound of symphonic blackened metal fills the now completely rammed (and sold out) room, a sea of people standing beneath me with their gazes fully trained on Dani. It also struck me how one of their members has makeup on that’s paying tribute to Pinhead alongside his full body jacket. There’s a few people in the middle trying to get a pit going but people around them are having absolutely none of it unfortunately. Dani comments that they’re missing the England game to play this show but I’m pretty sure that the people here are also missing the Netherlands game too, so ehhh…
Either way a bit of provocation to start a pit and the naysayers have had to back off pretty quickly after almost the entire centre decided they wanted a piece of the action. Sadly one of the songs messed up after I noticed the band suddenly started going out of time and it looks like the laptop running the click track went a bit haywire so from the top they go again! The audience clearly doesn’t care either, more mosh time for them as well. Just as well they didn’t skip it, I bloody love some dual guitar solos! I do wish Dani’s vocals were a bit louder and clearer though. I’m definitely enjoying the rest though, the sound is probably more aimed at directly over the audience than up at the balcony where I am but it’s still pretty decent on the whole.
I didn’t expect ‘Nymphetamine’ to be a mindset song and kind of hoped it would be closer to a set closer but I do suppose it’s been bloody years since they released it. I’m starting to think the lighting tech is a bit of a troll as well, the moment the pit kicks off again they’ve got the lights trained right on the middle of and strobing like mad. We’ve even got to sing happy birthday to their keyboard player and they brought a cake for her as well, so very wholesome! It’s been another clear show of the sound man constantly making minor tuning adjustments as the show has gone on as the overall sound now compared to the start is absolutely fantastic. Dani’s voice is much clearer while the rest of the band sounds much stronger overall but not smothering each other.
A brief break before the encore sees Dani walking back on with what looks to be a sort of pagan staff, it’s time for the home stretch. Honestly I’m so pleased I’ve gotten to tick these off the bucket list finally, not only that but it’s festival season good and proper now so July is quite scant for shows but many amazing things are coming up over the next couple of months that I’ll no doubt be writing about too.
The air conditioning is doing absolutely fucking nothing in this room, a true case of a room full of sweaty moshers. Fuck yeah Cradle Of Filth!
- All content © Über Rock. Not to be reproduced in part or in whole without the express written permission of Über Rock.