Anyone for Black Metal?

June 10, 2010 No Comments

It’s Belfast, it’s Laverys’ Bunker, it’s a Thursday night…could it be? Why yes it is boys and girls, it’s Heavy Metal…and plenty of it! Ryan Bentley gives us a thorough insight into Northern Ireland’s black metal scene. Read on if you dare…

The first band to take to the stage in Laverys this Thursday night was ‘Altus Astrum’, an old school Black Metal band from Belfast. Although they were relatively unknown tonight, it could be assumed they made a number of new fans after a no nonsense performance.

Their style is a distinctly old school fusion of Black Metal, with the occasional nod towards some contemporary Death Metal acts. Although not my usual poison, they managed to engage my senses for the duration of their set and served as an excellent warm up act.

In truth, this was largely down to the performance of bassist and vocalist CXIII, who unleashed a captivating presence on stage and was arguably the stand out vocalist on the night. The fact that he was wielding a B.C Rich Beast bass guitar and looked convincingly evil only served to consolidate his metal credentials; to my mind evocative of Secthdamon (bassist and vocalist of the now defunct Blackened Death Metal band ‘Zyklon’).

Astrum’s music is largely driven by the standard Black Metal template of fast picked chord passages with heightened emphasis on dissonance. Regular use of blast beats and a drummer with crazy legs complete the sound.

They did stray from this once or twice and displayed a deft knack for writing more direct hook driven riffs, which provided a little diversity. Although their records sound fairly low-fi, as is the norm within the parameters of Black Metal, Altus Astrum sound great live. Everything resonates with clarity and polish and that is both a testament to the band and the venue.

Their set featured four songs from their upcoming debut album “Antediluvian” and they also paid homage to “a fallen legend” by playing “Last in Line” by Dio, an act of genuine class and one which definitely won over the audience in Lavery’s.

Their only mishap was when front-man, CXIII’s bass was rendered useless due to technical difficulties and after dropping his instrument to focus on vocal duties instead, his microphone disconnected from its wiring completely. In a show of great tenacity, he endeavoured to reconnect the mic to the stand and revive his bass but was to again find himself out of luck as his bass strap then gave way.

An unfortunate end to a credible performance from this local band, but expect to hear much more from them in the near future.

The second band, and undisputed victor of the night, was local outfit ‘Stand Up Guy’. Having played support to established metal luminaries such as ‘Amon Amarth’, ‘Nevermore’ and the mighty ‘Devildriver’ and boasting a quirky and entertaining myspace page, I could have been forgiven for getting my hopes up for these guys.

Although Altus Astrum turned in a respectable performance and commanded the stage, Stand Up Guy wreaked havoc up there.

Right from the get go, it’s clear that they mean business. Even when setting up their equipment, they exude a steely intensity and focus. When vocalist and guitarist, Ian Booth, casually ambles up to the mic-stand to proclaim that Stand Up Guy are “here to play some riffs”, it’s clear they don’t deal in chit-chat or small talk. My anticipation of this highly promising act was swiftly increased ten-fold due to that one seemingly innocuous phrase.

With that said however, it is the music of Stand Up Guy that truly sets them apart. There is an absolute myriad of influences woven into their vast musical tapestry. They have the crushing, claustrophobic qualities of ‘Neurosis’, a progressive quality and sense of melody similar to ‘Mastodon’, a penchant for poignant chord progressions much like the ‘Deftones’ and dare I say, there’s even a little ‘Incubus’ in the clean passages, especially with Booth’s clean vocals.

All in all, it is a veritable feast for the senses. The guitar work is stellar and the tone is crystal clear. Indeed, they primarily focus on huge, earth shaking riffs and rhythms, but lush melodies and voicings allow these monstrous slabs of detuned filth to really breathe and permeate through the room. It is worth noting that they seemed to employ an odd tuning, that of a standard fingering (presumably D standard) with the lowest string tuned down to what sounded like A. It is a tuning used a lot by Mastodon and it definitely is a factor in Stand Up Guy’s unique sound.

The twin vocal attack of Booth and drummer Conor Mullan is truly malevolent. When they bellow together it sounds like the world is crumbling around you.

This is intense, harrowing and unsettling music with deft melodic touches and colossal grooves. It’s heavy in a claustrophobic, unnerving way and retains a genuine flavour of originality. Watch this space.

And so, on to the headline act ‘Altar of Plagues’. Hailing from Cork and with one studio album already behind them (“White Tomb” available on Profound Lore Records), Altar of Plagues are a rising force in the world of Irish extreme metal.

Their upcoming tour of the States implies that there is a great deal of international interest surrounding them. In fact they’ve recently joined the roster of Candlelight Records, where they’ll be rubbing shoulders with giants of the metal world such as Opeth, Fear Factory and Emperor: as you can imagine, I was very excited at the prospect of seeing them in action.

Specializing in a more ambient, post-rock style of Black Metal, I had a little trepidation as I checked out their Myspace profile. But lo and behold, here is an act that can tastefully merge the core Black Metal sound with the more diverse stylistic traits of bands such as ‘Isis’ and ‘Agalloch’. The end product is a much more rewarding listening experience than most of Altar of Plagues’ peers and I certainly went into the gig with high hopes that their music would translate to the live arena.

As they made their entrance, their formation proved to be unique and engaging. Interestingly the guitar players made their way forward, almost standing amongst the audience. They also set up two lamps to bathe the stage in an eerie red twilight. All of this made for great viewing and enhanced the ambient vibe, which is such an intrinsic component of their music. It was safe to say they had my attention.

As the set began it became clear that something wasn’t quite right here. The stellar sound quality with which the previous bands had performed was noticeably missing in action. For about twenty seconds the audience bore witness to what could be most accurately described as a bloody racket. That was until guitarist Jeremiah Spillane, who was visibly unhappy with something, cut proceedings short… maybe there was an error in set up?

It’s hard to say but I’ve never seen a band stop so suddenly in mid-song before. A moment later they resumed, obviously having corrected whatever mistake was made earlier. But unfortunately it was more of the same. Nothing short of cacophonous noise.

What made matters worse was the fact that the drums were barely audible under the guitars, both of which sounded mediocre at best and really dominated the soundscape. The bass couldn’t be heard and the microphones might as well have been turned off.

In fact, I have my suspicions as to whether or not guitarist James Kelly’s mic was ever on. I was seated right beside him and I heard nothing.

The subtle nuances and melodies that set Altar of Plagues apart were inaudible under the racket and as such, their music held no sway over me. That ambient aspect of their music which truly identifies their records was nowhere to be found and they ended up sounding awful.

I know the purists out there will argue that this music is meant to be ugly and uncompromising, trust me, I know, but the simple fact is that that kind of performance will not cut it at this level. I find it difficult to explain but it’s a shame that such a promising band suffered this fate.

On to the positives… don’t judge this band based on this review, they have more to offer in the way of songs and originality than most of their contemporaries combined. Indeed, Spillane exhibited some very interesting use of his effects pedals and a few deft melodic uses of his PRS tremelo bar that I have never heard before. Listen to their recordings on Myspace, look out for their E.P “Tides”, check out their album too but tonight was a very, very bad day at the office.

By Ryan Bentley

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