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Obituary - London, England, 5th July 2007


Event: Obituary
Written by: GRIGAL
Published: 26.09.2007

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Obituary - London, England by (13)


A heavy presence of the international media inside 'The Underworld' hinted at a highly anticipated event. This mood is reasonable when the headliners happen to be one of the most significant and enduring exponents of USA Death Metal. Obituary were to be supported by another legend in extreme Metal - Onslaught, who had released a couple of groundbreaking albums back in the late 1980s. With DAM and Dead Beyond Buried set to open the event, everyone braced themselves for a DM rollercoaster ride, courtesy of Candlelight Records.


DEAD BEYOND BURIED
Dead Beyond Buried compensated an unpersuasive originality by delivering a strong performance of enjoyable old-school Death Metal. The set-list consisted of songs with a technical slant that alternated between stunningly fast riffs and slower crushing grooves. Included within all this were 'Innocence Erased' and 'Organic Dementia'. The latter song was recently the subject of a video production.

Another thing worth mentioning is the technically great voice of Oliver Marchand. Pity that his talent wasn't complimented by a more confident attitude towards the audience. In fact this might partially account for an oddly inert crowd. Despite this, DBB gave a very positive show.




DAM
DAM upped the ante in terms of heaviness. Such was the energy and ferocity that at one point Nathan (vocals/guitar) and Dan (guitar) nearly collided onstage. It was only recently that Dan joined the band - not that this seemed obvious from the holistic chemistry on show.

With respect to the other 3/4 of the billing, DAM gave less focus on structure and more emphasis on aural aggression. The performance of these Londoners was in fact utterly relentless. DAM's unvaried Death Grind set-list included 'Spiritual Void', an excellent 'Made Of Beasts' and, from the new album 'Eyeballing'.




ONSLAUGHT
When the whole venue was screaming the band's name before 1 single note was even played, you're inclined to think that there's still a great deal of respect for Metal veterans Onslaught. Sure enough, limbs were tossed about like confetti and blood literally flowed as the band proved its enduring mettle to a crazy moshpit.

The band played a few recent songs, such as 'Planting Seeds Of Hate' and the title track of "Killing Peace", the latter also serving to open the gig. These are great songs but clearly it was the classic repertoire that the rabid audience really wanted.....and got. The Underworld went berserk as Onslaught played timeless gems such as 'Angels Of Death' and 'Metal Forces'. The coup de grace came at the end in the form of 'Power From Hell', from the band's omonimous 1985 album.

The main disappointment was the brevity of Onslaught's show. Oh well, at least everyone seemed to have had a great time. One also couldn't fail to notice an overindulgence in the 'sport' of stagediving. Power from Hell indeed!




OBITUARY
As well to promote the impending album - "Xecutioner's Return" - this London gig also served as an official introduction of Obituary's new guitarist Ralph Santolla (Millenium, ex-Death, ex-Deicide, ex-Seb Bach). As the performance gets going, it's clear that Ralph's trial by fire was greeted with a two-thumbs up approval!

Following an uneven start, the performance kicks into overdrive. Whichever phase of the band's history the set-list happened to focus on, the vigour of their execution was homogenous. Anyone familiar with Obituary's unique style of Death Metal would be well aware of the constant shift between blast-beat parts to staccato riffs to mid-paced passages. Well, in this live setting the tempo shifts were flawless and the band's tightness belied their experience and maturity plying the DM trade.

There seemed to be some glitches at times - the impression was that some instruments were briefly disconnected from the mixer. Despite being commonly regarded as a point-of-reference of the genre, Obituary never bothered to invest in a more sophisticated image and this live performance had a 'no bullshit' attitude in delivering the goods.

A performance by giants.....both in the physical and metaphorical sense!







Comments

Comments: 8   Visited by: 8 users
29.09.2007 - 13:17
SteTech

Wish I could have seen this, and what the hell happened to that dude's face in the Onslaught pics?
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01.10.2007 - 15:49
GRIGAL
Account deleted
Hi Steve! That dude's face is suffering from acute 'Moshingus Extremus' ....not that he seemed bothered. As I mentioned in the review, it was quite a wild moshpit!
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12.10.2007 - 18:59
Lady Bathory

The show in toronto was amazing. I definatley felt that pit, the bones in my nose will never be the same. A good token from a long-awaited show.
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24.10.2007 - 00:19
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Onslaught play again ndt hay had new album so :banher2:
----
Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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24.10.2007 - 13:46
Deadsoulman

Written by Bad English on 24.10.2007 at 00:19

Onslaught play again ndt hay had new album so :banher2:


What?
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24.10.2007 - 17:50
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Written by Deadsoulman on 24.10.2007 at 13:46

Written by Bad English on 24.10.2007 at 00:19

Onslaught play again ndt hay had new album so :banher2:


What?


I was drunk and Onslaught(UK thrash band) play agian and thay had new album and prom video will be out soon (band member told me about it in myspace )
----
Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
Loading...
24.10.2007 - 18:33
Deadsoulman

Ok then you were drunk, I was wondering how come you could even misspell a smiley lol. Onslaught's new album is very good by the way
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24.10.2007 - 18:43
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Written by Deadsoulman on 24.10.2007 at 18:33

Ok then you were drunk, I was wondering how come you could even misspell a smiley lol. Onslaught's new album is very good by the way


I was drunk and tired look when I post(time) and I dunno new album, but some songs of myspace but old stuff are good and member(who works whit myspace) promice me drink fiew beers in concert in Latvia(2008 october or something) heheh
----
Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
Loading...

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