No Mercy Festival
London Astoria
8 April 2003
What a great show and a great turnout too. The venue seemed genuinely shocked by the turnout, being forced to open the balcony have way through as downstairs was so packed.
Die Apokalyptischen Reiter opened to a sparse crowd, the gig starting before a lot of people would have finished work or college. A weird looking and sounding band, falling somewhere between black metal and German folk music to my ears. The singer was particularly mad. At some points they were great, other times crap.
Darkane were excellent. Their modern thrash sound went down a storm with a very professional performance. Imaginary Entity and the closing Innocence Gone were the standout tracks for me.
Malevolent Creation are just not my cup of tea. If walls of noise are your thing then fine but I retreated for food at this point. I did catch their singer saying one of their guitarist was M.I.E. - Missing In England, so they were playing as a four piece!
By this point the place had really filled up in time for Pro-Pain, who were the real surprise of the day. I already like them myself but wondered whether their hardcore sound would go down well at a metal festival. Again they were short of a rhythm guitarist, this time due to being in hospital, but you wouldn't have noticed, as the sound was crushingly heavy. The first real pit of the day opened up and a lot of heads were nodding along. Make War Not Love was the standout track.
Again, Marduk weren't really my thing but their frontman was certainly amusing to watch. I'm surprised that black metal purist would take him seriously with his long blond hair, comical stage moves and normal between songs voice. Anyway, I'm sure if you like them they were great. I enjoyed the one song I knew which was World Funeral.
Now to the absolute stars of the day Death Angel. They were extremely tight, great stage presence and had the best sound of the gig. I could go on and on at how good they were but sufficed to say I was grinning from start to finish. It was 13 years since they last played, and I saw them, in England, I hope we don't have to wait that long again.
Death Angel Set List:
Intro - Short part of Ultra Violence / Seemingly Endless Time / Voracious Souls / Mistress Of Pain / Third Floor / Evil Priest / Stagnant / Bored / Kill As One
...and now the real embarrassment of the day, Nuclear Assault. John Connely was absolutely out of his head and played the whole set with his guitar out of tune. Having said that, the bass and second guitar seemed to be tuned differently too and we were subjected to horrendous feedback. During Buttf**k, Connely downed his guitar and leapt into the crowd. On return he was staggering round and seemed to have a long heated conversation with Dan Lilker. Dan Lilker then announced they had three more songs, which happen to be three he sings. At the end someone next to me shouted 'Disgraceful' and he wasn't wrong.
Nuclear Assault Set list (though I may be slightly out as I could hardly tell!):
Rise From The Ashes / Brainwashed / F# / F# (Wake Up) / When Freedom Dies / Game Over / Buttf**k / My America / Hang The Pope / Lesbians
Finally to Testament. It wasn't the tightest performance I've seen by them by a long shot, though that's to be expected with a stand-in drummer, but it was fun. 'You didn't think I'd be back?' roared Chuck who was met with a sea of hands and cheers. The sound wasn't great but it didn't seem to matter. There was a very celebratory atmosphere and smiles all round from band and crowd. Chuck said they'd be back in July/August and hopefully we'll get a full length set, but I wasn't complaining on leaving last night.
Testament Set list:
DNR / Down For Life / Low / Burnt Offerings / Into The Pit / Trial By Fire / True Believer / Three Days In Darkness / Eyes Of Wrath / Over The Wall / Dog Faced Gods / Disciples Of The Watch
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