Obituary / Master / Visceral Bleeding
21 October 2004
Electric Ballroom, London
The past few years have seen a number of thrash acts reforming and treading the boards once more. Well death metal obviously doesn`t want to be left out and 2004 has seen Dave Vincent back fronting Morbid Angel (though it`s unclear whether that will last beyond one tour) and now the reunited Obituary are back terrifying audiences. It`s a measure of the high esteem in which they are held that tonight the Electric Ballroom is rammed, whereas a number of the recently reformed thrash acts have been playing over the road at the much smaller Underworld.
First up tonight though are Sweden`s Visceral Bleeding. Having downloaded the track Fed To The Dogs from their website, I didn`t expect that their furious onslaught would be my cup of tea. Sure enough, much like their latest album title, the band Transcend Into Ferocity and similar to the bands logo, I just can`t make out what`s going on and lose interest very quickly. If you like hyper-speed death metal they may be your cup of tea but they leave me as cold as a pathologist`s scalpel.
Paul Speckmann`s in this for the long haul. He lives and breathes death metal and we knew exactly when his band Master would take to the stage, as he was manning his own t-shirt stand when not playing. You can trace Master`s history all the way back to 1983 and for the old school death metal aficionados it`s a rare treat to catch Speckmann on U.K. soil.
Around the turn of the millennium, Speckmann relocated from the U.S.A. to the Czech Republic and I believe the band`s line-up was rounded out tonight by Alex Nejezchleba on guitar and Zdenek Pradlovski on drums. For a three piece they raise one hell of a noise, but unlike Visceral Bleeding`s complexities, Master offer a stripped down sound. Simple but heavy riffing backed by double bass drumming and caustic vocals.
With his scruffy long hair and beard ZZ Top would be proud of, Speckmann wouldn`t look out of place in the film Deliverance, but he`s quite humble about his cult stature. When I refer to him as a death metal legend on meeting him on the merchandise stall, he offers simply "I wouldn`t go that far!".
Having only had a poor taped copy of 1990`s self titled album, I was unfamiliar with the material played tonight and Submerged In Sin was the only song title I managed to pick up. Again, not the type of metal I would usually listen to, but live Master put on an impressive display.
The huge Obituary logo backdrop and Cause Of Death artwork hiding the amps give no doubt about who`s taking the stage next. As the familiar thick guitar tones of Allen West and Trevor Peres commence with Internal Bleeding a huge pit erupts sending waves of movement throughout the Electric Ballroom.
The simplicity of Obituary`s riffing probably make the soundman`s job that bit easier, but from the off the sickeningly heavy groove is crystal clear and hitting you right in the gut. If you could describe how that feels you`d probably do it in the style of John Tardy`s tortured growl. Often imitated but never matched, Tardy possesses a unique vocal and tonight hidden behind a curtain of tangled hair looks no different to when he was brutalising audiences in the early 90s.
John`s brother Donald has probably had the most high profile position of the band members since the split, bashing the drums for Andrew WK. Having briefly seem him in that role it felt like a talent was going to waste, so it`s a joy to hear him working his way round the full kit and drilling out double bass work through a trio of songs from 1997 swan song Back From The Dead.
The obligatory homage to Celtic Frost follows, whom Obituary have never hidden from as their chief inspiration. Obituary`s version of Dethroned Emperor tonight was heavier than I remember even Frost themselves playing it, when I had seen them in the past.
I`ve always thought Trevor Peres deep set eyes give him the look of one disturbed individual and tonight, now with beard, he resembles someone who should be on America`s Most Wanted, whilst menacingly staring the crowd during the likes of Bloodsoaked. By contrast Allen West, now with shaven head is a bit more reserved letting bassist Frank Watkins take up his share of stage movement.
The set peaks with Chopped In Half though not to say it was particularly downhill from there with the likes of Solid State and Slowly We Rot continuing the momentum.
Tonight`s gig had an air of witnessing something special, though this is common when a band reunites. The real challenge for Obituary is to maintain this with their new album and subsequent tours. The one new song aired tonight, Insain, suggests its business as usual and Obituary are sticking to what they do best.
Obituary set list:
Internal Bleeding / Threatening Skies / By The Light / Download / Dethroned Emperor / Bloodsoaked / Back To One / Chopped In Half / Turned Inside Out / Cause Of Death / Dying / Solid State / Til Death / Kill For Me / Final Thoughts / Words Of Evil / Stinkupus / Back From The Dead / Insain / Slowly We Rot
LINKS:
Obituary
Master
Visceral Bleeding
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