Just back from seeing Morbid Angel at the Astoria 2. The last time I saw MA was about 10 years ago and I think it was also at the Astoria 2, a few years before that I saw them at the old Marquee on Charing Cross Road, London. Today they were as awesome as they were 10 fucking years ago. They covered a good range of songs but more importantly Trey's solo's were as eclectic as ever.

There isn't much to say really. They were just awesome. If you get to see them (I hear they are coming back to the UK on September) then go. They are on fire.

The first thing everyone thought when walking in to the Underworld is praise Satan for air conditioning. It was a shit hot day in London. It's a shame more people didn't turn up to bask in the chill, about 50 people were there for the opening act Anger Management.

Anger Management paid their dues on stage. The crowd really wasn't up for their music which wasn't bad, just too hardcore for a small crowd of thrashers. To give them credit they gave a good performance and at no point did they give up on the crowd.

Nebukadnezza, sitting at the punk end of hardcore, gave a suitably up yours performance. Minimal conversation, lots of shouting and thrashing about. Good times. For a three piece band they work hard to fill the sound out.

Yesterdays performance by Gama Bomb was let down by the sound system. There was no such problem this time. The crowd hand 'swelled' to perhaps 200 but from the first song till the last Gama Bomb owned the venue. This was Gama Bomb at their best, on fire. Gama Bombs best performance in London and one of the best thrash performances I've seen in 20 years. There wasn't a single face in the underworld with a sad face.

This was Warbringer's first performance in the UK and to be fair more people there had come to see Gama Bomb. Undaunted they went on to perform a set that they should be proud of. They made their mark in the Underworld storming through a good portion of their album and treating the crowd to a new song. Not a bad debut in one of metal's great venues for a young band with a promising future.

I won't talk about the aftershow party coz I can't remember it. I assume it was good

Due to commitments at the Bar, once again, I missed the first half of the Gama Bomb set (this will be rectified today at the Warbringer gig). It seemed to me that Gama Bomb were having a good time and there was a small pit of the usual London thrashers joining in. The sound seemed terrible and I think Gama Bomb were suffering from a sound system setup for the other bands.

Next up were Akercocke. Now, if you've never seen Akercocke then you are missing out on one of the finest UK death metal bands. As a rule of thumb no one moves during an Akercoke gig as everyone just stands amazed at what is before them. Although it's a wall of noise, it's the most finely crafted wall of noise you will ever hear. They suffered a number of technical glitches during the set but they worked through them and offered an excellent performance.

Finally, Sabbat. I didn't know what to expect. Their previous gig in New York got a less then impressive write up in Terrorizer magazine. It's been a long time for everyone. Still time doesn't seem to have removed their energy and they blasted through an hour set in a hot sticky Scala with apparent ease. Were they as tight as a gnats arse?.. fuck no, there were points where it fell apart but this was more then compensated for by the points of genius recreated from 20 years ago. If you get a chance to see Sabbat, even if you don't know their material then you simply have to see them. Listening to the reformed Sabbat shows how one dimensional the current crop of thrash bands are.


be seeing you

dazza

Last night I made my way down to the Damnas EP Launch party. The London School of Economics doesn't usually play host to thrash launch parties!

First up Doctor Death chugged their way through numerous set problems. It was not their best night and they seemed relieved to leave the stage. The only redeeming part of Doctor Death's night were their eighties day glow beach shorts which everyone chuckled at.

River Freshney were on the ball but seemed to play the same set they played at the Purple Turtle a few months ago. They're a great band to see live but only in small doses.

Mutant, who were supposed to headline but decided to play support, were at best mediocre. For a band with some great tunes it's actually shocking that they don't bother to learn to play them live. I enjoyed their set but I'm getting bored with their sloppy guitar playing.

Last up Damnas were obviously charged up for their launch party and showed considerable skill storming through a set list that was far too short for me. It was an excellent, confident performance.

For £4 to get in and £2.30 a pint I can't really complain too much. Damnas once again stole the show with an excellent performance and a worthy EP.

In a fit I actually bothered to set up a MySpace page New Metal Army You can check it out here http://www.myspace.com/newmetalarmy

I'm not quite sure why as all I'm gonna do now is fend off spam but it's all fun. Add me.

PS: If you've got the new Opeth Album with the DVD check out the interview with the band. There is a bit where Mikael Akerfeldt is sitting in a chair with a cup of coffee and he has a halo over his head... those wacky guys