The Infernal Sea / Necronautical / Darkest Era / Deitus – The Underworld, London - 10.02.2024

 

The 2^nd Saturday of February brought to London quite a few concerts which we would like to go but, in the end, we had to choose one, and we chose this great package that featured four very good bands!! Before heading to the Underworld, we met our friend Galas at the Black Heart for some Lightbulbs (steadily becoming one of my favourite beers) and a bit of warming up!! Then head on to THE UNDERWORLD!!

DEITUS opened the ceremonies, and early on we were being attacked by their fast uncompromised Black Metal. Presenting a new album (which came out in 2023) called “Irreversible”, the London horde did not disappoint all those already gathered in the Underworld when they got on stage. Their Black Metal has a bit of a Thrashy sound which for me fits quite well and makes some of their songs very catchy and headbanging!! There was melody, anger, great riffs, and soaring vocals, which created a very good atmosphere for this first concert of the day!!

Second band in stage, were their labelmates (hell thinking better all the bands tonight are with Candlelight Records) DARKEST ERA, a band which we had seen a couple of months before at The Black Heart, and it was very good to see them again, and this time with a bit more people in the crowd!! They are an awesome bunch, and their music is right down my alley: a mix of Doomish Heavy Metal with their Celtic heritage and a lot of epicness!! They also released an album not long ago: 2022’s “Wither On The Vine” (which I brought home in vinyl format and signed by a couple of them) which they presented a couple of tracks here like “Floodlands” and “The Collapse”. I don’t want to repeat myself too much, but these guys are a great band, and every time I see them, I think I’m more, and more into their music!! Their songs are like a journey into older times, where vocalist Krum serves as guide and troubadour. They play as tight as you could ask, with every riff being thrown at you with all their might and precision, catchy solos, thick bass lines, and drums very steady, with just the right amount of strength. I didn’t want it to end but when it came, I accepted as a grown man and moved to the bar for a pint of cold Camden Pale Ale!!

Another known name to us, and pretty much to everyone in the UK, were the next guests: NECRONAUTICAL!! I don’t think I ever saw a not so good concert from these guys, and today it wasn’t different!! They came, they saw, and they conquered, it’s my final idea!! Their riffs haunt you, hours after they finished their set, the tempo changes are immense, Naut’s vocals are the devil in disguise, there’s so much happening but in a way that seems clear to the listener. You can feel daunted by the images which seem to come out of their music, but you can’t look away from the beauty/horror of it!! I got so immersed in their music, and so tired after it, that when The Infernal Sea came on stage, I was pretty much empty and only saw a couple of their songs and went to the bar to harass the Darkest Era guys ahaha!! The fact I was going to see them twice in the next couple of weeks made me feel a bit less guilty!!

Overall, it was a beast of a night, with a great packed The Underworld, which is always a great image, and a lot of good UK bands, giving their best!!!

 

Darkest Era/Gospelheim – The Black Heart, London – 23.11.23

Thursday night in London, so what better to do than going to the Black Heart to see a band we hadn’t watched in twelve years? Yeah, more than a decade ago we saw Darkest Era in Lisbon alongside the Russians Arkona plus Dalriada and Trollfest, in a very interesting night!!  So, of course we wanted to see them again!! 

So, me, Ines and Galas (one other Portuguese friend that joins us sometimes in our adventures) met at the Black Heart and started the night with a nice Lightbulb, a very good pale ale from Verdant Brewery. Unfortunately, when we went upstairs to the venue, we saw that it was not going to be a very crowded house. In fact, we and one other guy were the only ones in there, a bit before Gospelheim had to start. And I think maybe that affected a bit the mood, and the show from the Manchester band!! Down to a trio with Ricardo and Coco sharing vocals, the band went through their debut album, ‘Ritual & Repetition’, with some hiccups but relentlessly. Luckily more people showed up, although I wouldn’t put it above 30, while the band was charging at us with their mix of Gothic Rock and Metal, maybe on a vein close to Moonspell or one other Portuguese band, which goes by the name of Divine Lust.  My favourite track was ‘Satan Blues’, a song with a hell of a beat and an instrumental one which I didn’t catch the name. I was hoping to buy the album but when we came upstairs (with one more Lightbulb to clench our thirst) the merch and the band had disappeared!! Maybe they were working the next day, so totally understood. I hope I can catch them a next time as a quartet and see how it goes!!!

After them, and maybe with the house with 40 to 50 people, Darkest Era arrived on stage, and it was nice to see that the band was pretty much the same that we saw in Portugal (and then interviewed on issue #12)!! And they had the same energy and contagious music!! Although of course, this time, they were promoting their third and most recent album, ‘Wither on the Vibe’, released in 2022 by Candlelight Records. The new songs are as Heavy and melodic as you can expect, but also with tinges of Black and Doom Metal, bringing to mind some influences from the mighty Bathory (which can never be a bad thing) or their mates from the South, Primordial. ‘Floodlands’ is a good example, and it was one of the hits of this show. The guitars were heavy as hell, Krum vocals on the spot (and with a great interaction with the audience) and the rhythm section very tight, especially on the faster tempos. They didn’t forget the oldies and played stuff like ‘An Ancient Fire Burns’ or ‘The Morrigan (which ended the show in a very epic mood) from their debut, ‘The Last Caress of Light’ or ‘Songs of Gods and Men’ from its follower ‘Severance’. A great show from a band that deserved more audience (I know it was almost the end of the month so maybe not a lot of money floating around) and also a bit more recognizance from the Metal scene. 

Then Woody’s for a nice chicken meat & chips, home and some sleep as the next day was a working one plus the beginning of Beyond the Grave also at The Black Heart!!! But that will be for a next one!!!