Monday night saw the Unholy Kingdom of Redemption tour hit the Black Heart in London, which was perfect for me given that it was a night off, I rather like the headliners, Overthrow, and the gig only cost nine quid; on top of that, the support bands, Infected Dead and Acid Vat, didn’t sound bad from a cursory listen.
They didn’t sound bad live either. First up came Acid Vat, setting the tone with a chunky, overbearing old-school death-metal sound, a unitary thread between slower, less familiar chugs like opener ‘Vat Massacre’ and ‘Misery Enslaved’ and the all-out onslaughts of ‘Cannibal Sanctuary’ and ‘Shrapnel Brains’. There were points where vocalist Jordan Sheffield scolded the audience for not fully losing it; for my part at least, twas down to a relative lack of familiarity with the (presumably) newer and slower numbers. The more relentless, previously heard tracks, familiar from their Dead Flesh Architect EP, presented far less of a barrier to a good headbang. Solid start.
Next up came Infected Dead, who also showcased new, unreleased material alongside more familiar numbers like ‘Samsara’ and set standout ‘Invocation of Unspeakable Gods’. Going by the sounds of the newer material, such as show opener ‘In Spaces Beyond’, it sounds as if it’ll sit quite respectably alongside what’s already unleashed, even if frontman Lou Ede’s vocals on the aforementioned opener fell victim to the Black Heart’s recurring sound mixing issues. Also, kudos to Lou for sorting me out a free copy of the band’s Archaic Malevolence EP (which still hasn’t turned up in the post despite my ordering it over a month ago, but Lou provided insight into that issue too).
Finally, Overthrow topped the night off with their reliably vicious brand of blackened-death aural aggression, kicking off proceedings with my favourite tune of theirs, the unrelentingly vicious ‘Caustic Vengeance (Blindly Driven)’, which, as ever, was almost worth the admission price alone. That’s not to say they peaked there and went downhill, however. The excellent ‘Ruptured Nebula’, also from their latest release, the EP Ascension of the Entombed, was another notable performance, igniting some spirited pit action from the audience in a manner no track before or after did. I also gained a whole new appreciation for ‘Seeds of Disease’, often the token setlist track from their album Strike Down the Saviour but accompanied this time by another from that album ‘Shots Fired’. There was even a promising glimpse of things to come by way of new track ‘Serpent Throne’, which maintains the blastbeating, tremolo intensity of the Ascension EP. Speaking of which, its title track closed up the night’s proceedings in fine fashion, taking the spot usually reserved for a (this-time conspicuously absent) Mötorhead or Slayer cover. Twas also great to chat with Gareth (lead guitarist), Scott (drummer, for both Overthrow *and* Infected Dead), and Jay (vox, rhythm guitarist) afterward, Jay being in a considerably better mood than when I last saw them, supporting Massacre at the Underworld.
So, all in all, a solid night of British death-metal brutality—nice one, all!
~MRDA~
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