Saturday the 12th of April not only marked the day the “Unholy Trinity” of Behemoth, Satyricon, and Rotting Christ, descended upon London’s Brixton Academy but also the first time I’d been to the venue since it reopened a year ago, following the Big Bumrush of 2022 and its ensuing fatalities, not to mention the first time I’d been there in three years full stop. So, yeah, despite the long slog to get there and its location, I’ve missed the venue, and what better reason to return than for a triple bill of black(ened) metal?
That said, this was pretty much a case of one band being *much* more of a draw for me than others, and not the headline band at that. I’m talking about the mighty Satyricon, slap bang in the middle of the bill. As well as enjoying their discography a considerable amount, I’d previously been impressed by their Download set back in 2006, a definite standout on that bill even with only four songs. This one went several songs better, with the likes of ‘Black Crow on a Tombstone’, ‘To the Mountains’, ‘Deep Calleth upon Deep’, and, to my greatest pleasure, ‘Repined Bastard Nation’. Satyr and co put on a blinding show, belting out these favourites with the prowess and powerful I remember from that short Download set. Satyr especially sounded chuffed to be back in the Brixton after a quarter of a century, remarking on it as the best looking venue he’s played at. Here’s hoping he and the band take a tenth of that time to return for a much more fitting headline show.
Prior to Satyricon, Rotting Christ opened the show with their brand of true Hellenic black metal, garnering considerable elation from the audience for the first act on the bill. At first, I wasn’t that taken with the numbers chosen for the setlist, partly because I’m still getting acquaintanced with this band in a general sense with nothing quite hitting consistently when it comes to private listening. However, things picked up considerably toward the end of the set with the tracks ‘Non Serviam’, ‘Grandus Spiritus Diavolos’, and a cover of Thou Art Lord’s ‘Sociatas Satanas’. A momentum-building, ultimately satisfying intro to the night.
As for the headliners, I will first and foremost commend them for knowing how to put on a fucking show! After the, by their own admission, slightly neutered Lordi show at the Islington Academy just days prior, it was great to see a band playing at a venue unafraid to let its guest performers go wild, and Behemoth delivered fully on that count with costumes, pagentry, and pyrotechnics galore.
Musically, I do find their overall catalogue to be quite hit and miss, despite admiring frontman Nergal’s unerring ability to make Christoids cry, especially those at the helm in his home country of Poland; their brand of blackened death is better executed more consistently by the likes Belphegor and Necrophobic, who both maintain a recognisable sound without descending into the sameness that often plagues Behemoth on record.
That said, the setlist served as a pretty decent cribbing of their most memorable and distinctive numbers plus some newer numbers from their upcoming Shit ov God album. Highlights included opener ‘The Shadow Elite’, the epic, soaring ‘Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer’, the pummelling menace of ‘Ov Fire and the Void’, the apocalyptic riffage of ‘Chant for Eschaton 2000’, and the set-closing infernal hymnal ‘O Father, O Satan, O Sun’. I also found it amusing that of all songs, the much maligned title track of the upcoming album got some the loudest applause and fanfare of the night.
An unholy trinity indeed, and a welcome return to a much missed venue to boot! My only major regret? Not getting much closer to the stage.
~MRDA~
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