Good Friday: the perfect day to bear witness to the Suicide of God, not on the hills of Golgotha, mind you, but in the maw of Hackney, more specifically, Helgi’s, which paid host to black-metal triple bill headlined by military-history enthusiasts Stahlsarg. Support-wise, Scottish occultists Nyctopia and Final Dose splinter Coldfall bolstered the ranks.
Shortly after partaking in my usual Helgi’s ritual of downing a pint and crisps, and subsequently relieving myself in their immaculately porn-wallpapered bogs (aptly described as “Narnia for degenerates” by Adorior’s Jaded Lungs), the night kicked off with Coldfall’s performance.
Formed by two fifths of blackened-punk band Final Dose, this duo’s setup counts as one of those rare times that I’ve seen a drummer (Brian Fusco, the mastermind behind both bands) also assume vocal duties, co-vocals, more accurately, sharing such with Jack Thompson, who also took up tremolos. Their “primitive dreg black metal” made for a nice strong opening blast, serving up the no-nonsense frenetic immersion with tracks such as ‘Abyss’, ‘Fog of Darkness’, and ‘Beholden with Flies’. Good stuff indeed.
Nyctopia, who I’d been looking forward to seeing after hearing their album, Full Moon Calling, served up a rather distinctive and memorable set. First came the guest vocalist, friend of the band Merry, who provided additional lungwork for main man Nechtan (David Henderson) on two of the band’s strongest tracks, ‘Malleus Maleficarum (Witch Hunt)’ and their cover of the controversial, absolutely treif band Grand Belial’s Key’s ‘Shem Ham Forash’ (“SO IT IS DONE!”)….
…then came Kamile, Nechtan’s ladyfriend, who enthralled the audience with an elaborate fire dance during ‘Signa Stellarum Negarum’, which I regret not recording at least partially.
There was also guest bassist Nico, frontman of Brighton black metallers Aklash, with whom I had an illuminating conversation sparked by shared Necro Ritual apparel prior to the set. Drummer Telsus provided a solid rhythm section (and, in post-gig corrospondence, names and setlists—cheers for that!), and Netchan, grasping the mic and the axe proved to be an effective storyteller as well as musician, introducing songs with an eye to the century set. My only gripe, and it’s minor, is almost half the set being composed of covers (Death in June’s ‘Little Black Angel’ and a nice one of Darkthrone’s ‘Funeral Moon’, as well as the aforementioned GBK number). Hope to see them again soon, hopefully headlining.
Next came Stahlsarg and a near-immediate sense of disappointment when I saw an absence of tracks from their excellent first album, Comrades in Death, on the setlist—the only printed one(s) of the night—which was instead dominated by a selection of tracks from their second outing, their Suicide of God EP, and their upcoming third full-length. Still, this disappointment was significantly mitigated by the sheer ferocity and dynamism of the performance, with frontman Jhorn (John Hirst) seemingly caught on the faultline between possession and exorcism, lunging, bounding and lurching across the stage with insistent fury, his performance further intensified by the moments of rapport with guitarist Kevin Smey (my main point of dialogue with the band that night). Setlist-wise, highlights included new track ‘Void’, ‘Darkness, My Accomplice’ from the Suicide of God EP, and ‘Burn and Destroy’ from their second album, Mechanisms of Misanthropy, which managed the rare feat of rousing a moshpit at a black-metal gig (a point I raised with Horn after the set to his own amazed agreement), and the even rarer feat of inspiring me to jump in! A tightly performed, kinesthetically memorable set, in summation. Hopefully, there’ll be more CoD material to make it even better next time.
But this gig was not only memorable for its performers but those in audience attendance, with a few recurring faces, most notably Bartuk (Bartosz Jaszsczyszyn), last seen on stage with both Sturmtiger and Inhumanization at Subterranean Manifestation. Turns out, by his account, the “pagan pussyhole Nazi” jibe thrown by Cam from Gorgon Vomit was aimed at *him*—as opposed to randoms wearing Burzum, Peste Noir, or, indeed, Grand Belial’s Key shirts, as I’d first assumed—for allegedly throwing a sieg-heil during the Inhumanization set. Looking back on my footage from that day, all I see are gestures for applause rather than contentious Elon Musk moments, and if my interactions with the band, Bartuk included, are anything to go by, they’re the worst neo-Nazis ever.
~MRDA~
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