Lords of the Land 2018 – live(ish) review part 2

Sean is at this year’s wonderfully heavy Lords of the Land festival at Glasgow Barrowlands today, and is drip-feeding us reviews band-by-band. The final part will come through tomorrow as his phone was on 1% when he sent this… Part 1 was published earlier.

Leading the way into the early evening are Norwegian black metal legends Carpathian Forest. Overall it’s a strange experience. A lot of the crowd have left and the response from those who remain is mixed. Infamous frontman Nattefrost being difficult to read though the angry-looking corpsepaint could be up blame for that.

The set is a mixed bag from throughout the band’s career blending dirges like “Black Shining Leather”, “Through Self-Mutilation” and “I Am Possessed” and covers of The Cure’sA Forest” and Turbonegros “All My Friends are Dead”. A few diehard fans rage at the front while the rest of the crowd nods and applauds politely. Upon closer inspection Nattefrost appears to be a bit of a wind-up merchant as he chases a stage crew member offstage, prods a security guard, and makes funny faces and noises into the audience.

Carpathian Forest leave conflicting feelings behind once they reach the end of their set. They were quite entertaining but the vocals in the end took away from the experience. A few good shrieks aside, the result is mostly flimsy squeals. Shame, since the records sound awesome.

Taking us through teatime is a much anticipated exclusive: revived death/thrash legends Demolition Hammer. The energy and the crowd has practically doubled by the time they hit the first note of “Skull-Fracturing Nightmare”. Glasgow is certainly showing the band what they want to see every time frontman/bassist Steve Reilly eggs the crowd on. The pit is for sure the largest, most intense and continuous throughout the entire set.

Through classic after classic like “Crippling Velocity”, “Aborticide” and “Infectious Hospital Waste” the band and crowd alike are giving it their all. Closing with none other than “.44 Caliber Brain Surgery”, the gig ends on a (quite sore but worth it) high with the Barras thoroughly moshed and several crowd surfers over the barrier. With a beyond awesome gig like this one, let’s hope Demolition Hammer are keen to return!

Going into late evening the stage is commanded by Swedish death metal titans Unleashed. It must be noted, their distinct sound translates well live resulting in a particularly crushing ear-blasting. The set is a mix from their extensive back catalogue including opener “The Final Silence”, “Where is Your God Now?”, “Fimbulwinter” and “Hammer Battalion”. The crowd physically seem done in from the previous band, with energies not getting back up until late into the set, however it’s clear that both band and crowd are having a great time.

Frontman Johnny Hedlund is particularly charismatic and engages with the crowd often – he makes a brief but touching tribute to late Necrophagia frontman Killjoy with “To Asgaard We Fly” as he is offered a drinking horn from Demolition Hammer’s Steve Reilly to drink in Killjoy’s honour. Closing the set with “Before the Creation of Time”, Unleashed performed an awesome set for their first time in Scotland since the early 90s. Johnny said they’ll return! Moshville Times might hold him to that…

Part 3 tomorrow!

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