Nile / Ex Deo / Svart Crown / Pestifer – Audio, Glasgow

Pestifer

[full image sets for the gig: Nile / Ex Deo / Svart Crown / Pestifer]

A big bill with some well-known and lesser-known names on. And free entry in exchange for interviewing one of the bands. It’s a hard life sometimes.

Doors opened at half six and we got there a few minutes after this. Already, there was a queue at the door but those with tickets were being jumped to the front. Apparently it was a sell-out (Nile’s only Scottish date was a selling point), but I guess a few people were hopeful.

Svart Crown

It was my first time in Audio and it’s not a bad little venue. Very small (100-150 capacity according to the Glasgow: City of Music site), good sound and a reasonably-priced bar is you stick to the specials (£2.50 for a proper sized can of Carlsberg, or £4 for something not on offer).

Liège‘s Pestifer opened proceedings a little before 7pm with a short but sweet set. It’s always tough to open a show, but Pestifer did themselves proud. Facing a crowd who were initially open-minded and nodding, by the time they finished they were facing raised hands and applause. I’m sure they gained a fair few fans this evening.

A swift set change later, along with what seemed like a belated soundcheck, and Svart Crown began belting out their brand of French metal. And very good they were, too. With hair flying everywhere, they hammered non-stop at a rapidly-warming crowd for around half an hour before leaving to well deserved roars of approval.

Ex Deo

Next up, a band I’m sure a fair portion of the crowd were waiting for – Kataklysm side-project Ex Deo. After a hugely well-reviewed performance at Bloodstock, here they were touring on a second album and giving those of us who can’t festival-hop a chance to see them live.

They’re definitely well worth the effort to catch if they play near you. Which, apparently won’t be very often. It is a side project after all.

For those who don’t know, Ex Deo base all of their songs on the history of the Roman Empire. Top top it all off, they dress in Roman leather armour for the duration of their set which I suppose makes outdoor festivals more appealing for them. Certainly, Audio was hot enough for those in t-shirts by the time the band hit the stage. I’d not have been wanting to play metal in there while wearing twelve pounds of cured cow skin.

But play they did, thumping out epic tune after epic tune, rallying cohorts and documenting the insanity of Caligula. While sweating. Heavily.

Their set was over far too soon, although perhaps not for them! Certainly, the audience was left hoping for more but due to the four band-bill they didn’t play an encore, just cramming as much as they could into their allotted slot.

Nile

Finally, the headliners appears and chaos erupted. Now, I’ll be honest – I preferred Svart Crown and Ex Deo. Nile have been around for some time and play a fairly unique brand of Egyptian-themed death metal. But they just didn’t click with me.

Not that the same could be said for the crowd which turned into a seething mass of violence. Bodies popped up every so often, drifting stage-wards only to be forced back ground-wards by venue staff as there was simply no room for anyone other than the band on stage. I did say, it’s a small venue!

We caught the first twenty minutes or so of the set before being summoned by Ex Deo for the interview we’d organised. What I’d seen of Nile was OK, but I think you have to be a fan in the first place to appreciate the live show.

Enhanced by Zemanta
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

4 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments