Billed as the UK’s most extreme music festival, Incineration Festival began in 2014. The line-up this year consisted of acts such as Sodom and 1349 headlining the event along with Samael, Akercocke, Gaahls Wyrd, Temple of Baal, Deranged, and many more performing between The Dome, Tufnell Park and its sister venue, The Boston Music Rooms.
Here are the bands I caught over the two days of the festival.
Cult of Fire
Incineration Fest was to be an exclusive UK show for Cult of Fire. An impressive stage display of candles and Hindu gods set the scene for the black metal ritual. A great visual show and fantastic songs followed; I will definitely be making every effort to see them again and also getting their latest release.
Akercocke
Things were to be taken up a notch when death metal band Ackercocke took the stage. The enthusiasm of the band and crowd was so contagious that even I threw caution to the wind and headed into the pit (which didn’t end well as I am too old/small/drunk).
Sodom
Saturday headliners Sodom finished off the evening’s proceedings with a fantastic set combining newer tracks such as “In Retribution” and older classics like “Agent Orange”.
Basement Torture Killings
The Boston Music Room was absolutely packed to the gills to witness the live murder of Basement Torture Killings. Beryl was her usual mad, yet engaging self, and this was one of the tightest shows I have seen from BTK.
Gaahl’s Wyrd
I did not know much about former Gorgoroth and God Seed frontman Gaahl’s new band, but I did enjoy the set. Definitely one to watch and I look forward to hearing the album when it comes out.
Samael
Unfortunately a delay of 20 minutes had a crowd growing impatient for Samael. However all was forgiven once they took to the stage. I did not think it was possible for them to top this year’s Inferno Festival performance but they did. The stage divers kept the security busy throughout Samael’s performance. Highlights: “Rain” and of course “Baphomet’s Thone”.
Deranged
The final band to play the Boston Music Room was Deranged. They delivered an intense set, and proved to be one of the most animated bands of the festival. Mosh pits formed almost immediately, which thinned out the crowd at the front, but that didn’t stop vocalist from continuously hurling himself off stage, and crowd surfing from one end of the room to the other. Proper death metal.
1349
So it was left for 1349 to close the festival. On occasion they can suffer from poor sound live but not tonight. This was the best I have ever heard the band (of note the sound was great across both venues all weekend), and I was particularly pleased to hear “Slaves”, “I am Abomination” and “Nathincana”.
Incineration Festival was a great weekend, a great set up across the two venues, friendly staff, great bands and let’s not forget the fantastic t-shirt design. I’ll be keeping an eye out for next years line-up!
All photos by Kerri Clarke of Exposing Shadows Photography.
