Day Two of my epic gigtastic weekend (er… yes, I did just say that… and you can read about Day One right here) took me to The Underworld in Camden for an evening of Death Metally goodness, provided by the lovely folks at Arcane Promotions!

The first band up were Neuroma – although I didn’t realise who they were at the time. All I knew was that I found their set to be rather enjoyable. If these guys aren’t incredibly well-known in Extreme-Metal circles fairly soon, then there is something hugely wrong with the world. They played through a set of Brutal Death Metal (with, perhaps, a nod or two towards Grindcore)… and some of their song titles made me giggle (although, typically, I can’t remember any of them at the moment).

Next up were Diachronia and I found these guys to be slightly out of place on the line up. While the other bands playing on Sunday night’s bill leant very much towards the Death Metal side of things, these guys were (in my opinion) more Blackened Death Metal. They reminded me a lot of bands like Abused Majesty in places (which is good… I love Abused Majesty) and their song structures were interesting and (at times) chaotic (and that’s “chaotic” in a good way!). There’s certainly never a dull moment with Diachronia around. I remember one of my gig buddies mentioned that they sounded a little disjointed, but I couldn’t really see (or hear) that myself. Perhaps it’s just a matter of taste… perhaps I’m just a bit disjointed myself! Anyway, I’ll definitely be making a note to check this band out further in the future.

Then it was time for BTK… er, I mean Basement Torture Killings – I found out while interviewing them that I wasn’t really supposed to be calling them BTK… so I’ll stop that now . Basement Torture Killings are very different to pretty much everything else out there. When these guys hit the stage, they are 100% in character. There’s no in between songs banter and no calls for people to visit the merch stand. Nope, once these guys are onstage, they become evil, nasty serial killers… and this works fantastically well! Tarquin (guitar / some vocals) blasted through the set like a man possessed – the stocking on his head making his facial features look suitably grotesque, Bertrand (vocals / guitar) was equally energetic and stared out into the crowd at many points… possibly searching out his next victim. Unfortunately I didn’t get a good look at the drummer, The Fourth Killer, during the gig… However, the scariest and creepiest out of this whole little gang was the bass player, Professor Kennith. He didn’t go for shock tactics. He didn’t really go for anything. He just stood there – looking calm and collected. Much like I’d expect serial killers to be when they’re deciding upon which knife to use. Musically, the band hit you hard and fast with Brutal Death Metal that you cannot fault. It’s not overly complicated stuff and this really helps them to drive the point home. An interview with these guys will be added to Loucifer Speaks very soon, along with some footage from the gig – so keep an eye out for it! Oh, and Sunday night was their album launch… so make sure you add that little beauty to your “To Buy” Lists… (Hopefully the album will be made available through the Loucifer Speaks Shop quite soon.)

Malevolent Creation took to the stage shortly afterwards and tore The Underworld apart! Even though they were a member down (Phil Fasciana had to fly home as his father had just passed away. My thoughts are with him and his family), Malevolent Creation still managed to put on the kind of show that most bands can only dream about. The pit was absolutely mental and the stage divers were insane. The band played excellently and “Blood Brothers” went down especially well. Oh, and the stuff from the new album sounded SUPERB!
Throughout their set, the crowd were like putty in Bret Hoffmann’s hands. This man really knows how to take command of a situation! I was also especially impressed by guitarist Gio Geraca. He is simply fantastic!

In conclusion, it was a BRILLIANT night! It’s hard to pick a ‘Band of the Night’ since each band really gave it as much as they could. However, with that said, I am going to award the title to Malevolent Creation.

myspace.com/malevolentcreation
myspace.com/btkbasementtorturekillings
myspace.com/diachronia
myspace.com/neuromametal