Desecration blast off the night with some squeegley-heavy, old school, thrashing death metal and the Barfly’s customarily shitty, bass and kick drum heavy sound mix. Luckily this is sorted out after a couple of songs and by the time they get to the likes of “Sadosexual Suicide” – “a nice song about hanging yourself and having a wank” – and “hit single” “Bacterial Breakdown” they sound suitably shit-kicking, making me want to shout “HELL YES”. I refrain from doing this for, as bass player Andi points out, neither the band or the crowd are drunk enough yet. Perhaps they would have been had another grind act had gone on before them, Atomçk for instance.
Up next are Nekkrosis. I become slightly wary of these Northumberland chaps as they appear, goatee bearded and wearing caps, giving the impression that we could be in for some sports metal. The singer even looks a bit like Fred Durst or that guy from Disturbed. Luckily their music avails such fears, coming off like a groovier Circle of Dead Children or a less spastic Cephalic Carnage sound tracking a Tony Hawk game (in good way). The vocals, from Durst and the guitarist, are all in the pig register. Heavy on the chugga-wugga, Nekkrosis alternate between inventive and complex guitar/bass harmonies and stupidly tight, blasting staccato riffage. Excellent stuff, though I would have enjoyed them even more had they been proceeded by some blackened digi-grind, Atomçk perhaps.
A few beers later Napalm Death emerge. ND have been around so long they are practically classic rock now, like ACDC or something. Seeing them in such a small venue, even in this turd of a place, is a super-special treat. Plus One, Oram and I bolt ourselves to the front railing like teenage girls at a Take That concert (or perhaps more like middled age women?) and prepare for injuries. Napalm blast through several hundred songs, including choice cuts from ace new album Time Waits for No Slave and micro-classics from Scum (the obligatory, almost unnoticed “You Suffer”) , From Enslavement to Obliteration, Harmony Corruption (“Suffer the Children” particularly kicked my ass) and Smear Campaign. The newer tunes come off particularly well (even if they don’t play “Fallacy Dominion” – Teh fuckers!). They certainly don’t sound like they’ve been at this for 20+ years. How many bands can you say that about these days? What do you have to say for yourselves REM? When did you last play a grindcore show? I bet Bono can’t even death grunt. ND finish up without an encore and I release I will probably need a neck-brace in the morning. One could argue that had local grind duo Atomçk opened up, everyone would have had a much better time. Despite this every band fucking slayed (slew?)
