Cradle Of Filth, God Seed, Rotting Christ, Blynd - Forum, London - 19th December 2012 (Live Review)
Sunday, 23 December 2012
Written by Alec Chillingworth
The HMV Forum lies just a few minutes from the Kentish Town tube station. It’s also next door to a church. I find this pretty damn funny, because as far as Wednesdays go, this could easily take the title of ‘Most Evil Wednesday Ever’. Tonight’s bloated bill boasts a plethora of gritty metal music from across the globe; Blynd hail from Cyprus, Rotting Christ from Greece, God Seed from Norway and, of course, Cradle of Filth from rain-sodden England. The pure nastiness of this gathering seems to have somewhat angered the Gods; rain pours down on us as we wait in the queue like a horde of freezing, leather-clad lambs lining up for the slaughter. It is perilously chilly this evening; I’ve let a girl borrow my coat and she’s disappeared to Mcdonald’s. I’m fine with this, except for the fact that £70 and my toothbrush are nestled comfortably within the confines of my coat pocket. I really do hope that she comes back.
With my coat safely returned (all the money’s there. I double-checked), I head for the front and wait for the evening’s first dose of certified evil. Blynd attack The Forum with the subtlety of a ninja elephant, their melodiously tinged death metal inciting circle pits from the get-go. Plenty is going on within the music; there’s tremolo picking worthy of an Immortal album, whilst the breakdown in ‘The Chosen Few’ could easily be the result of Hatebreed slapping on some corpse paint and thinking evil, evil thoughts. The slick inclusion of guitar solos in some songs proves to the crowd that Blynd’s talents don’t stop at just furiously punching their instruments like angry, bearded children; there’s a fair bit of technical skill going on here. Hilariously synchronised guitar thrusts provide amusement throughout the set, with the band looking absolutely chuffed to be opening the show. And so they should be; the audience laps it up as if they’re being handed the death metal equivalent of free biscuit samples. And everybody loves free biscuit samples.
The man behind me keeps shouting “Rotting Christ! Rotting Christ!” I can only assume that he’s waiting for Rotting Christ to trundle on stage. When Rotting Christ do appear, he proceeds to go absolutely mental. And I can see why; their brutally uncompromising mixture of thrash and black metal is heavy enough to win an arm wrestle with a silverback gorilla. They spend the majority of their set with their heads spinning round in an ungodly frenzy, throwing out riff after riff whilst gurning like a gang of Greek Scrooges. Cheer up, lads; it’s nearly Christmas! Towards the end of their time on stage, a mass sing-along is demanded. Watching an audience at The Forum chanting along to Greek extreme metal might not sound fun, but honestly, it is. You should really try it sometime.
The man behind me has now started shouting “Wound Upon Wound! Wound Upon Wound!” He is, of course, referring to the classic Gorgoroth track that God Seed will hopefully play under their new moniker tonight. The lights dim as bassist King ov Hell leads his troupe of merry men on stage. This of course is sarcasm; they all look suitably miserable for the occasion. Chants of “Gaahl!” reach a deafening crescendo as King eggs the crowd on, managing to coax vocalist and general scary-man Gaahl into the limelight. This is a truly terrifying sight; clad in corpse paint and a leather jacket, he saunters across the stage in a ghostly fashion, spewing lyrics out in his trademark growl. The thing that unnerves me so much about Gaahl is simple – The man just doesn’t seem to blink! He responds to members of the crowd, returning the devil horns whilst staring them straight in the eye. He did this to me, and I think that’s the very moment when he took my soul. I swear that I can feel it; his petrifying, icy stare crafts a gaping hole deep inside my chest. Of course, it could have been the sudden surge within the crowd, but I think it sounds a lot cooler if I say he took my soul. The band are superbly tight, blasting through Gorgoroth gems such as ‘Sign Of An Open Eye’ and ‘Carving A Giant’, also airing new numbers from God Seed’s incredible debut album ‘I Begin’. ‘Alt Liv’ works incredibly well in the live environment; the sinister, rumbling bass line epitomises the mood of this gig perfectly. Even the fact that the drummer looks about 12 years old doesn’t detract from the purely evil gauntlet laid down by God Seed tonight.
I’m worried for Cradle of Filth. They haven’t done a full UK tour since 2006 (this is just a one-off), and I’m stood here thinking – ‘Does anybody still care about Cradle?’ But the answer is obvious. Of course people still care. Judging by the strength of their latest album, ‘The Manticore & Other Horrors’, Cradle still appear to be horrifyingly relevant to the UK metal scene. The thing is, Dani Filth doesn’t actually care what people think of his band. Granted, this quintessentially British mindset did lead to their dodgy cover of ‘Temptation’. But for the majority of his time rocking the Cradle (see what I did there? Pun-master central!), Dani’s stubbornness has led to various successes in both underground and mainstream artistic circles. With this in mind, the lights dim, and the HMV Forum abruptly descends into the fiery lakes of Hell.
The band erupts into the ferocious ‘Tragic Kingdom’, not stopping for breath as they seamlessly hurl themselves into the punishing dirge that is ‘Cthulhu Dawn’. Guitarist James Mcllroy shreds like a demon, whipping his hair back and forth like the black metal equivalent of Willow Smith. Drumming duties are carried out with animalistic precision by Martin Škaroupka; there’s even a riot-shield styled window covering his drumkit, confining him to the stool. Opening with two of the more aggressive songs from their back catalogue really shows that Cradle mean business; they’ve come here to destroy ears. And destroy ears they shalt.
Whilst Cradle are undoubtedly a solid live band, there are always the naysayers. These people, of course, are the ones who criticise Dani’s vocal performances with all the remorse and sympathy of a Dalek. Because no, his vocals will never be as good as they were ‘back in the day’. To ask this of him is absurd. Tonight, however, his vocals are astonishing; high screams during the epic ‘Funeral In Carpathia’ are an early show highlight, whilst his beastly gutturals displayed throughout ‘Born In A Burial Gown’ sound like the work of something completely inhuman. The set is peppered with Mr.Filth’s usual dry humour, even mentioning One Direction at one point. I can guarantee you right now, there won’t be any pop star references if you go and see a Dimmu Borgir show. 100% guaranteed. Dani’s new toy is also a point of curiosity; he seems to be faffing about with a foot-operated dry ice machine. This works a treat during the ‘dramatic eerie soundscape’ segments within Cradle’s music, but sometimes it does look like he’s simply evaporated into a hazy mist at the back of the stage.
New bassist Daniel Firth looks a lot more comfortable than he did when he joined the fold back in August, headbanging along with founding guitarist Paul Allender. Of course, he doesn’t retain the same menacing stage presence as Paul. This is because Paul is built like a tank, and he also happened to write some of the most monstrous riffs in history (‘The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh’, anybody?). The band just look like a unit, which is extremely lucky considering the ‘revolving door’ policy that Dani has been scrutinised for using over the years regarding past members.
Rare cuts such as ‘Summer Dying Fast’ are played alongside songs from the band’s most recent effort; ‘The Abbhorent’ in particular is sounding ridiculously huge in the live environment. It is, of course, the most well known tracks that incite mass hysteria within The Forum tonight. ‘Her Ghost In The Fog’ is greeted with the kind of applause you would expect to hear for a band playing a stadium, serving as an appropriate soundtrack for crowdsurfers to test the venue’s security. The band finish with their spacey keyboard driven single ‘From The Cradle To Enslave’, proceeding to retreat from the stage back to the scummy little pit from whence they came.
Tonight’s show really is a testament to Cradle’s strength as a live act. There are no gimmicks to be found here (except, of course, Dani’s questionable smoke machine). This is a stripped back, raw performance from one of Britain’s most grossly underrated musical forces. The fact that they’re packing such an enormous bill underneath them just goes to show just how much confidence Cradle possess in regards to their skills within the live arena. And rightly so. The grim, frostbitten streets of London are heaving with a swarm of sweaty goths. Gatherings like this really need to be experienced and celebrated more often on these desolate English shores. So let’s have a full UK tour at some point next year, lads?
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With my coat safely returned (all the money’s there. I double-checked), I head for the front and wait for the evening’s first dose of certified evil. Blynd attack The Forum with the subtlety of a ninja elephant, their melodiously tinged death metal inciting circle pits from the get-go. Plenty is going on within the music; there’s tremolo picking worthy of an Immortal album, whilst the breakdown in ‘The Chosen Few’ could easily be the result of Hatebreed slapping on some corpse paint and thinking evil, evil thoughts. The slick inclusion of guitar solos in some songs proves to the crowd that Blynd’s talents don’t stop at just furiously punching their instruments like angry, bearded children; there’s a fair bit of technical skill going on here. Hilariously synchronised guitar thrusts provide amusement throughout the set, with the band looking absolutely chuffed to be opening the show. And so they should be; the audience laps it up as if they’re being handed the death metal equivalent of free biscuit samples. And everybody loves free biscuit samples.
