LIVE FROM THE PIT: Kataklysm, Vader and Blood Red Throne
- Kiarash Golshani
- Feb 27
- 5 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Round the deepest, darkest corners of the most middle-of-the-road walk-in mall lied the location of the final destination. A night of solid, old-school death metal, and for a Monday night after a long day of sticking it out at work, it was like sipping the crispiest, coolest glass of water in the world. Hell, it was more like fifteen glasses. The “Freedom or Death” tour had landed in London, and what was on offer were three absolutely excellent death metal acts to sate even the most vitriolic purist; BLOOD RED THRONE, VADER, and KATAKLYSM. The atmosphere at the start was a little sterile, many empty spaces through the crowds as people sipped their beers and fruitlessly tried to bargain with the merch stand’s ‘cash only’ policy.
But then out of the inertia came this effervescence. Norway’s BLOOD RED THRONE were getting ready to take the stage, guitarist Ivan “Meathook” Gujic emerged with a neon green Dimebag guitar, mercilessly guiding the crowd along and he seemed excited. When they began their set, the crowd timidly began to fill in the gaps. But once the band really gotinto it, the Yucatan meteor could not dream of delivering as much force. Groovier than your average death metal band with absolutely heavenly breakdowns, they injected a heavyweight proggy influence at times, leaving people puzzled as to when to bang their heads along. Credit must also be given to the live mixing, as the instruments came out crystal clear and sounded almost like the album. There was an electrifying energy running throughout, this band was hungry. By the time they finished they had the place by the balls, everyone was hooting and hollering, ready for whatever came next. Now THAT is how you open a show.
Picture this. Before you can process it, you are surrounded by 7ft tall Nephilim-people. They seemed to have been waiting at the back for that perfect moment to lurch straight to the front. You also observed that there were children everywhere being protected by these giants. The final thing you noticed, everyone was speaking Polish. Then BOOM. It’s VADER. The crowd greeted singer Piotr “Peter” Wiwczarek and Marek “Spider” Pająk like they were old friends. And with one of the giants screaming “KURWAAAAAAA” we were off to the races. Beginning with Sothis, it was becoming increasingly obvious that Poles taking their kids to see Vader is something akin to a rite of passage, but the little ones just stared in awe as their short-haired long-legged fathers bopped their heads not aware they were spilling half of their piwo on the floor. Na zdrowie! As for the show itself, it was colourful, VADER fired through their setlist like a gatling gun, even the strobe lights struggled to keep up with the relentless blast beats.
After a quick mid-section encore… of sorts, they broke out the classics; This is the War, Triumph of Death, and make sure to end on the cheery Helleluyah!!! (God Is Dead), you know… for the kids! Underneath a large and quite obvious “DO NOT CROWDSURF” sign, many defiant crowdsurfers sailed over the rough sea of people, the giants toward the front doing most of the heavy lifting, whilst the moshpit formed the undertow of this raging human current. If this was 1683, some of the moshers would be overlooking the besieged city of Vienna on their great winged mounts, ready to deliver their van of cavalry into the rear of the Ottoman army and cry victorious. Yet there they were in the modern time, pushing and shoving their way to a little triumph. When the band fittingly bowed out to Imperial March, the giants disappeared as quickly as they came. They did not reappear for the remainder of the gig. It appeared that for quite a few, this was a VADER gig through and through.
Facts would say otherwise though, as in gigantic text at the top of the poster was the mighty Canadian KATAKLYSM. Prior to them coming up, whilst testing the mic, one of the roadies served out a diatribe in perfectly rough Québecois. Yes, some of us English also know what the word “tabernak” means. Soon after that though, the band followed onstage to black and red pulsating lights, complete with canned intro audio. It was certainly more cinematic than the meat-and-potatoes death metal that the audience had received thus far.
They jettisoned their time onstage with Soul Destroyer which got the energy currents flowing right off the bat. Vocalist Maurizio Iacono seemed to be checking in on the fans. He screamed; “London! Are you ready? Are you here?!” The crowd answered in kind, showing that they were, in fact, there. “We're not gonna talk much, we’re gonna go straight right through it (sic)”. And aside from quite a lot of ‘are-you-fucking-readies’ and a whole-ass drum solo, they did keep to their word.
Storming through a good mix of old and new, Goliath, Die as a king, and their top song (according to Spotify) Taking the world by storm, they had the venue eating out of the palm of their hand like a bunch of damned rabbits! The riffs were just so good, and the vocal quality was pulled straight from the record. Once again, much credit was due to the mixing in the room, which was absolutely phenomenal all night. The Rabbit Hole is a very strange song, a death metal song about going down Facebook conspiracy ‘rabbit holes’, it was hard to take seriously when Maurizio roared “welcome to the great reset”. But goddamn, if it was not one hell of a groovy number. For the last half of the setlist they really upped the ante even further, tracks like In Shadows & Dust and At the Edge of the World energised and propelled like all the best tunes can. The crowd showed zero signs of slowing down.
They are a Canadian band with classic Floridian death metal tendencies that are not afraid to get a bit freaky with it, adding more technical and progressive elements wherever appropriate, all in the service of a more satisfying rhythmic beatdown that keeps your noggin’ jogging. Righteous stuff. It was clear the band and the crowd were in the throes of ecstasy there, in a sort of ‘flow state’, but by the time KATAKLYSM took off and everyone faced the disappointment that Angel station was actually closed, there was a quite warm feeling of satisfaction.
‘Twas a night of classic death metal indeed, with three incredible acts that brought the very best of their discography to the forefront. The most succinct way to describe the night would probably be “high-quality”, like really getting bang for your buck. The sooner that this hellacious trio returns to the isles, the better for all of us death metal barbarians. Here is hoping they do not take too long.
Words: Kiarash Golshani
Photos: Claire Cabanac
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