Sunday’s outing was something rather special: an indoor festival down sarf London way featuring bands of varying but adjacent genres, namely noise, power electronics, neofolk, and my main draw, black metal. In short, a combo of familiar sounds (and faces) and less charted ones.
1-800 Babylon kicked off proceedings, taking to the stage for a short joint “ritual ambient” set with fellow Italian act Aesthetic Cloth; it look me a little while to process that the long “intro” track, reminiscent of many I’ve heard for albums of other genres, was, in fact, the main attraction, much to my amusement once I’d clocked on. Then again, I suppose it served its purpose well as an intro to the general run of things, were one to combine the evening’s proceedings into one long setlist.
Next up came local act Will to Power, showcasing his brand of dissonant, ear-piercing, antagonistic noise. Shrill feedback punctuated by barked and decidedly pissed-off vocals was pretty much the state of play for his brief set. A memorable introduction to live power electronics.
Ludvigism followed him up with a set of sample-heavy experimentalism that nevertheless added a bit more in the way of structure and coherence to proceedings, what with the loops in sampling and programming. Not a bad set.
However, it was with the next set that things got *really* interesting.
Things started with a ritual on the floor in front of the stage, during which a rather arresting box of cassettes received a blessing in what sounded like a tongue once, maybe even currently, regionally, familiar to these isles. Afterward, those in proximity, myself included, were each gifted a cassette from the box.
The tribal drumming kicked in soon after, punctuated by the barks and cries of the semi-masked vocalist sharing the floor (and the chick next to me crying, “THAT’S MY FUCKING BOYFRIEND!”) —quite the spectacle and probably the most standout part of a standout night.
Turns out all this was the handiwork of RWFBTSA, a sideproject of the band Runeboy, who took to the stage for a more conventional, though no less impressive set. Think post-punk with elements of Oi! and neofolk, and you’ve nailed their sound. Being of a post-punk-enjoying persuasion, I thought, the set was great, with the likes of ‘Black Raven’, ‘Runegirl’, and ‘We’ve Already Won’ (the title of which being a recurring mantra throughout the set) making a strong impression with that rich, prominent bass sound. Judging by the pit action on the floor, the audience wasn’t exactly nonchalant either. Took me by surprise both as a band and a seemingly last-minute addition to the bill.
All that said, the iconography had a certain… völkisch flavour to them, so I sought out bassist Will for a chat at the merch store at the end, during which certain preconceptions were addressed and laid to rest in an amicable, forthcoming fashion. Twas also refreshing to hear someone else talk about rejecting Trojan-horsing and package-dealing in the realm of ideas (more on that in another post, perhaps).
Returning to more familiar ground, Necro Ritual, one of my two main draws to this festival, delivered yet another blistering blast of true Croydon black metal. Beginning with the aural apocalypse of their latest single, ‘Threads’, Corseth, a.k.a. Rob, and co., spared no one with favourites like ‘Black Holocaust’, ‘Homines Religiosi’, ‘Irreligious’ (a welcome addition, given that it’d been absent from their support setlist for Deströyer 666 last year), and, of course, ‘Bastard’. ‘Lycanfire’, seemingly another new un, made a good impression too.
Another storming set, with some inspired growls from Corseth, on-point instrumentals from the rest of the gang, and the band were, as ever, an amiable bunch offstage, particularly Rob and drummer Talos (a.k.a Jason). Only another appearance by Trivax’s Shayan for another, Ramadan-fitting, rendition of ‘Bellum Sacrum’ could’ve made this better.
Bringing the set to a suitably sanguine close was Yorkshire’s Blood Countess, delivering a tight and unrelenting set of songs dedicated to ol’ Liz Bathory herself.
Frontwoman Nina Daemonia (a.k.a The Cuntess) sustained her black-metal rasp throughout, and by throughout, I mean between tracks too. The instrumentalists, including Steve Blackwood, Nina’s hubby and the bloke behind similarly impressive solo project WynterMyst, did a sterling job, with the stirringly melodic tremolo-picking being a particular standout. ‘Storms over Carpathia’ sounded fucking epic live, and the likes of ‘Orgasm Leading to Death’, ‘Ferenc Nádasdy’, and ‘Ululation of the Grief-Stricken Peasants’ didn’t sound too shabby either.
So, yeah, an interesting and, ultimately, thoroughly satisfying evening of musical prowess, experimental introductions, and camaraderie in familiar and unexpected places. Same again next year, hopefully.
~MRDA~
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