Legion All Dayer, Fuel Rock Club, Cardiff
One of the worst months of weather in South Wales history ended with a fiery day in the Capital as Legion Promotions worked their magic to draw top quality bands from across the UK. A healthy turnout from early on saw each band given great support. The drink flowed, the chatter was friendly, and the pits exploded. All this and the presence of ‘Burger King Diamond’ who spent most of the event providing free face painting for the children. How sweet!
It would be unfair to rate Misanthropia as I only caught the final track from the one-man outfit although he was joined by Spatula’s Darren Evans on raucous backing vocals. Suffice to note, one-man black metal doesn’t really do that much for me. Two-person thrash is much more my cup of splodge mind and with their rhythm section missing, Sepulchre (6) soldiered on as a two piece. As always, Darren Evans was stripped to the waist, Calvin Klein’s prominent. This was a brave move which totally worked. Evans razor sharp riffing and roaring vocals backed by Aimee Coppola’s thumping drumming. A new track and some older favourites whizzed by with Move Or Die prompting Evans to command the crowd to part down the middle – not quite the raging pit we might have expected followed, but the intention was there. Betrayed By God remains a ferocious track whilst the slower chugging Kill Me got heads moving.
Another band firing on three quarters followed with Black Pyre (7) shorn of Olthigor Doombeard due to illness. It’s amazing to see the improvement in this band every time they play, and this set was no different. Plenty of dark riffs emanated from the corpse painted trio, whose sound was thick and beefy. Plenty of new admirers as well as the band marched triumphantly towards their conclusion with Summoning. The blackened thrash of Hellfekted (6) followed, another trio who had graced Fuel a mere two months earlier supporting Blood Church. The Stoke-On Trent band roared their way through a solid set which was well received by the swelling crowd. I’m not over keen on the vocals of frontman Liam, his roar at times a little at odds with the music but this was another stellar performance.
With Misanthropic Existence unable to play, next up to show their wares were 2019 Merseyside M2TM winners Marw (6). Show their wares might have been a bit of an exaggeration as the band relied solely on tealights in little lanterns across the stage, meaning that for much of their set they played in virtual darkness. This might have added to the atmosphere but also impacted on the crowd who struggle to put faces to the name. Crushing black metal certainly emanated from the stage area, and the murky figures who weaved about in the darkness appeared to be using their instruments. It was no surprise though that the bar was fuller than earlier. Time for a beer and something to eat before returning for Glaswegian solo player Tom Perrett to bring his works to Cardiff. Accompanied by live musicians, Ruadh (9) were simply magnificent, their brand of atmospheric black metal meeting with murmurs of approval from the assembled crowd. Tracks from 2019’s Sovereign mixed with a couple of new songs from a forthcoming album, so this was a nice taste of things both old and new. Perrett is a humble front man, but a quality musician. It was also pleasing to see the link between the musicians, whilst their merch was priced exactly right ensuring queues to buy tees and CDs at the end of the set.
How to follow that? Well, Mancunians Deus Mori (7) certainly didn’t have any qualms and punished those in the room with a blistering set of dark and ferocious black metal. This was more of an assault on the aural senses than the previous set and with the numbers swelling in the venue, Deus Mori, clad in full armour and corpse paint stoked the fires of hell still further with set. With fatigue setting in, what was needed was a punch to the face to wake me again. No-one better equipped to do that than Cardiff’s Agrona (9) who delivered possibly the most ferocious set I’ve seen for a long while. With vocalist Adara’s debut as sole singer with the band, the pressure was on but with new intro, click tapes working sweetly and the band in the mood to rage, there was no doubt from early on that Agrona were reborn. With duel guitars slicing through the chaos, the powerhouse drumming of Ankou locking in tightly with the driving bass, this was a fantastic start to the next chapter of the band. Storm’s End also featured a free for all on the choruses, Burger King Diamond and others jostling Alyn out of the picture as they screamed the words. Huge applause at the end of the set, relief across the faces of the band and reassurance that after a sticky few months, Agrona are intent once more on domination. At this stage my legs felt like jelly, my body ached, and I opted to head out into the night and for home. This left the Ed to finish off the reviewing.
That is correct, with the triumphant Agrona set still ringing in my ears and several cans of Overkill sloshing around in my guts, I managed to slap myself around the face a little ready for the headliners of the evening. Emerging from the mists of Northwest England Necronautical (8) are a ferocious live force, the four-piece playing their brand of cold, steely, nihilistic black metal to a room of receptive extreme metal fans backed by imposing candles (though with normal stage lights as well unlike Marw earlier). Slugh (drums) and Anchorite (bass) provide a rampaging engine room for the surgical precision guitar playing of Carcarrion and Naut, the blast beats and abusive string playing getting the room moving as they got closer to the stage to check out the battery of a band who made their live debut opening for Dark Funeral! The touring with Winterfylleth and appearances at both Incineration and Inferno festival have made Necronautical a fierce proposition as they ripped through songs from their most recent album Apotheosis as well as their debut The Endurance At Night.
Progressive touches throughout nodding to Emperor and Behemoth, they tore up the Fuel stage with their imposing musical muscle. With an entire day of extreme music and that incredible Agrona set it could have been a big hill to climb ending the night but Necronautical acquitted themselves as a band that are equally as good live as they are on record. Bringing an excellent day of music to a fantastic close. Kudos once again to Alyn and Tim for putting on yet another brilliant event at Fuel Rock Club.
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