Kicking things off with this night of metal at one of Camden’s finest places for live music, The Underworld, was UK death metallers Celestial Sanctuary (8). After an intro of guitar feedback reminiscent of The Acacia Strain’s Beast, they led the audience headlong into a frenzy of thrashy riffs, punky two steps, and savage breakdowns. With a heavy influence from UK beatdown and a healthy dose of old school hardcore, this young band claimed to be flag-bearers for the New Wave of English Death Metal, and by the sounds of it, this isn’t a far fetched idea.
While their energy was a bit contained at first, they soon warmed up to the very responsive crowd, although a bit more interaction with the audience would’ve made their set even better. One thing I noticed immediately was how tight these guys are – they clearly care deeply about their live performance as every instrument (particularly the drums) were on point during their 20 minute set. There were some awkward meter changes that threw the momentum off kilter, but they nevertheless delivered a solid set of fresh death metal. Celestial Sanctuary are 100% a band to watch out for.
The second band was an odd one, in all honesty. With such straight-laced, in your face death metal bands sandwiching you on the bill, you’ll always stand out if you take things down a slightly different route. Sometimes it works, but unfortunately on this case it didn’t. After the bruising first set, Urne’s (6) brand of progressive and melodic metal killed the momentum and was overall a bit jarring. Make no mistake, Urne are not a bad band at all – they just didn’t really fit well on the bill. Their songs were long and winding, featuring anthemic clean choruses, mellow interludes, powerful guitar solos, and some doomier sections.
The second band was an odd one, in all honesty. With such straight-laced, in your face death metal bands sandwiching you on the bill, you’ll always stand out if you take things down a slightly different route. Sometimes it works, but unfortunately on this case it didn’t. After the bruising first set, Urne’s (6) brand of progressive and melodic metal killed the momentum and was overall a bit jarring. Make no mistake, Urne are not a bad band at all – they just didn’t really fit well on the bill. Their songs were long and winding, featuring anthemic clean choruses, mellow interludes, powerful guitar solos, and some doomier sections.
And while it was very well-written and performed to a fantastic standard, it just didn’t blend well with the proceeding or succeeding bands at all. Urne’s crowd interaction was on point, with the bassist/vocalist having excellent energy and riling the crowd up despite the huge tone shift from the previous band. If Urne had been sharing the stage with more similar bands in the vein of Rivers Of Nihil, their set would’ve been so much better by association. Unfortunately, here it just didn’t work.
Fresh from the scorching Arizona desert, Gatecreeper (10) is a band that genuinely needs no introduction. Known throughout the death metal universe for their unrelenting groove, infectiously catchy riffs, and a huge live sound, I have to say I was hugely excited to finally see them live. And they absolutely delivered on the hype. As a huge fan of old school grindcore and death metal, the musical blend that Gatecreeper creates is a pretty much perfect recipe for me.
Fresh from the scorching Arizona desert, Gatecreeper (10) is a band that genuinely needs no introduction. Known throughout the death metal universe for their unrelenting groove, infectiously catchy riffs, and a huge live sound, I have to say I was hugely excited to finally see them live. And they absolutely delivered on the hype. As a huge fan of old school grindcore and death metal, the musical blend that Gatecreeper creates is a pretty much perfect recipe for me.
Alex Brown’s grinding, buzzsaw bass tone gave the guitars a huge foundation of abrasive noise, while the guitars themselves (courtesy of Eric Wagner and Israel Garza) played what can only be described at Bolt Thrower riffs taken to the 21st century. Vocally, Chase Mason was on point with his trademark growl, and Matt Arrebello’s drumming was as tight as could be.
Throughout their set, it was just massive riffs one after the other with blindingly fast grind sections interspersed throughout. The band made waves when they released an album last year composed of almost entirely sub-60 seconds compositions, displaying their affinity for bands like Napalm Death and Nasum, and they played a few of these songs during the set - hilariously playing a particularly short one as the encore and pretending to leave afterwards. Their presence filled the stage, and it was overall an incredibly high octane, high quality performance.
Throughout their set, it was just massive riffs one after the other with blindingly fast grind sections interspersed throughout. The band made waves when they released an album last year composed of almost entirely sub-60 seconds compositions, displaying their affinity for bands like Napalm Death and Nasum, and they played a few of these songs during the set - hilariously playing a particularly short one as the encore and pretending to leave afterwards. Their presence filled the stage, and it was overall an incredibly high octane, high quality performance.
Every riff absolutely pummeled the audience, the sound they created was a truly enormous wall of sound that combined magnitude with clarity to a fantastic standard. All in all, Gatecreeper is by far one of the best bands I have ever seen live, and their longer set more than made up for the slightly odd choice in lineup. If you have the opportunity to see these guys in an intimate venue – do it. They’re only getting bigger from here. It’s easy to see why death metal overlords Cannibal Corpse took the band on tour back in 2017, and they haven’t lost any momentum since then.
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