On Tuesday,
I went over to London to witness some history – Nasum’s only UK show on their
farewell tour. Needless to say, it was something special. Nasum are probably my
favourite grindcore band, in fact they were the band that introduced me to
grind so finally getting to hear tracks like ‘Inhale/Exhale’, ‘Shadows’,
‘Closer to the End’ (I could go on and on) was amazing. Shane Embury (from
Napalm Death, in case you’re a bit slow) joined them to play bass for ‘The
Masked Face’, which was a nice touch. This was a memorable night to say the
least. Black Breath and Dripback supported, the former were fairly mediocre and
the latter didn’t do anything for me but that’s neither here nor there.
Here's a really shit photo I took of Nasum |
Roll on
Thursday then for a double header of gigs. Dutch atmospheric black metallers
Urfaust were in town for their set at Dublin Doom Days on Friday but played an
“acoustic” show downstairs in Bruxelles. It was a hit and miss show. Firstly,
it wasn’t acoustic as advertised, more like a regular Urfaust gig but without a
full drum kit. It was also Arthur’s Day so the rest of Bruxelles was packed and
noisy, which definitely hampered the atmosphere. The gig was originally meant
to take place in the basement of Into The Void Records, which would have been
so much better. It’s a tiny little room where the shop used to hold intimate
acoustic shows, most notably Patrick Walker last year.
Here's another shit photo, this time of Urfaust |
After
Urfaust, the next destination was the Button Factory for OM. Dead Skeletons
were originally headlining the venue that night but poor sales meant their gig
was merged with OM, who were initially booked for The Twisted Pepper. This
caused some problems. I got in for about the last 20 minutes of Dead Skeletons,
who weren’t my bag at all, actually they were pretty boring, but their set was
shortened because of the gig merge. OM’s set was also shortened, playing less
than an hour, but what they did play were phenomenal, particularly ‘State of
Non-Return’. These set time cuts apparently led to some quarrels from Dead
Skeletons with OM and the promoter. There was a strict curfew too for 11pm and
as we were leaving the usual night club crowd were already filing in, the venue
must have been anxious to get those out on the beer for Arthur’s Day inside the
club. When I left the venue there was a group of young lads in the queue setting
fire to a cardboard box, y’know… for the craic. Ah, Dublin. So Thursday was a
mixed bag to say the least.
But Friday
was the continuation of a September tradition – Dublin Doom Day. Except this
year was Doom Days, with the festival
expanded to two days. Every year is fantastic and always a gig highlight of the year
and this was no exception. You’ll be able read my full review soon but the
standouts of Friday were The Wounded Kings first and foremost and Urfaust
coming in second. Solstice stole the show on Saturday but Hour of 13 killed it
too and Pantheist were great. I also had
the pleasure of interviewing Hour of 13 on Saturday afternoon, Chad Davis and
Phil Swanson are two of the nicest dudes you could hope to meet, so that’s
always a plus.
So this
hasn’t been a live review or anything like that, just an update on what was a
fantastic week. October is upon us so 2012 really is flying by quickly but
there are still some amazing shows coming up too.
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