Ravishing Grimness: Kim Kelly Reports From The Underground

Our resident queen of filthy underground metal Kim Kelly reports from the underground.

“At the time of writing, it’s a sunny day in Oslo. Norway’s yearly black Easter celebration, the Inferno Festival, is in full swing, and I’m spending my weekend alternating between sheer glee (One Tail One Head! Autopsy! Throne of Katarsis!) and abject despair (a Jack ‘n’ Coke costs the equivalent of $18, fuck’s sake Norway). The revelries will be long over by the time you read this (though I suspect my wallet will still be aching from the after effects), but given that they’re already announcing plans for next year’s edition, with Solefald just confirmed, this is all timely enough. As much as Inferno is ruling, though, my head’s still spinning from the last gig I attended, a time zone over and a world away: Dublin Day of Death. The Irish metal scene is small but absolutely murderous; there are so many killer bands surfacing lately that I could devote an entire issue of this mag to ‘em. Besides the likes of Primordial, Altar Of Plagues and Mael Mordha, there’s Wreck Of The Hesperus, On Pain Of Death, Sodb, Rites, Wizards Of Firetop Mountain, Twisted Mass, ZOM, Putrefaction, Only Fumes and Corpses, Bacchus, Drainland, and Coldwar, with the Into The Void Records shop providing a nice axis for it all to spin around. Zealot Cult and ZOM were scheduled to rep Dublin at the Day of Death, but first, there was one very special event to be experienced. One of the shop’s owners, Darragh O’Leary of Invictus Productions, explained:

“As many Necros Christos fans will be aware, mainman and vocalist Mors Dalos Ra also performs in an unrelated project called the Ra Al Dee Experience, which simply speaking is similar to the Necros Christos interludes between songs on their albums. The songs have a distinctly Middle Eastern feel to them and a certain ambiance that is meditative and enthralling in equal measure. The event in itself was a success with all the participants sitting down and being very respectful, which can be a big ask for uncouth metalheads. The performance itself was flawless with a little over half an hour set that engaged everyone there including one track featuring Yoni from Grave Miasma on the oud. It was the precursor to a phenomenal weekend [and] set the tone perfectly for the darkness, damnation and death that is Necros Christos the following night!”
Hell yeah it was! Zealot Cult opened the proceedings with a nice, savage death metal kick, but young bloods ZOM truly blew me away. Their demo (which is probably already sold out, again) showed off their love of obscure, lurching death metal, but the newer tunes they blasted out at The Pint were rife with old-school d-beat bothering grindcore and some nasty fuckin’ grooves. It makes sense, given the members’ current and past involvement in rock ‘n’ roll blaggards Wizards Of Firetop Mountain and virulent metalpunks Crowd Control. They’re going to be massive, or at least deserve to be. London warmongers Scythian ploughed through their customary and seldom-seen black/thrash assault (play more gigs, you knobs!), and their brothers in harm Cruciamentum delivered a truly crushing performance. They get better and better every time I see them, and once they finally release a full-length, modern death metal will never recover. Necros Christos were a fucking revelation, simply astounding and brutal beyond measure. They are one of the most engaging, fascinating death metal bands in existence, and their live rituals are unsurpassed. From the frenetic assault of new songs ‘Necromantique Nun’ and ‘Doom Of Kali Maa’ to the now-classic slab-dragging stomp of ‘Black Mass Desecration’, it could not have been a better gig. Hail death. “

You can read Kim’s Ravishing Grimness every month in every issue.