The crowd was very sparse indeed when Trenchhead took to the stage. It isn’t exactly rare for the first band on to have a thin crowd, and it didn’t help that Trenchhead’s music was a particularly uninteresting variant of slam. The songs had little variation, and it didn’t help that the band seemed to take themselves so utterly seriously. Their frontman alternated between two commands of “come forward” and “bang your head”, neither of which the crowd did, and I can’t particularly blame them either.
Engorgement fared slightly better than Trenchhead due to the fact that they were clearly having a bit of fun on stage. Also, to completely refute the notion that they were in any way serious, the band had the most ridiculous song titles, such as “Gutted Entrail Regurgitation” and “Cranial Devourment”. Although their music was not much better than Trenchhead’s, they were a vastly more enjoyable live act. Despite this, they still received a frosty reception from the still very thin crowd.
When Ancient Ascendant hit the stage, things began to pick up a little bit. They certainly had some razor sharp riffs up their sleeves, and were entertaining to watch, despite being a rather static band due to the fact that the vocalist was also playing guitar. They played some great songs to headbang along with, and I’d most likely check them out again if they play London any time soon.
Flayed Disciple were probably the best band of the evening next to Cerebral Bore. Like Engorgement, they were clearly having fun on stage, as well as fun with their song titles, but they also had the songs to back the silliness up. Ejaculate While Killing sounded great live, and again, despite the fact that the crowd was slim, most seemed to be enjoying the music.
Finally the time came for Cerebral Bore to take the stage. They had a stronger set of songs than the previous bands, yet their performance still suffered from the very sparse crowd. Despite their efforts to get the crowd going, they barely moved. There was a brief three man circle pit, but due to the fact that the venue was almost empty, the lack of enthusiasm from the crowd somewhat understandably impacted on the band.
All in all, despite Ancient Ascendant, Flayed Disciple and Cerebral Bore all being good bands, the event was not all that enjoyable due to the virtually empty venue and the lack of any enthusiasm from the crowd. I’d love to see Cerebral Bore again some time, as it is clear that they deserved better.
Aeon are not reviewed as unfortunately I had to leave before they played.
For more live metal show reviews please check back with us regularly to see who we have been out covering.
