Belgian veterans ABORTED [8] are the perfect volunteers to lead the gathered mass boldly forward on a Monday night, with an ugly avalanche of precision playing and subtle melodic nous that provides frontman Sven de Caluwé the ideal platform to delight with his raw energy and menacing tales
Belgian veterans ABORTED [8] are the perfect volunteers to lead the gathered mass boldly forward on a Monday night, with an ugly avalanche of precision playing and subtle melodic nous that provides frontman Sven de Caluwé the ideal platform to delight with his raw energy and menacing tales.
Their orchestral backing track is so shattering that SEPTICFLESH [9] could simply stand on stage and bask in its grandeur. Instead the Greeks’ first UK performance in five years lives up to the ceremony, as the four musicians rip through the haunting force of Communion and macabre The Vampire From Nazareth with more vibrancy and power than an entire symphonic ensemble. The band departs during the final rousing strings of Prometheus to a towering ovation.
Instead of unleashing cerebral devastation, KATAKLYSM [8] deliver a more conventional form of sonic assault, whipping up a pit that envelops The Fleece and refuses to abate from the first galloping riff of Breaching The Asylum until the final barrage of Elevate. Maurizio Iacono is in fine voice and laps up the adulation from every explosive salvo and serrated riff.
Encouragingly, new songs The Black Sheep and Thy Serpent’s Tongue off last year’s Of Ghosts And Gods are among the highlights for a band still slowly but surely developing their craft.
