IMMORTALUS, Fear Bound, Unitra, Skullfucked.
Lev 2 Esquires Bedford. Saturday 20th February 2016.
It may be cold dark and miserable outside in Bedford tonight and it appears most people seem to be attending a highly prestigious ska gig on the other side of town, but inside Esquires, the temperature is soaring through the roof. The metalheads are out in full force to support a free and all too rare metal night, on the lev 2 mainstage. It gives many perhaps, their first ever sighting of the upstairs part of this venue. First to raise the decibel level are a four piece from Stevenage, who are wonderfully called SKULLFUCKED . This is my first sighting of them and they certainly seem to tick all the right boxes. Loud, fast, heavy, windmill hair! And guitars. They also include a colourful array of songtitles; cue their opening song, Gok The Baby Slayer! The following Serpents Of The Piss Corner, rapidly speeds along with a genuine frenzied scowl of authenticity, featuring some full on guttural vocals. These are powerfully provided by Fred, who by the time they reach Necrofucker, is slightly perturbed and concerned by his vocal nodules. He need not have worried, as these death metal upstarts have gripped my attention tightly. Indeed with this forceful presence, it’s only Impending Foetal Doom that lets the set down. With its slow, rather meandering start, I await expectantly for it to all ‘kick off’, sadly it doesn’t and I’m left a tad disappointed. Normal order is restored with Nungrinder; it’s not a sexual reference! But a song “About grinding up nuns and smoking them!” How very bizarre!!! The self titled Skullfucked pretty much does what it says on the tin. This is reminiscent of early Sepuctura in parts, especially vocally and the delivery is very much like someone who’s first language is not English. Indeed this song I feel, would have had a much better finale to their set. They chose What The Cluen and although starting in a promising manner, it didn’t really fully deliver. On the whole, Skullfucked made for an excellent opening slot on this, their Esquires debut and return show is hotly anticipated by this reviewer.
UNITRA followed, they impressed me immensely last time I saw them and they didn’t let anyone down tonight. Loud and brash, I for one was utterly transfixed by their thirty minute set. This is gloriously over the top metal, full throttle and so brazenly flamboyant. With the crowd piled up at the front, Unitra ask them “Are you ready to rock?” indeed, it seems as if this band have managed to faultlessly take all the ‘trendy metal’ genres of the day and create something that is at times, so gloriously retro and comical (in a good way) it comes out through the other side and hints at seamless genius, did I hear someone perhaps mention Lawnmower Deth? My favourite moment occurs when they battlecry “We are Unitra we are!” Power metal power of the first degree. Fans in the front row offer back fist pumping chants of mass high fives appreciation! Throwing horns in the process. It’s sometimes quite difficult to raise the spirits of a metal crowd in Esquires but Unitra succeeded magnificently.
FEAR BOUND hail from Cambridgeshire. This five piece are fronted by a perpetual pocket dynamo who’s athletic movement throughout is aggressive and dynamic. The band itself create a somewhat weird hybrid mix of metalcore and old skool metal. Perhaps they contain a tad too much clean vocals. Although the range is admirable, especially on the closing Broken. There is definitely a thin line between intense intricacy and just plain noise, but Fear Bound won the former, sweat dripped from them.
With a dark stage set up for their intro, local metallers IMMORTALUS headlined this evening. There is some full on shouting, but sometimes its hard to fully grasp a band who rely on so many slower, melodic interludes. A competent set, but on occasions I feel Imortalus are more preoccupied by the many technical demands of their music. Perhaps obsessively rehearsed, they undoubtedly possess the sufficient energy but not yet the charisma and warmth when on stage. This is slightly lacking, but more live gigs and experience gained will rectify this. They have the potential talent, as their excellent 2015 E.P. proved. On the whole though tonight, Immortalus were slightly more lukewarm than face melting.
Review by Martin Stapleton. www.bedfordalternativemusic.co.uk