Awaiting with flaming expectancy this gig I arrived outside the Texas Necropolis club and I realized that almost 150 people were already gathered. In my opinion this was not just an ordinary live. One of the most cult Black Metal legions, one of the oldest and purest would be on stage in a few hours. Obviously for many of you the name ARCHGOAT may mean nothing but it is one of the very few real Black Metal bands that ever came in Greece.
The hour is 20:15 and the first horde climbs upon, CROSS DENIED that replaced the absence due to the cancellation of VARATHRON. That had positive and an negative point of view. The negative was that I wanted to see the old Hellenic blacksters although their last recording is pure shit and the positive was that I had already seen them and if I remember well was in the MAYHEM concert. The only difference was the singer' s hair length; apart from this, the coldness and abyssal feeling of the music were still present and destructive. The experience was great, and this was by far the best support act for that night. The music comprises MAYHEM influences not only in the Euronymous era but also from Wolf Lair Abyss, Grand Declaration Of War and Chimera; add to these influences some old EMPEROR without keys or GORGOROTH and IMMORTAL. The musicianship was perfect and full of passion; some riffing was like torment in your head and the singer tried to be close to Attila's paths. Of course, trying to do such an effort is a very difficult task and is very easy to become ridiculous; in the end although not perfect the vocals conquered me. CROSS DENIED count four years of presence with one promo making me anxious to hear something more complete.
Next in line was an unknown band for me named ANGSTRIDDEN that played for almost half an hour. A mix of Death Metal and Black with a modern touch that brings a colder aura inside, reminding the last two albums of CADAVER or Blasphemer's work in MAYHEM, embodied with extreme high pitching vocals. Not exactly my cup of tea, but interesting enough during the chaos caused by the cover in the classic CELTIC FROST Circle Of The Tyrants. They have announced the release of a mini album Fuck Humanity With Pride and surely I want to hear it and give them a fair judgment. What I really liked was the mid tempo dark and obscure moments that reminded a lot of INQUISITION.
It was ten minutes before ten and here came SLAUGHTERPRIEST. Apart from their cool moniker, this trio was mostly into a more necro side of Black Metal that should be the best for me. Unfortunately, they didn't satisfy me. One good thing was the bass player's SLAUGHTER t-shirt. Yeah SLAUGHTER. One more good thing was their cover songs. Well they decided to play AURA NOIR's Mirage and Into The Crypt Of Rays. With such choices they could easily won my sympathy but they destroyed the originals. The guitar in the AURA NOIR was horrible, and the vocals, well what to say, the guy polluted the song. For these covers another vocalist came on stage and I really don't know why. Some riffs on their original songs weren't bad and generally I want to listen to their studio recordings. Last but not least the bass player wore a SLAUGHTER t-shirt.
MERCILESS CRUCIFIXION were almost in the same music vein with the previous band. Again, although that kind of sound is my favorite I found their ideas deadly trite without pushing the crowd to exhausting headbanging. That changed with their covers in BLASPHEMY's Ritual and SARCOFAGO's INRI. The covers were played very good, full of adrenaline and just for the choices they have my respect. I think that in near future we will probably get better things from them.
Beware.
The familiar introduction exploded from the speakers. Invocation, and hell broke loose. The three members of ARCHGOAT, the basic core with Lord Angelslayer and bold Ritual Butcherer plus the drummer Sinister Karppinen were in front of us and started the ear mutilation and mayhem with Lord Of The Void. Panic, chaos and destruction, their music works unexpectedly good in live environment and the mid tempo parts takes an apocalyptic face forcing you to destroy everything nearby. ARCHGOAT are a great horde. The blasphemic assault towards the face of the Nazarene and his followers has been active since 1989; it became more famous after the release of the split album with the other sinister power from Finland, BEHERIT. The band decided to stop in 1993 but their recordings, two demo and an EP, become adorable pieces of brutality for many maniacs. The holocaust sound and the ultra from the void and the depths of mire music was so thrilling experience that cannot be forgotten.
The unexpected can be expected and the great return happened in 2004 and two years later ARCHGOAT released their first full length that was their best recording so far. Whore Of Bethlehem is surely one of the top five Black Metal albums during the last years. Unbelievable come back. And they honored it in this gig.
Luciferian Darkness, Desecration, Hammer Of Satan among others. The vocals pure abyssal as in the studio, the sound good enough of winnowing the tracks from this wall of brutality and morbidity. The Angelcunt EP was there too plus a Finland approach for Satanas from SARCOFAGO. Morbid screams. The ending with Angel Of Sodomy created inside me paroxysms and after almost 50 minutes they left.
I would like to thank the persons behind this concert 'cause one big dream became reality and second for their guts to bring ARCHGOAT in Athens. Death and necromancy.
