Scaphist, Creeping, Ulcerate. 4th feb 2011.



Best I could get on my crumby phone camera.

 Lineup: Scaphist, Creeping, Ulcerate.
Date: 4th Feb 2011.
Venue: The Rising Sun.
Overall: Awesome music from all bands involved, but I was feeling rather antisocial so I must apologise to anyone I ran into that night.
Spiel: I got there kinda early- Scaphist were running through their sound check (apparently the gig was vocalist & bass player, Oli's last show with the band). They were very good & I look forward to future developments from these guys.
Creeping were on next, but I had popped outside for fresh air & missed the start of Creepings set, but what I did see was very good.
Ulcerate were on last, and started a bit late (according to my watch), but they played for over an hour and covered a new and old songs. My understanding is that it was the first appearance of their new (touring/live) guitarist. The band brought their brand of (tech) death/post/drone/whatever-you-call-it metal and showed the crowd why they're rapidly becoming a favoured band on overseas metal sites.
I was gonna use cliched hyperbola's like, I'm surprised the building wasn't shaken from it's foundations and fall onto the motorway (although saying you're gonna use a cliche and then state said cliche is probably cliched also), but they were heavy, half the band played real fast, like the drumming and guitar, but the lead (i guess) guitar and vocals indicated a slower pace; bringing to mind the analogy of a crude animation school kids draw in the corners of books, as in the pages are flipped fast but the action is slow. This is their style and as they tour in Aussie in March, and no doubt further field later; fans of their records won't be disappointed with their sounds-like-the-album performance.
Dim lighting, and hardly any talking/interaction with the crowd (although, probably more professional not to interact with every jib and heckle, Though it was funny when someone yelled out, before their set, "Technical Death Metal!") and the general atmosphere they created sends out the vibes that the band is bigger than a bunch of guys who (probably) live and work up the road.
Headliners album 'review': I'm not really one for reviewing or criticing albums, but "Destroyer of All" is simply another in a long string of really good NZ metal albums. I will say, however, that "Destroyer of All" sounds like something more akin to the soundtrack to some Lovecraftian (or similar) themed/based apocalypse.