06-07.07.2004

MALEVOLENT CREATION 

REQUIEM

CROPMENT

PANCHRYSIA

29th June 2004 -  at DYNAMO WERK 21  - ZÜRICH - CH

presented by Hellfire and Metal Die Hard Front

 


 review by dalia "gryphon_spirit"  di giacomo

- all pics © by Stefan "Absolut_Evidence" Vogelaar

The public use of these fotos  is strictly prohibited without written permission

INTRO 

PANCHRYSIA

CROPMENT

REQUIEM

MALEVOLENT CREATION

 

INTRO

Here we are! together with gryphonmetal.ch  you will experience again some feelings and considerations suggested by a live show. And the show we are talking about is one the most Metal one can think of: this evening Malevolent Creation will display  their "malevolent" aggression in Zürich , one of the stations included in their European tour 2004, coinciding or clashing with the release of their new album Warkult. Well, concerning  Zürich it is actually more than a parallelism, from the moment that the album is released just  the day before the show.  And this is the point. Warkult l'unconnu!  We will see that, with the exception of a couple of songs presented tonight, there is no much trace of the  wonderful Warkult, beginning from the t-shirts available at the merchandise stand.  I can anticipate that Mr Phil Fasciana and fellow-band mates will deliver  a more than wonderful gig  tonight, but the consciousness of having just  gifted the Death metal world with one of this year best albums so far, is not so evident.  Indeed The Will to Kill still seem to be the bastion.  In few words The Will to Kill  (that still remains simply excellent) should be renamed in The Will of not to Die , so much the band seems bound to it, not much concerning the set list in itself but for what it concerns the general atmosphere (it is at least the  impression i get).  But whatever. Hellfire has organized another of its great metal  events (this time together with  Metal Die Hard Front).  And now it 's time for "Supremacy through ...Death"

 

PANCHRYSIA   panchrysia 
Wearing not- comfortable -but- Italian shoes with heels, i sit down on the floor dressed in black in a black little corner of the pit (not very ) near the stage . Easy to do, from the moment that the fist band is followed by just more than 4 cats , being the crowd mainly at the bar or outside the venue , placed at the shore of  the river Limmat. 

This band, Panchrysia, was not announced , it must have been almost a kind of surprise for the venue too. Fact is that  the whole schedule-time has been affected . The show must begin earlier. The concert begins practically at once after  doors are opened.  We reach the venue around 20:15 and instead of the usual nice relaxing and chatting  before a show, trallala i find on the stage a band that practically has come to the final part of  its performance, among the windmill of bassist and guitarist, roaring sounds and punishing  drumming's . Sorry, i really have not the  time to build me a pale  idea about them, apart that they seem not bad at all and infernal enough. They should be a Black Metal band? They seem more Death/Black to me, concerning vocals too, though i think that an experience in more styles should be not stranger to them. Anyway after one song  and a half the show is bye bye. Frontman (Zahrim??)  thanks the (few) persons  who have attended the gig: "thank you for joining us!". Nice .

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CROPMENT     cropment
Ok now the world is in order again cause  it's time for the announced Cropment. A name that i have heard a lot before, never seen them live though. They have played recently at Nova Gorica with Novembre, i know it well ... The "back-drape" with their logo  is placed on the wall, and there it will remain even when Malevolent Creation will play .  No Warkult image will grace our eyes. Patience, let's attend Cropment who propose an intense repertoire and pump up the crowd, that, in the meanwhile, begins to fill up the pit.  Cropment are not very harmonic, are really brutal and  straight-to -the point , sometimes obsessive, very gloomy. Their  brutal sounds are able to open up at times  a kind of occult atmosphere, not really a widespread thing in Death.  You listen to them gladly , you don't  wonder "oh mahh, when will they shut up finally?". Therefore it's a very good sign, the first headbangers begin to enjoy the evening. The optical impression  of the band is rather good though  guitarist Adrian doesn't fit the look of the group.  Nevertheless it 's Adrian's guitar  the one that acts as  most reliable pillar of the band , thanks to the  precision through riff and tremolo variations.  Therefore my congratulations to Adrian. Rene's vocals are energetic and propose a kind of alternation between  growls/grunts and screams . The rhythmic is granitic , yet still agile enough to grant a level of elastic passages and pace changes. Interesting is Claudio drumming's : really top notch,  maybe more suitable in a Black ambience than in a Death/Grind like this, but top-notch. Rene finds the time to interface with the crowd speaking in Schweizer-Deutsch, thing that always makes me happy like a happy bunny. Anyway I have understood more at the Alpen Rock House during the Crystal Ball release party (you can imagine how much "HeLLvetian" was spoken) than from Rene tonight. Subtitles for the Deaf doesn't scroll, so  don't ask what the hell  he is saying . Don't even ask me what the hell they have played. I only see a setlist with titles like Ethic genetic , Cold as Blood, The Age of Terrorism, Day by Day, Atheistic Thoughts, Bloody Innocence.  

 

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REQUIEM              requiem             Messiah - Reanimation 2003
Oh yes, Requiem now. They have surely  class.  I saw  them live during that magical night of more than one year ago:  the mythical Messiah Reanimation 2003 evening.  Hate Plow played too.  (Something to do with Malevolent Creation line -up eh?). Now a small parade of the protagonists of that night is taking place here, protagonists that still meet somehow showing reciprocal esteem.  Requiem  open for Kyle Symons and Phil Fasciana again , and, in Requiem, ex Messiah Patrick Hersche will master the bass. MC guitarist Rob Barret and vocalist Kyle show up greeting Mr. Hersche and the rest of the band during the sound check . If my eyes don't fail, i see Messiah drummer Steve Karrer walking  around too. Requiem that now are inked  with Darklord Records , an underground division of Reality Entertainment (one can see that Reality has done a walk here in Wilhelm Tell's land),  carry on the job begun by Cropment  in the best way. Cool  tracks, engaged vocals, tight work of guitars and bass, everything enhanced by an exquisite drumming, able to  emphasize all sound facettes that a neck -breaking Death/Thrash  with  structural content must have. Fat and violent when need, smoothed when needed, hyperfast or more pounding, Requiem's drumming's, together with the general stage acting of the band and Michi's vocals, are  the first true highlight of the concert. Tempo changes and winning riffs are able to arise enthusiasm, banging's and moshing . The great underground helpfulness on the stage offers moments of solidarity and interaction with the other supporter-bands. The atmosphere is absolutely high. Yes, at times even hypnotic, but the mayhem is not missed. 

 

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MALEVOLENT CREATION   malevolent creation           

 

The review concerning Malevolent Creation could be  quickly done: they are (almost) perfect, they are (completely) great, they have gifted the Werk 21 with one of the most satisfactory  Metal shows you can imagine. Period.

Adding a couple of  details,  the venue is a Death Metal triumph. Kyle Symons has proved once more to be an impressive vocalist, even more mature than before , with a bit of theatrical superiority. Fasciana and Barret are guitarists that work  without being primadonna's on the stage. Bassist Gordon Simms shows  gloomy phlegm and a resolute bass playing. I don't know which of these Simms'  characteristics is the more marked one.  Dave Culross provides energetic drums.  The rhythmic is bulldozing , the bruto -violence excellent, ennobled by catchy hook lines and loops of  demonic attraction.  A success. Quickly the pit  is a fury of moshing  and a public acclaim.  Attention: no staff for macho's only! The beautiful and not weak sex is largely  represented, some girls stand heroically the whirlpool of the moshing damnation. 

            

Ah ah me not! I have an alibi: I still wear Italian heels:  i  stick  to the wall, so, just to say, i  could fear for my safety. But the songs are sublime, i don't enjoy the concert less than the others, on the contrary: every riffing, every bulldozing  and steamhammering cadence is a source of addictive pleasure. Anyway a shadow flutters like a bat in this atmospheric venue: Warkult is mentioned just like to remember that a new cd is available. No trace of the smallest Warkult scenery. As far as i know, no Warkult t-shirts  are ready to be bought: the tour 2004 dates  are  printed on the old The Will to Kill ones.  I even don't know if new cd's are available at the merchandise, told frankly, in spite of the excellent gig, i've lost The Will to go and see. A couple of songs played live versus  a more convinced  enthusiasm from Kyle Symons towards the older pieces . Faster, faster! They were faster of what? On the contrary i think  that Warkult  is a wonderful album able to combine fastness, hyperblasting assaults and melodic hooks like the song  Captured is definitely proving.  Anyway tracks like Blood Brothers , Eve of the Apocalypse, and Infernal Desire remain  killers. After a gig of pure intelligent "cruelty", the band leaves the stage  among the general approval. Of course an encore is called, it is obvious, but the band replies with a not obvious  delay. Translate this into "the band doesn't appear again at once".  On one  side, i am rather pleased cause those  bands that immediately  go on performing the encore make of it  just an empty routine. On the other hand, MC let the crowd wait  just a bit too long. Unfortunately this transforms  some  approvals into not very  polite calls.  Preceded by drummer Culross, Malevolent Creation re-take the stage almost in slow motion but the track Coronation of our Domain,  with its hyperbulldozing cruelty and its cutting overdrive, bites everyone down to the ground. Revenge is sweet.  "Thank you very much!" and the Florida veterans  reach the backstage. 

After getting the setlist, a group of fans  sitting on the edge of the stage immediately  warn me " oh no no! everything's wrong there, in particular the order of the songs!!". One of them...(and i presumed why he was... so informed...) shows generosity  and adds, pointing to the list: "See! for example Coronation was played in the encore and not after Multiple Stab Wounds!!"  Yes ok but the sequence  from Preemptive Strike to Infernal Desire seems to be  right. Right?

 

dalia di giacomo    

 

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