Written by:	GRIGAL
Published:	September 26, 2007
Event:	Obituary
Location:	Underworld, London, United Kingdom
Galleries:	Obituary - London, England by Unknown user (13)

A heavy presence of the international media inside 'The Underworld' hinted at a highly anticipated event. This mood is reasonable when the headliners happen to be one of the most significant and enduring exponents of USA Death Metal. Obituary were to be supported by another legend in extreme Metal - Onslaught, who had released a couple of groundbreaking albums back in the late 1980s. With DAM and Dead Beyond Buried set to open the event, everyone braced themselves for a DM rollercoaster ride, courtesy of Candlelight Records.


DEAD BEYOND BURIED
Dead Beyond Buried compensated an unpersuasive originality by delivering a strong performance of enjoyable old-school Death Metal. The set-list consisted of songs with a technical slant that alternated between stunningly fast riffs and slower crushing grooves. Included within all this were 'Innocence Erased' and 'Organic Dementia'. The latter song was recently the subject of a video production.

Another thing worth mentioning is the technically great voice of Oliver Marchand. Pity that his talent wasn't complimented by a more confident attitude towards the audience. In fact this might partially account for an oddly inert crowd. Despite this, DBB gave a very positive show.




DAM
DAM upped the ante in terms of heaviness. Such was the energy and ferocity that at one point Nathan (vocals/guitar) and Dan (guitar) nearly collided onstage. It was only recently that Dan joined the band - not that this seemed obvious from the holistic chemistry on show.

With respect to the other 3/4 of the billing, DAM gave less focus on structure and more emphasis on aural aggression. The performance of these Londoners was in fact utterly relentless. DAM's unvaried Death Grind set-list included 'Spiritual Void', an excellent 'Made Of Beasts' and, from the new album 'Eyeballing'.




ONSLAUGHT
When the whole venue was screaming the band's name before 1 single note was even played, you're inclined to think that there's still a great deal of respect for Metal veterans Onslaught. Sure enough, limbs were tossed about like confetti and blood literally flowed as the band proved its enduring mettle to a crazy moshpit.

The band played a few recent songs, such as 'Planting Seeds Of Hate' and the title track of "Killing Peace", the latter also serving to open the gig. These are great songs but clearly it was the classic repertoire that the rabid audience really wanted.....and got. The Underworld went berserk as Onslaught played timeless gems such as 'Angels Of Death' and 'Metal Forces'. The coup de grace came at the end in the form of 'Power From Hell', from the band's omonimous 1985 album.

The main disappointment was the brevity of Onslaught's show. Oh well, at least everyone seemed to have had a great time. One also couldn't fail to notice an overindulgence in the 'sport' of stagediving. Power from Hell indeed!




OBITUARY
As well to promote the impending album - "Xecutioner's Return" - this London gig also served as an official introduction of Obituary's new guitarist Ralph Santolla (Millenium, ex-Death, ex-Deicide, ex-Seb Bach). As the performance gets going, it's clear that Ralph's trial by fire was greeted with a two-thumbs up approval!

Following an uneven start, the performance kicks into overdrive. Whichever phase of the band's history the set-list happened to focus on, the vigour of their execution was homogenous. Anyone familiar with Obituary's unique style of Death Metal would be well aware of the constant shift between blast-beat parts to staccato riffs to mid-paced passages. Well, in this live setting the tempo shifts were flawless and the band's tightness belied their experience and maturity plying the DM trade.

There seemed to be some glitches at times - the impression was that some instruments were briefly disconnected from the mixer. Despite being commonly regarded as a point-of-reference of the genre, Obituary never bothered to invest in a more sophisticated image and this live performance had a 'no bullshit' attitude in delivering the goods.

A performance by giants.....both in the physical and metaphorical sense!