Written by:	Baz Anderson
Published:	April 20, 2010
Event:	Aborted + Rotten Sound: Fuck The Volcano Tour
Location:	Underworld, London, United Kingdom
Galleries:	Rotten Sound, Aborted - London, England, 18th April 2010 by Baz Anderson (15)

The Underworld in London seemed a suitable venue. Subtly less snazzy than a non-Londoner might have imagined, but the room did its job anyhow. The first date of the Machines of Grind tour did not go according to plan. Thanks to the volcanic eruption The Red Chord and Those Who Lie Beneath could not make it, leaving us with only Rotten Sound and Aborted.

After an extremely long, soul-sapping wait, Aborted were the first band on stage. It was strange, there wasn't the atmosphere you would expect for a band such as Aborted, especially from a London audience. The long wait beforehand had really dampened the spirits of all but the stupidly over the top drunk, of which there is always one. This has therefore become the "fuck the volcano" tour as Aborted's Sven stated in between songs. Aborted were great, they always are, but the whole experience seemed flat due to all of the problems from before the band took the stage. The new Aborted line-up did a good job in apparently their first ever show together. One or two minor slips went unnoticed, but the handful of people at the show still in the mood tonight made it worth going. The band put on an explosive show of brutal death metal with both early and new material, but it was the closing pair of "Nailed Through Her Cunt" and "The Saw And Carnage Done" that really pushed things over the top. Aborted are a great band and deserved better than this, but that's life.



After a relatively short wait, Finnish grind monsters Rotten Sound dragged themselves onto the stage and kicked off their set of blasts. It felt as if even less people were at the venue to see Rotten Sound, and even though frontman Keijo took a bottle of wine on stage with him, the band seemed to start the set quite tentatively. The band soon got through the gears though and were soon blasting us away with their quite one-track grindcore manner. It was straight down to business; no faffing about asking for "circle pits" and pathetic "walls of death", this was straight on blasting and headbanging, and it was good stuff too. Both bands were thankful for those who turned up, and although Aborted probably have the better music, Rotten Sound put on the most appropriate set for the evening. Everyone had been warmed up for Rotten Sound, and their style of straight blasting grindcore did a better job of putting the problems to the back of minds than Aborted's more traditional style of brutal death.



Things happen in life that can't be helped. The volcano messed up the UK leg of this tour, but respect goes to both Aborted and Rotten Sound for making it over and refusing to cancel the tour. This show wasn't surrounded by the best of moods by both bands for their problems, or the audience for losing a couple of bands and being made to wait longer than they were told - but nevertheless these two bands put on great sets against the odds.

Written by Barry Anderson.
Photos by Barry Anderson.