Kataklysm and Septicflesh – Audio, Glasgow – 16/2/16

Jurga Kalinauskaite 19 February 2016 Event Reviews

Kataklysm, SepticFlesh and Aborted on one tour, sharing the same stage seems to be a perfect combination. Under the “Of the Ghosts and Gods Tour” flag, this team is invading Europe and the Glasgow gig happened just a few days ago.

Glasgow welcomed the bands with cold, rainy weather and a fully packed Audio club – the best proof of a long awaited show. Aborted, death metallers from Belgium were the first to hit the stage at half past seven. Once they were on the stage, the madness began. They began their set with songs from “Goremageddon” before rapidly switching to newer material, at which point the audience instantly started a moshpit. The atmosphere heated up and and the metalheads would do anything the vocalist Sven “Svencho” de Caluwé asked for: circle pit, wall of death… He also encouraged crowd surfing and his request didn’t go unheard, to the point the stage crew were having a hard time fixing falling monitors. Aborted also presented a track from the upcoming album “Retrogore”, which will be released in April.

After 40 minutes of Aborted’s neck crushing set, Septicflesh came on with a completely different mood. Dark, deep and very atmospheric death metal – the signature sound of these Greek metallers. The band concentrated on the songs from their last studio album “Titan”: “Prototype”, “Prometheus” and such. They also played a track beloved by fans, “Anubis” and a couple of tracks from the album “The Great Mass.” This captivating performance from Septicflesh made people gaze more than mosh and it was definitely a strong show, which finished faster than I imagined. Another 40-45 minutes and it was all over, the brilliant atmosphere fading like mist.

Half an hour more of waiting and Canadian death metallers Kataklysm were up on the stage, with a pure energy blast from the very first riff. Opening their set with “Breaching the Asylum” from their new album “Of Ghosts and Gods” and continuing with “If I Was God… I’d Burn It All” and “As I Slither” they gave no compromise or choice but to headbang and mosh till the last. Energy was blitzing in the air as the audience went wild doing what Aborted started in the first place, but at double strength. Vocalist Maurizio Iacono was very right when he said: “I know it’s Tuesday, but we’ll make it Saturday.” The moshpit and crowd surfing reached its peak, with a girl from the first row nearly knocked out after a surfer fell on her and she was accompanied by band’s crew to help her out. Although the band looked quite concerned about it, it didn’t stop the show going at full speed till the very end. The whole Kataklysm set took a little longer than one hour and time flew – it was over before I could realise it.

No doubt it was gig of the month – very strong, concentrated and unforgettable, as Kataklysm posted on their Facebook page: “A crazy sold out show in Glasgow, Scotland that left many crippled and broken”. Glasgow will be waiting for more!

Kataklysm setlist:
Breaching the Asylum
If I Was God… I’d Burn It All
As I Slither
The Black Sheep
Manipulator of Souls
At the Edge of the World
Thy Serpents Tongue
Push the Venom
The Ambassador of Pain
Where the Enemy Sleeps…
Soul Destroyer
The Chains of Power
Open Scars
In Shadows & Dust
Crippled & Broken
Iron Will
Elevate