Formed in 1988, Chicago death metallers Broken Hope never amassed towards the peak of old school death metal hegemony but retained an impressive fan base throughout the years. They spewed out five albums of bone-crunching metal before calling it quits in 2001. However, following a 12 year hiatus, the Americans regrouped and release their sole reunion album 'Omen of Disease'. Tonight sees Broken Hope live in London the first show ever on
Last spotted bludgeoning this capital back in 2013 are New York death metal veterans Internal Bleeding. Conceived in 1991 and a pioneer of the internationally loved slam death metal subgenre, these Long Island inhabitants never truly accrued the respect they deserved to their hand in crafting this genre and were aped countless times by bands to follow. Following their reunion in 2011, last year saw the release of album number five 'Imperium' and evidence of the band's continued yet evolved ferocity.
The crowd assembled at Nambucca tonight is encouraging and certainly larger than the show in 2013 at the Electrowerkz. Guitar riffs are razor sharp with pummeling rhythms that effortlessly evoke a mosh pit and flurries ofheadbanging. Unfortunately, the band is given a set shorter than a measly half an hour, ridiculous considering they are in the main supporting slot and their set was truncated at their previous London show. Nonetheless, these death metal masters have no issues churning out a mix of material including 'Patterns of Force III: Aftermath', 'Anointed in Servitude' and 'Castigo Corpus Meum'. The older material sounds cleaner than its recorded counterpart and the 'Imperium' tracks are nothing short of visceral. The crowd's enthusiasm is testament to the excellence of this classic death metal horde and hopefully, they will return to London very soon with a fair set length.
Headliners Broken Hope take the stage with an air of confidence and to a vociferous applause of fans who have undoubtedly waiting a short eternity to catch them. As soon as the pummeling death metal kicks into gear, bodies throw themselves into each other in the semblance of a mosh pit. Riffs are crunching, vocals are particularly guttural courtesy of Damian Lesky (of Gorgasm fame) and the music's mood is dark in a myriad of ways. Orthodox death metal alternates between rhythmically-concerned death metal passages that are perfect for headbanging to.
The setlist blends the old and the younger Broken Hope tracks, featuring 'The Docking Dead', 'The Flesh Mechanic', 'Incinerated', Swamped in Gore', 'Into the Necrosphere' and 'He Was Raped'. Naturally, the pre-reunion material secures the most formidable response from the audience with its classic death metalsound, arguably more brutal than the later material. Lesky applies his more guttural vocal sound to the older tracks and this increases the level of brutality. But judging from the fan's responses, Broken Hope can commit no harm no matter what they play as a swarming mosh pit fairly consistently strikes throughout the duration of the set. Before too long, the set whizzes by and Broken Hope have to vacate the stage. The punters reaction is an enduring one and that the band are thankful to receive.
In spite of the dodgy organisation that certainly robbed Internal Bleeding of a fair set length, tonight's eventwasnot one to miss. It feels like death metal shows in London are not as common as they used to be a few years ago (possibly due to the increased interest in black metal nowadays) so when a show featuring two rare death metal stalwarts comes along, it is certainly worth attending. Many fingers are crossed in the hopes that both Broken Hope and Internal Bleeding return.
FUTURE GIGS
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