Another rainy day sees another death metal show in the capital to bookend the weekend, following Morbid Angel's gig on Friday. This show is Aborted's only UK stop on this European tour and the last death metal show of the year for many.
California gorehounds Exhumed are back again after their February crusade with labelmates Toxic Holocaust and are still touring on the back of the well-received 'Necrocracy'. Bolting their way through a bloody set of Carcass influenced gore grind, the crowd at the Underworld are entirely behind them from the first note. Post-reunion tracks including the catchy 'Dysmorphic', the abrasive yet melodic guitar leads of 'Coins Upon the Eyes' and the feverish'Your Funeral, My Feast' prove the four-piece are a far cry from a nostalgia act. Older songs such as 'Slaughtercult' and 'Coffinkrusher' are interspersed into the show and Exhumed must be credited by playing a varying setlist, forsaking usual fan favourites like 'Necromaniac' and 'Open the Abscess'.A surprise is hatched with a death metal cover of hardcore anthem'Ready to Fight', originally by Negative Approach which goes down extraordinarily with the moshers.
Like all Exhumed gigs, there is an element of theatricality in the form of their maniac surgeon resurrecting passed out guitarist Bud Burke with a beer bong. The audience reaction to the entire show is overwhelmingly positive, unsurprising given Exhumed's constant return to this island with increasing frequencies. Closer is the beloved 'The Matter of Splatter' and hopefully, the death metallers will be back again even sooner than before.
Slightly rarer in London are Origin who were last spotted in the capital in 2012. With a rammed Underworld, the four-piece unleashed a brain-bending technical death metal assault. Opening with 'Reciprocal' from 'Echoes of Decimation', these Americans begin a campaign of battery, where all four of the band members spar for the audience's attention with bristling levels of jaw-dropping technicality. This year saw the release of new album 'Omnipresent' and prime cuts from this full-lengthaired to the crowd tonight include 'All Things Dead', 'Fulcrum of Fury' and 'Thrall:Fulcrum:Apex' with tracks from the latter end of their discography, including 'Portal', 'The Aftermath' and 'Evolution of Extinction'.
A cocktail of blast beats, sweep-picking and growls at a variety of pitches coupled with songs that are as short as a minute contribute to Origin's chaotic maelstrom, violently savage in its brutality. However, the level of musicianship is qualified enough to make the songs memorable and avoid falling into riff salad territory. Vocalist Jason Keyser barely stands still on stage and generally has the most imaginative ways to interact with the audience at a death metal show; tonight saw him successfully orchestrate a silent wall of death. After a beastly performance, the crowd's overwhelming ovation will hopefully see these Americans play here again in the near future.
Headliners Aborted will have to struggle to top the sharpness of Origin's set. Commencing their show with 'Dead Wreckoning' from 'The Archaic Abattoir', the start of an offering of crushing death metal from these Belgians tonight. Their take on death metal is very traditional with double-bass drumming at break-neck tempos and nods towards grind with later efforts seeing the inclusion of a metalcore sound to their music.
Album number eight 'The Necrotic Manifesto' is naturally strongly represented tonight with vicious tracks such as 'Cenobites', 'Coffin Upon Coffin' and 'The Extirpation Agenda' but the highly lauded 'Goremageddon: The Saw and the Carnage Done' receives an equal share of attention, demonstrating that some of Aborted's finest material lies in their earlier days. The forceful nature of 'Meticulous Invagination', 'The Saw and Carnage Done' and 'Parasitic Flesh Resection' utilise heavier guitar riffs and crunchy rhythms with the frenetic spirit of grind. The stage presence of the band is enough to effortlessly provoke pits as vocalist Svencho de Caluwé storms the stage with a cyclone of energy.
Closer 'The Saw and Carnage Done' secures a rapturous response from the fans before the headliners leave the stage. An encore is on the cards though as the five-piece blow the dust of favourite 'Nailed Through Her Cunt' for a final expulsion of brutality that the venue readily feasts off. The Underworld is once again covered in a thick film of sweat and spilt beers as Aborted devastate the capital again.
FUTURE GIGS
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