VENOM, MAYHEM, Noctiferia
30.05.2010, 'Hristo Botev' hall, Sofia - Bulgaria
words byВ Ivaylo Alexandrov,В photoВ Ivaylo Alexandrov

We saw Venom too. And Mayhem, motherfucker, and Mayhem, screams my schizophrenic inner I.

We saw and heard black metal from the dawn and the thrash metal in its protoplasmic form. And while still stunned I try to collect my scattered along Hristo Botev Hall mind, the long story short is:

NOCTIFERIA – Still when they opened for Samael they managed to impress me; last night their sound and appearance were as inspiring as the last time. Mighty are the Slovenians and every time they put a microphone under the dreaded head of Gianni Poposki, it would be late.

This guy has a great voice and it blows way ahead the powerful, varied modern metal of NOCTIFERIA with horns held high. A couple of songs from the still warm ‘Death Culture’, some old cuts and I am mad that the only merchandise is only Venom t-shirts (not to mention that the seller wears a killing blue longsleeve of Mastodon which he refuses to barter for a t-shirt of a Serbian death metal band).

And the fact that they take some of the time of the fallen Greeks Omega just cannot make me loose my sleep. Instead I am glad to notice a bunch of idiotic individuals – two of them are like Beavis and Butthead – one with a killing fringe, virgin moustache, denim sleeveless jacket and plastic mac shorts over red trainers while the other wears short denim outfit and headbangs with barely grown hair and they seem as if they are taken out from a video of a second-grade 80’s heavy band.

And our favourite from the previous night (see the DeicideВ liveВ report) with the wedge, the jacket and the boots sleeps again, thrown his fatty thighs over the seats.

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When the Slovenians hide back, after a short break from the loudspeakers we hear the introduction ‘Silvester Anfang’ written by Conrad Schnitzler of the electro-experimentalists Tangerine Dream, well, then I slightly tear the ties with this particular reality. The psychopathic Attila Csihar materializes on the stage with shiny cloak which is some inexplicable for me mockery with the Catholicism, a red float light and a gibbet in his left hand.

He stands upon us with painted face, psychopathic haircut and a throat in which scrape ice and rusty saws. If the performance of MAYHEM should be described with one word, let it be ‘IMPRESSIVE’.

So influential outlook, audio frost, primal, noise and pure grotesque, combined with the quality of the sound in the hall (yes, this time the stage faced the left stands but the sound was at high level) and almost inadequate gestures of the Hungarian before us nail the attention and as you are under a hypnosis, it is hard to take your senses out of the spectacle.

As a minus I can point the fact that MAYHEM play under daylight – the sunlight, flowing through the windows and the ugly obscurantism spreading from the stage hindered one another.  And maybe a force from above has sent last soldiers of light to fight for the souls of the God’s children with the satanic forces from Norway.

There is no point to think it over, the important thing is the five guys in front of us who pour an йpoque of the heavy music; as a huge part of their show is from that classic record, called ‘De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas’. Attila screams as always, Necrobutcher is with (almost) nazi t-shirt and swills wine on the stage while Hellhammer is absolute beast behind the drums.

It is hard to follow the music of the Norse during a concert. Chafing, filing, noise and not the oldschool but the ancient one is before us, teaching antireligious doctrine and we listen and it is impossible to describe the atmosphere, the feeling of the touch to something sacred (if we could use this word with such a blasphemous music) and the charisma these people possess.
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MAYHEM strike down a medley including parts of ‘Pure Fucking Armageddon’ and ‘De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas’ and furl the sails, leaving us numb from the unique show they perform.
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VENOM is different story. Far more rudimentary, loud, primitive and receptive, the music of the British trio is a direct slap in the face from the very beginning of everything black and thrash. The three come out with the thematic ‘Black Metal’ and from then on they alternate strong fists from the whole history of one of the most influential metal bands, from the albums that include the ugly Cronos in the line-up of the recordings.

Of course we have also new material but the setlist of the legends relies mostly on the old glory, on ‘In League With Satan’ and ‘Countess Bathory’, on noise and screams, rasping guitars and endless drumming by the machine Dante. Almost monotonous music, almost dummy ideas and yet these are songs, recorded almost 30 years ago and realizing that, you pay a bit of different attitude to the three guys on the stage.

VENOM are a living legend and as such they deserve all the applauses, every growl, every drop of sweat from the moshpit which about a thousand fans offer them as an appreciation for the inspiration. And the three of them know very well why they are there and more than a hour and a half they conduct with screams and raw metal the crowd before them. Until the ‘Witching Hour’ fell down and all the ghouls and goblins recharged their batteries with hops fuel and mounted on besoms and the hellish vehicle 280 on the road to the native catacombs.

GALLERY