No Mercy Fest - London Review 8 April

[wroed]

What a great show yesterday and a great turnout too. The venue seemed genuinely shocked by the turnout, being forced to open the balcolny have way through as downstairs was so packed.

Die Apokalyptischen Reiter opened to a sparse crowd, the gig starting before a lot of people would have finished work or college. Weird looking and sounding band falling somewhere between black metal and German folk music to my ears. The singer was particularly mad. At some points they were great, other times crap.

Darkane were excellent. There modern thrash sound went down a storm with a very professional performance. Imaginary Entity and the closing Innocence Gone were the standout tracks for me.

Malevolent Creation are just not my cup of tea. If walls of noise are your thing then fine but I retreated for food at this point. I did catch their singer saying one of their guitarist was M.I.E. - Missing In England, so they were playing as a four piece!

By this point the place had really filled up in time for Pro-Pain, who were the real surprise of the day. I already like them myself but wondered whether their harcore sound would go down well at a metal festival. Again they were short of a rhythm guitarist, this time due to being in hospital, but you wouldn't have noticed as the sound was crushingly heavy. The first real pit of the day opened up and a lot of heads were nodding along. Make War Not Love was the standout track.

Again, Marduk weren't really my thing but their frontman was certainly amusing to watch. I'm surprised that black metal purist would take him seriously with his long blond hair, comical stage moves and normal between songs voice. Anyway I'm sure if you like them they were great. I enjoyed the one song I knew which was World Funeral.

Now to the absolute stars of the day Death Angel. They were extremely tight, great stage presene and had the best sound of the gig. I could go on and on at how good they were but suffice to say I was grinning from start to finnish. It was 13 years since they last played, and I saw them, in England, I hope we don't have to wait that long again. Set List:

Intro - Short part of Ultra Violence
Seemingly Endless Time
Voracious Souls
Mistress Of Pain
Third Floor
Evil Priest
Stagnant
Bored
Kill As One

...and now the real embarassment of the day, Nuclear Assault. John Connely was absolutely out of his head and played the whole set with his guitar out of tune. Having said that, the bass and second guitar seemed to be tuned differently too and we were subjected to horrendous feedback. During Buttf**k, I think it was, Connely downed his guitar and lept into the crowd. On return he was staggering round and seemed to have a long heated conversation with Dan Lilker. Dan Lilker then announed they had three more songs, which happen to be three he sings. At the end someone next to me shouted "Disgraceful" and he wasn't wrong. Set list (though I may be slightly out as I could hardly tell!):

Rise From The Ashes
Brainwashed
F#
F# (Wake Up)
When Freedom Dies
Game Over
Buttf**k
My America
Hang The Pope
Lesbians

Finally to Testament. It wasn't the tightest performance I've seen by them by a long shot, though that's to be expected with a stand-in drummer, but it was fun. "You didn't think I'd be back?" roared Chuck which was met with a sea of hands and cheers. The sound wasn't great but it didn't seem to matter. There was a very celebratory atmosphere and smiles all round from band and crowd. Chuck said they'd be back in July/August and hopefully we'll get a full length set, but I wasn't complaining on leaving last night. Set list

DNR
Down For Life
Low
Burnt Offerings
Into The Pit
Trial By Fire
True Believer
Three Days In Darkness
Eyes Of Wrath
Over The Wall
Dog Faced Gods
Disciples Of The Watch

 

[wroed]

Apologies for all typos, forgot to spellcheck!

 

[Mark]

Good one! I only managed to catch Marduk (*giggle*), Death Angel ( ), Nuclear Assault ( :erm: ) and Testament ( ). Spot on comments for all (I only watched bits of Marduk and NA... not my cup o' cha).

 

[Macabre_Transmigrant]

What a great show yesterday and a great turnout too. The venue seemed genuinely shocked by the turnout, being forced to open the balcolny have way through as downstairs was so packed.

Die Apokalyptischen Reiter opened to a sparse crowd, the gig starting before a lot of people would have finished work or college. Weird looking and sounding band falling somewhere between black metal and German folk music to my ears. The singer was particularly mad. At some points they were great, other times crap.

Darkane were excellent. There modern thrash sound went down a storm with a very professional performance. Imaginary Entity and the closing Innocence Gone were the standout tracks for me.

Malevolent Creation are just not my cup of tea. If walls of noise are your thing then fine but I retreated for food at this point. I did catch their singer saying one of their guitarist was M.I.E. - Missing In England, so they were playing as a four piece!


By this point the place had really filled up in time for Pro-Pain, who were the real surprise of the day. I already like them myself but wondered whether their harcore sound would go down well at a metal festival. Again they were short of a rhythm guitarist, this time due to being in hospital, but you wouldn't have noticed as the sound was crushingly heavy. The first real pit of the day opened up and a lot of heads were nodding along. Make War Not Love was the standout track.

Again, Marduk weren't really my thing but their frontman was certainly amusing to watch. I'm surprised that black metal purist would take him seriously with his long blond hair, comical stage moves and normal between songs voice. Anyway I'm sure if you like them they were great. I enjoyed the one song I knew which was World Funeral.

Now to the absolute stars of the day Death Angel. They were extremely tight, great stage presene and had the best sound of the gig. I could go on and on at how good they were but suffice to say I was grinning from start to finnish. It was 13 years since they last played, and I saw them, in England, I hope we don't have to wait that long again. Set List:

Intro - Short part of Ultra Violence
Seemingly Endless Time
Voracious Souls
Mistress Of Pain
Third Floor
Evil Priest
Stagnant
Bored
Kill As One

...and now the real embarassment of the day, Nuclear Assault. John Connely was absolutely out of his head and played the whole set with his guitar out of tune. Having said that, the bass and second guitar seemed to be tuned differently too and we were subjected to horrendous feedback. During Buttf**k, I think it was, Connely downed his guitar and lept into the crowd. On return he was staggering round and seemed to have a long heated conversation with Dan Lilker. Dan Lilker then announed they had three more songs, which happen to be three he sings. At the end someone next to me shouted "Disgraceful" and he wasn't wrong. Set list (though I may be slightly out as I could hardly tell!):

Rise From The Ashes
Brainwashed
F#
F# (Wake Up)
When Freedom Dies
Game Over
Buttf**k
My America
Hang The Pope
Lesbians

Finally to Testament. It wasn't the tightest performance I've seen by them by a long shot, though that's to be expected with a stand-in drummer, but it was fun. "You didn't think I'd be back?" roared Chuck which was met with a sea of hands and cheers. The sound wasn't great but it didn't seem to matter. There was a very celebratory atmosphere and smiles all round from band and crowd. Chuck said they'd be back in July/August and hopefully we'll get a full length set, but I wasn't complaining on leaving last night. Set list

DNR
Down For Life
Low
Burnt Offerings
Into The Pit
Trial By Fire
True Believer
Three Days In Darkness
Eyes Of Wrath
Over The Wall
Dog Faced Gods
Disciples Of The Watch

I was there from the start and I agree with every word of this review, spot on.

John Connely: Plain Drunk! Disgraceful. The second NA guitarist came to talk to some of us at the front after their set and he claimed Asthma as the cause of the frontman's problems. I was not convinced. My suspicion was confirmed later when i went to meet testament (Thank You Deadly Embrace!!!!!!) and he was passed out on the sofa in the dressing room, when Eric tried to pass him his flying V to get it out of harms way he did not even move - totally gone. Very sad and disappointing

I want to add one thing, which could be VERY contraversial, is that Steve Smyth did not impress me at all! Testament has always had the absolute finest lead guitarists, Skolnick and Murphy are two of the most talented players ever. I was therefore disappointed with what i saw of Smyth last night - Rhythm - sloppy and loose no signs of the tight palm muting that is a basic requirement of a metal guitarist, especially in Testament with Peterson's tight riffs. For example, the main famous riff of Burnt offerings was severely worsened by Smyth's lack of palm muting. As for solos, when you could hear them, bum notes were frequent and a lack of flair was apparent, ruining those great testament leads we all know and love. Now i don't know if he was having an off-ay but i was hugely disappointed by what i saw and i did not see that he was of the calibre that a band like Testament deserves. He is a very nice guy and was very friendly to me backstage and this is not a personal attack on him, i'm just expressing my disappointment. i felt the need to move to eric's side of the stage and watch him - i felt that Smyth seriously took away from the tightness of Testament's performance and i urge them to do something about it. Sorry to his fans.

 

[wroed]

Glad everyone seems to agree with me!

With Nuclear Assault, the asthma thing must be rubbish. Firtsly I'm not aware asthma prevents you from tuning guitars, you'd expect roadies to have tuned guitars but there was a major on-stage band tuning at the start, which obviously didn't work! Secondly, he was at odds long before he dived in the crowd and why would he dive in the crowd if he was ill. Doesn't add up to me.

By the way, new trick, to me anyway, save set lists as text messages on your mobile.

 

[Macabre_Transmigrant]

it wasn't that he was out of tune it was just that he wasn't playing the right notes because he was totally fucked off his face.

 

[wroed]

Spot on. I think there should be compensation to all who attended. Free copies of the new Nuclear Assault live album?? ...then again after hearing them last night, maybe not!

I'm glad I didn't buy one of their shirts before they played!

 

[Macabre_Transmigrant]

Yeah, it was just such a shock after seeing Death Angel completely rule the stage and play their socks off to see Nuclear Assault looking like an amateur bunch of aged rockers, so sad.

 

[wroed]

Couldn't agree more.

Death Angel did more than do justice to their past, they were better than when I saw them in 1990.

Can I just say the first band I ever saw live was Testament in November 1997 supporting Anthrax and I've seen both this year at same venue within a month ...have I become sad old rocker?

 

[wroed]

There's me with my typo's again, my first gig was actually 1987!

 

[Macabre_Transmigrant]

was that you backstage with all the booklets to be signed?

and no you're not a sad old rocker those bands are still putting out great music and sounding fresh, btw how is the new anthrax album?

 

[Macabre_Transmigrant]

btw what is your opinion of Smyth?

 

[wroed]

No I didn't go backstage. I'm not too fussed about having stuff signed to be honest, though it would have been nice to meet the band.

I think new Anthrax album is excellent. It's not really thrash, but it's heavy and is full of great songs. I'm seeing them again at Sweden Rock this summer.

To be honest the sound wasn't really good enough for me to notice what you were saying about Smyth. I thought the bass was way too loud in the mix for me and I play bass!

 

[Macabre_Transmigrant]

no it's just that there was this guy who's first gig was Testament in '87 backstage and i thought it was a bit of a coincidence. Smyth was inaudible for the most part but i was upfront watching and i could hear his amp on stage and see what his hands were doing and it wasn't right! That's why i moved to the other side to watch eric more.

 

[wroed]

I'm sure there was a lot of us lost our gig virginity on that tour, it was Anthrax's, Among The Living Tour.

Actually Nuclear Assault were at my second gig, which was the following month, December 1987. That was: Megadeth, Overkill, Nuclear Assault, Cro-Mags, Kreator, Laaz Rockit and Virus. Voivod were supposed to play too but customs wouldn't let them in on their visa. God I sound like a sad old rocker now!

 

[max]

"was that you backstage with all the booklets to be signed?"

could have been me. though there was another guy with a wad of booklets.
i was the skinny guy all in black and short black hair. was on the landing talking to eric. people kept borrowing my black marker pen...

 

[Dirt Junior]

GREAT REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[snickers]

i can not believe Nuclear Assault got a higher billing then Death Angel!
Nice review!

 

[Steve Smyth]

I was there from the start and I agree with every word of this review, spot on.

John Connely: Plain Drunk! Disgraceful. The second NA guitarist came to talk to some of us at the front after their set and he claimed Asthma as the cause of the frontman's problems. I was not convinced. My suspicion was confirmed later when i went to meet testament (Thank You Deadly Embrace!!!!!!) and he was passed out on the sofa in the dressing room, when Eric tried to pass him his flying V to get it out of harms way he did not even move - totally gone. Very sad and disappointing

I want to add one thing, which could be VERY contraversial, is that Steve Smyth did not impress me at all! Testament has always had the absolute finest lead guitarists, Skolnick and Murphy are two of the most talented players ever. I was therefore disappointed with what i saw of Smyth last night - Rhythm - sloppy and loose no signs of the tight palm muting that is a basic requirement of a metal guitarist, especially in Testament with Peterson's tight riffs. For example, the main famous riff of Burnt offerings was severely worsened by Smyth's lack of palm muting. As for solos, when you could hear them, bum notes were frequent and a lack of flair was apparent, ruining those great testament leads we all know and love. Now i don't know if he was having an off-ay but i was hugely disappointed by what i saw and i did not see that he was of the calibre that a band like Testament deserves. He is a very nice guy and was very friendly to me backstage and this is not a personal attack on him, i'm just expressing my disappointment. i felt the need to move to eric's side of the stage and watch him - i felt that Smyth seriously took away from the tightness of Testament's performance and i urge them to do something about it. Sorry to his fans.

Dear Macabre Transmigrant,
First off, if you were dissapointed with my performance last night, I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to you, and to any other fans dissapointed as well.
One distinct problem I have with your review, is the fact that you could have said this stuff to my face, instead of posting your opinion. I'm a man, and can take criticism, constructively or otherwise.But, that's what it is, an opinion_,and everyone is entitled to have one. This only leads me to think you have an alternate agenda about what you're attempting to achieve by posting the way you have.
I will explain now to everyone, what, in my opinion, happened. First of all, it was the first show of the tour, and granted, these don't always go the way we want them to, this one being no exception.
I will say that through various monitor problems the entire_ band had last night, the whole band was not as tight as we could have been. We discussed this both after the show last night, and throughout today as well. This lead to what I think you commented on my playing as sloppy. If the whole band can't hear each other, then you play the best you can based on what you're hearing. I gathered that you're a musician (guitar perhaps?), and if you have any experience playing live, and under similar conditions, then you might see it from a different perspective. I have to wholly disagree with you on the comment that I didn't palm mute. I don't really think you were listening or watching then, if that's what you thought. Dude, I always palm mute everything I need to in every Testament song we play, and last night was no exception, especially Burnt Offerings.
The solo comment I am not exactly following, and would love to see if you could divulge a little on exactly which songs, in your opinion, the lead playing was not up to par, because it sounds as if you're suggesting all of them_. I know that you could have heard my leads if you were directly in front of me, coming off the stage, or if you were on my side of the stage as I was playing one.Our mix is adjusted hard left for Eric, and hard right for me. Did you happen to see us when we played London 3 years ago? What is your opinion from then, were you there? Or was last night your first time seeing me with the band? Curious to know.
In closing, I would like to sincerely apologize to all the fans who left the show disappointed with my performance. Some days are good days_, and some are bad days_, and I left the stage feeling like all of you who were there, and who responded to me as much as I responded to you all, had a good time, and in the end, Macbre, I think that's what really does matter, don't you? And, more directly to the point, I would have loved to hear this directly from you, as I don't know which person you were who I met last night. I do know I met a lot of cool fans of Testament last night, and if you were one of them, you didn't need to fake your feelings with me.
Again my apologies to the fans, and I will work harder on delivering the best performance I possibly can for you all, and look forward to coming back to London, as soon as we get the word!

 

[Pascal79]

I totally agree with what your saying here Steve. I'm a drummer and when the sound ain't right or when you can't here your band members it becomes difficult to feed off of each other to get that tight vibe. I know that everybody is entitled to their own opinion but I totally disagree that Alex and James Murphy were a better fit with Testament than Steve Smyth. Myself, being a musician and having seen all of these 3 guitarists playing live with Testament, I can say that each one of these guys are extremely talented and unique in their own way. First off, Testament's lead and rhythm guitar is not as easy as you may think to play live. Let's not forget here that were talking about TESTAMENT and not Nirvana. Alex was amazing with Testament both in the studio and live but his flavor of music was just not Testament and it showed with The Ritual album. As for James Murphy, the guy is great but Chuck and Eric wouldn't have let him go if there wasn't another guy that could seriously take his position and that particular guy happens to be Steve Smyth who I believe is the best fit Testament has ever had as a guitarist. I've seen his performance on stage during The Riding The Snake tour in Montreal and let me tell you something, the guy shreds!! I think Steve has brought a new dimension to Testament both in the studio and especially on stage. James Murphy looked like he was frozen at times on stage and I'm sure there was many other issues why he no longer is in the band. I'm a Steve Smyth fan and I think he fits perfectly with Testament and Chuck and Eric know it. Besides, for those very few who have any doubts, we'll see what you have to say when you here his leads on the new Testament album.