I love autumn, especially when it follows a particularly hot summer: the air is once again fresh (as much as this is possible in London!), friends are back from holiday and, most importantly, it’s possible to attend an intimate Death Metal show at the London Garage and live to tell the tale (see rants about this stifling venue in previous reviews!).

Even though the headliners and main focal point of this show were the well-established and highly-acclaimed US Tech-Deathsters Nile, I was also really looking forward to see how well Ex Deo, the Roman-themed Death Metal outfit fronted by Maurizio Iacono of Kataklysm fame, would manage to recreate their finely orchestrated melodic Death Metal in a live environment.

Having conducted a very interesting interview with Maurizio (soon to be featured on our pages), I made my way inside the venue in time to catch the last three songs of the second opening act of the night, Svartcrown – a Black/Death metal quartet which hail from the beautiful city of Nice in the south east of France.

Even though, based on the reaction of the crowd, these French noisemakers managed to make quite a few friends on the night, I found them to be fairly predictable and lacking both flair and finesse. Following a quick trip to the crowded bar, I found a comfortable spot from which to watch the show and stood in anticipation for Ex Deo’s entrance.

The Garage is not, by any standards, a particularly big venue, so its stage looked particularly cramped after Ex Deo’s road crew had placed a couple of Roman-themed standards at each corner. Still, neither Maurizio nor his leather clad colleagues seemed to be especially bothered by this when they first hit the stage around eight thirty. The one thing that could potentially undermine the band’s performance would be poor sound quality, as samples are an integral part of an Ex Deo live show.

Luckily, though far from being perfect, the sound was decent enough to provide compositions such as the opener “Legio XIII” and the rhythmically impressive “The Tiberius Cliff (Exile To Capri)” with appropriate levels of depth and energy. Well rehearsed and cleverly choreographed, the Quebec natives soon managed to get quite a few Nile loyalists to support their cause and pompous mid tempo belters like “I, Caligvla” and “Teutoburg (Ambush Of Varus)” were received in good spirit by the crowd.

The band’s short but fairly enjoyable set was concluded with the impressive “Romulus” and the huge smile that formed on Maurizio’s face as he was leaving the stage was evidence of the night’s set being a job well done.

Nile’s ability to perform high octane technical Death Metal in a live environment has been evident from the very early stages in their career but it is ever since drummer-extraordinaire George Kollias joined their ranks back in 2004 that they have become a truly formidable live force.

Kicking off with “Sacrifice Unto Sebek”, the band warmed up in no time and by the time “Defiling The Gates Of Ishtar” was performed, the full venue was completely in tune with the goings-on on the miniature stage. Karl Sanders seemed in a particularly good mood earlier on, visiting the metal barriers that separate the stage from the pit to take pictures with his loyal fans, and that mood soon manifested itself in clever vocal exchanges with Dallas Toler-Wade in “Kafir” and massive groovy riffage in the follow-up “Hittite Dung Incantation”.

This show was part of the tour to promote last year’s “At the Gate of Sethu”- an album that was finely represented by the triumvirate “Enduring the Eternal Molestation of Flame”/ “The Inevitable Degradation of Flesh”/ “Supreme Humanism of Megalomania”.

As for the band’s oldest fans: well, they, I am sure, were particularly pleased by the band’s decision to include in their set songs like “Smashing The Antiu” or the truly bombastic “Black Seeds Of Vengeance” following which, sweat-drenched but content, they took their last bows and headed towards the venue’s backstage area.

My overall impression of the show? There seems to be much commercial sense in organising a tour with Nile and Ex Deo. Though different in vibe and technical appeal, these bands have in common passionate and all-engaging stage performances and fine attention to detail.

My only main objection, as always, is with the choice of venue as I feel that bands with strong visual appeal such as these need a much bigger stage – the kind that can accommodate the props and image representations that we know these bands use when they visit venues all around the old continent.

That aside, the 10^th of September was another fine day for Londoners with a soft spot for good quality Death Metal.

Review and photos by Yiannis (John) Stefanis

Ex Deo Set List:

“Legio XIII”
“The Tiberius Cliff (Exile To Capri)”
“The Final War (Battle Of Actium)”
“I, Caligvla”
“Pollice Verso (Damnatio Al Bestia)”
“Teutoburg (Ambush Of Varus)”
“Romulus”

Nile Set List:

“Sacrifice Unto Sebek”
“Defiling The Gates Of Ishtar”
“Kafir”
“Hittite Dung Incantation”
“Enduring the Eternal Molestation of Flame”
“The Inevitable Degradation of Flesh”
“Supreme Humanism of Megalomania”
“The Blessed Dead”
“The Howling Of The Jinn”
“Ithyphallic”
“Sarcophagus”
“Smashing The Antiu”
“Unas Slayer Of The Gods”
“Black Seeds Of Vengeance”

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)