Rockfreaks.net

support Spirit Possession + Son Of Seth
author AP date 07/08/23 venue Stengade, Copenhagen, DEN

There is a tough choice to be made for Copenhagen’s metalheads tonight, as the progressive thrash metal icons of Voivod are celebrating their 40th anniversary at the other end of town as well. As for myself, the choice was made easier by the fact that I missed out on Spirit Possession’s headlining show in Copenhagen this past spring, while Voivod had already paid us a visit in November of 2022 as the opening act for Opeth. And since ticking off bands from my never-ending bucket list is one of my favourite pastimes, I head out into the night with Stengade as my destination, curious to discover the trifecta of extreme metal that the venue has in store for me tonight.

Son Of Seth

Having no prior knowledge of Son of Seth, I am surprised to discover that the band is not a band at all, but rather, a one-man project featuring Bastard Grave’s vocalist Tiago Dias. Armed with a laptop and an assortment of knobs and dials, Dias wastes no time in whipping up a cacophony of harsh, synthesised bass and drums and eerie ambiance, which he uses as the backdrop for what almost sounds like improvised lyrics vocalised through death metal growls that echo like distant screams from the abyss. His creations are as noisy as they are loud, invoking a horrific atmosphere that, in some parts, bears an uncanny resemblance to the infamous bloodbath scene in the movie “Blade”, and in others, evokes the sinister soundscapes of the “Doom” video game universe. It is abrasive, even overwhelming at times, which presents a formidable challenge for first-time listeners such as myself, given that there really is nothing by way of hooks to latch onto in the music. In truth, Son of Seth’s genre (whatever it may be) does not resonate with my sensibilities at all, and more often than not, I am left imagining what it must be like to watch Dias’ main band live instead. Indeed, his antics on stage are a sight to behold, wringing and writhing like a demon, darting from side to side with burning urgency, and mounting his monitors as if he were delivering a dark sermon. I have not seen Bastard Grave live as of yet, but certainly Dias’ prowess as a performer makes me wish I had. As for this Son of Seth project, I am left scratching my head, and as such, I do not qualified enough to attach a grade to his performance.

Spirit Possession

After half an hour of switchover time, the two musicians who comprise Spirit Possession appear on stage, both adorned with corpse paint on their faces and projecting intense glares into the audience. The duo’s music is deranged enough on record, but as the opening track is unleashed, it becomes clear that it sounds even more untamed in the live setting. Guitarist Steve Peacock utilises a heavy reverb effect on his microphone, rendering his potpourri of icy shrieks, deep growls, atavistic grunts and defiant yells in songs like “Orthodox Weapons” off the band’s latest album “Of the Sign…” into a chaos of fiendish vocalisations, like the screams of demons attempting to cross over into the human realm. His manifold vocals are the perfect counterpart for his jagged riffs, which often span across the entire fretboard of his instrument, and the relentless pummel of his compatriot Ashley Spungin’s drumming. Spirit Possession seems to be teetering on the very edge of sanity, not only in terms of their unconventional take on the black metal genre, but also their demeanour.

The onset of “Enter the Golden Sign” is marked by a primal scream from the pit of Peacock’s stomach, and once it gets underway, his every gesture, movement and utterance invokes the image of a madman tugging us down into the deepest abysses of his psyche. Spungin is no different, often looking like he might fall off his chair due to the sheer ferocity of his percussion. His punk-influenced rhythms, mixed with Peacock’s fingers dancing across the frets, ensure that the duo sounds like a full-fledged ensemble at all times, with songs like “Amongst Inverted Castles and Holy Laughter” from their 2020 self-titled début offering sounding as expansive as they do chaotic. At just 38 minutes, the show is quite short, yet it nonetheless seems to have sufficed to both exhilarate and bewilder the crowd in attendance. What sounds like the howl of a werewolf thus seems like a fitting conclusion to an excellent display of visceral, dissonant black metal that both harks back to the origins of the genre, and finds new directions for it.

Black Curse

When the lights are dimmed at 22:15, they’re hiding more musicians than were on stage during the evening’s first two acts combined. Amongst the quartet is a familiar face though, as Steve Peacock is filling in for bassist Morris Kolontyrsky tonight, lending his unhinged presence to this Denver, CO-formed blackened death metal unit. The three other musicians (vocalist and rhythm guitarist Eli Wendier, lead guitarist Jonathan Campos, and drummer Zach Coleman) are all wearing thick, rusty chains around their necks, an iron testament to the breakneck tempo of the opening track “Devouring Blight”, a brand new single that premiered in July. There is no preamble, no warning — just a sudden plunge into an auditory maelstrom in which the melodies of Campos and Wendier are unfortunately all but obscured by Coleman’s lightning drumming and the rumble of Peacock’s bass guitar. Luckily, the sound quality improves vastly for the following “Seared Eyes” from the band’s eponymous début offering from 2020, the intermittent mid tempo grooves of which invoke a synchronised headbanging ritual involving both the entire band and the frontmost rows of the audience. If there is one word one should choose to describe Black Curse’s demeanour on stage, it would be imposing; the four musicians play with confidence and authority, focusing on their execution more so than on any sort of wild stage antics.

Compared to Spirit Possession before, this Colorado group’s music remains within the conventional boundaries of their genre throughout the show, resembling the heavyweight likes of Incantation, save for a couple of unexpected twists and turns. One such standout moment occurs when the guttural growls of Wendier suddenly, seamlessly transform into maniacal laughter during the aforementioned second song, while another has to be the fourth track “Finality I Behold”. It plays like a progressively more sinister, nightmarish acid trip, causing the floor beneath the fervent crowd tremble and quake from the sheer weight of its rhythm and riffs. It finds a close relative in the set closer “Trodden Flesh”, another brand new single announced by an eerie, chiming bell, and concluding in a slow, lumbering instrumental segment. Clocking in at just over 40 minutes, Black Curse’s concert is somewhat short for a headlining act, though with only nine recorded tracks to their name thus far — all of which follow a very similar format — it feels like a perfectly sufficient amount of time in the company of this band. I am left feeling somewhat ambivalent, having been impressed by the prowess of their musicianship, yet also lamenting the tendency of their songs to melt together into a single, unbroken monolith that is difficult to penetrate.