Nasum

support Black Breath + Mass Grave
author PP date 22/09/12 venue Pumpehuset, Copenhagen, DEN

Guest review written by Patrick Tvener

In 2004 Mieszko Talarczyk who was also the guitarist/singer of the legendary grindcore act Nasum, perished out to sea with many thousands of others during the Indian Ocean Tsunami. This disaster caused the remaining members of the band to hang their boots and call it quits. In 2012, with the help of their friend Keijo Niinimaa, vocalist of the Finnish grind titans Rotten Sound, it was possible for Nasum to embark on one final tour. A tour that will cover as much of the world as possible to celebrate 20 years since the inception of the band and to say one final goodbye to their fans. The show at Pumpehuset, Copenhagen, is part of the European leg of the Nasum Farewell Tour and in Copenhagen has supporting acts from Mass Grave and Black Breath.

Mass Grave

Vancouver’s own Mass Grave took to the stage shortly after 21:00. For the next 30 minutes they delivered their concoction of crust, grind and hardcore as the small mosh suggested a brutal evening in the offing. Their latest release is their self-titled album from 2011, which contains a number of solid and timeless tracks. Some influences that come to mind are Napalm Death, Extreme Noise Terror and Dropdead only to name a few. So, if these aforementioned bands are right up your alley, go check his release out!

I need to be honest though, I can’t say I’ve listened to a lot of this band in the past, never seen them live either but there was something about their performance tonight. You could quickly tell that the band have been around for some years, more than ten according to the guy selling the merch. They do have a noticeable influence and liking to the 1980’s 1990’s feel within this circle of music and like all great grind, it just assaults you from start to finish. Based on their opening performance tonight I recommend that you keep an eye out for Mass Grave and go see them next time they visit your local club!

7

Black Breath

Black Breath have visited Copenhagen at least three times now and by the handful of people tonight who were eagerly trying to sing along to the choruses and backing vocals of their songs, it’s clear that the Seattle-based d-beat/death/thrash infused hardcore band have been able to impress the local crowd during every visit.

These guys are simply excellent crafters of sick riffs where they don’t intend to complicate things for the listener - Black Breath just want to bring the party! Unfortunately, it was this “bringing the party” attitude that was missing tonight. That said, the musical performance was a demonstration of technical prowess as well as what the older and ’simple’ formula of metal should sound like, and with every release they show that it’s still relevant and sought for in 2012.

Black Breath ran through their set with barely a break (set was done in 38 minutes!), but the connection and the energy/aura that they had when I saw them last was simply not present tonight, thus sadly affecting my overall experience. In addition, the disregard of “Razor to Oblivion” and “I Am Beyond” to their set tonight really beats me! Black Breath have some high-grade head banging anthems in their catalogue, and their newest album “Sentenced to Life” is a great release where they have given themselves room to… get faster! The sound and style is still very similar from the previous and well received album “Heavy Breathing”, Kurt Ballou’s (Converge, Trap Them, Disfear) production on these records yet again deserves mention, brilliant.

6

Setlist:

  • 1. Endless Corpse
  • 2. Mother Abyss
  • 3. Feast of the Damned
  • 4. The Flame
  • 5. Escape from Death
  • 6. Home of the Grave.
  • 7. Black Sin
  • 8. Of Flesh
  • 9. Doomed
  • 10. Escape from Death
  • 11. Wewhocannotbenamed

Nasum

Nasum are completing their world Farewell Tour with a number of shows in Europe. The very last is on October 6th in Stockholm, Sweden. For our local readers in Copenhagen it was actually possible for you to see Nasum during the summer as they played at Roskilde Festival. The time before that they visited Copenhagen during the winter of 2004, at the old confines of Stengade 30, where they toured in support of their “Shift” album with Regurgitate as far as I remember; a show I wish I had actually gone to, for obvious reasons.

Tonight at Pumpehuset, as the opening war sirens (notorious to Nasum) were played through the house PA system, the band took to the stage, some walking casually through the crowd, who were applauding and giving high fives and smacking/tapping the band members on the back. There was a short sign from Keijo and the sirens faded out into the beginning of “Mass Hypnosis” from the “Human 2.0” album. From then on it was 35 minutes of some of the old and some of the newer, some of the faster and some of the heavier Nasum offerings and it was all executed on the dot. The crowd went berserk as “Shadows” was followed by “Corrosion”. The band on stage were enjoying every moment as they were switching places regularly, taking turns with the backing vocal duties, and really swinging their instruments and bodies around like this is it… Let’s celebrate, this is our final tour! Towards the end of the show Keijo was tipping back the rest of his bottle of chardonnay on stage and although he can’t replace Mieszko, I find he did an astounding job tonight and for that matter they all did.

Tonight was not a cheesy reunion show, nor was it one in support of an album, but rather a celebration of a band in the best fashion in front of their fans and those that wanted to experience the last show in Denmark of the most legendary Swedish grindcore band, arguably ever. Oh, and if you want to go see Nasum blast shit to bits, this tour is your last chance!

8

Photos by: Rasmus Ejlersen

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