BLACK FLAMES OF BLASPHEMY VI: All Must End
Black Flames Of Blasphemy is a myth and icon of the nihilistic and barbaric death/black metal in the catacomb of the underground. The festival has proved to be the most interesting event on the metal map already since 2009 with the most intensive and truest underground acts in line-up. The VI event has been advertised as “All Must End” meaning this will be the last Black Flames Of Blasphemy festival for the time being.
Thursday – Warm Up Day
RIDE FOR REVENGE
The three piece combo Ride For Revenge’s raw and even ritualistic sounding performance were brutal and even nihilistic. The rolling and crushing sounds were tremendous depressing. Describing the stuff of Ride For Revenge and their barbaric sounding set is definitely beyond the essential mandatory describing as it has to be experienced by yourself.
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OBSCURE BURIAL
Obscure Burial’s primitive death metal fitted to the warm-up day perfectly. Even though Ride For Revenge’s savage and brutal performance turned out to be cruel therefore Obscure Burial sounded a bit soft. But Obscure Burial’s savage outcome with the murderous riff was truly how the death metal should sound and the way how a band should look with the leather and spikes.
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DESTROYER 666
Destroyer 666 enjoys the true loyal and cult following. That could be testified as the venue was totally packed when the the destroyers hit the stage. The frontman KK Warslut whipped the audience by offering the true evil blacked thrashing influenced stuff for the banging maniacs. The set consisted of all the so called D666 classic ones and the Motorhead cover Iron Fist dedicated to the late Phil Animal Taylor and Slayer’s Black Magic as an unexpected bonus in the end. The four piece sounded awesome tight and definitely uncompromising raw for sure.
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Friday
BLACKWINGED
The official two-day festival started by a relatively unknown Russian black metal trio called Blackwinged. The trio’s black metal was a combination of the blackened thrash stuff ala AuraNoir/Inferno and the grimmest Norse black metal with some epic riffs. The guys gotta spend the time on developing the unique style for the forthcoming future.
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VAMPIRE
Judging by the name of the outfit it could have been expected to hear some darkened gothic influenced stuff or some eerie black metal. Instead the stuff was a hybrid mix of black meets thrash with some rocking parts. The skinny Swenssons’ blackened thrash sounded a bit odd choice amongst the other festival outfits. The way of the look of the outfit was more kind of denim and leather Obviously the singer may have found the whole event funny by clapping ala Ozzy Osbourne. Okei guys, focus on the brutality of deathrash and skip those Ozzy and rock manners.
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HELL MILITIA
If the Swedes offered the more blackened thrash whereas Hell Militia from France stood for the uncompromising raw death/black metal. As far as their gig is concerned well the Frenchmen truly sounded brutal and uncompromising brutal for sure. The band hammered the barbaric and nihilistic riffs with the tight grip thru the whole 45 set minute.
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XIBALBA
Xibalba enjoys one kind of cult status in the underground as already formed in the early of the 90’s. Even though the revamped Xibalba hit the stage, but following their playing and performance gave a bit of the skeptical feeling. The band sounded as if they were playing out of tune all the time. Even though Xibalba sounds sophiscated fine on outputs, for gigs the Mexican cult metallers should rehearse a bit more.
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MAYHEMIC TRUTH
Mayhemic Truth is basically Morrigan- what the biggest difference then ? Well it is hard to say cos Beliar (used ? to) front(s) both the bands, apart from a drummer seat can be a bit changeable or windy. Well Mayhemic Truth is a rarely witness outfit on the stage, therefore the audience had gathered to have suitable places to witness Beliar. The stuff is kind of the epic Bathory era with the obvious black metal references. The sounds of the guitar were enourmous massive for sure. The band did an one hour set with the Venom cover Countess Bathory.
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MIDNIGHT
The Motorheadish rock stuff at the black metal festival, well.. As for Midnight, the band is such an extra ordinary outfit as they share the stage with different sort of bands. Midnight’s reckless and relentless straightforward played the rocking hard stuff caused the ballistic reaction and respond amongst the audience. The three piece’s simple and catchy motorheadish rocking riff sounded raw and a perfect way to enjoy cold drinks and bang head off. Midnight is such an interesting act with three guys whose faces are covered with black hoods because of a hybrid of the blasting rock with the certain extreme metal elements tied up.
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BLASPHEMY
The long time Canadian black metal horde Blasphemy was the highly expressed band in the first edition of Black Flames Of Blasphemy back in 2009. Therefore no advance announcement about the final band of the event was ever published. However it was unsurprisingy Blasphemy which had the prilivege to conclude the Friday night. The five piece’s offered the brutal and savage and above all barbaric performance. Blasphemy doesn’t show the mercy of any kind and bow to the knee down to please the audience. Black Winds’ raw growling and ripping solos by Caller Of The Storm and Deathlord are trademarked elements of the grim and sadistic bizarre sonic assault of Blasphemy.
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Saturday
INFERNAL WAR
The Polish death/black squad’s latest opus AXION turned out to be one hell of blasting brutality. The five piece Polish squad hammered the intensive grip by offering the set of the deadly metal. The guys have rehearsed in order to sound as tight as hell and truly outstanding brutal, but knowing how to slow down a bit before putting the full death metal force on. Infernal War is an extreme fine death metal squad with the brutal and technical riffs without loosing the catchiness in songs. The band proved to be a real tight playing squad on the stage, giving a perfect lesson of how death metal is supposed to sound.
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IRKALLIAN ORACLE
Irkallian Oracle’s ritualistic show and performance with the cold dark and brutal sonic was the purest nilish at its best for sure. The whole gig and set was an utter worshipping of the darkness and the barbarism in the sounds of Irkallian Oracle. The whole occultical show was crowned by bells, incenses and all kinds of other occult related things. The sounds of Irkallian Oracle were dominating and crushing. The whole performance by Irkallian Oracle with the gloomy looking cloaks under the less lit stage looked and sounded more than obscure in a way. The band did an outstanding set to prove one of the highlights of the whole fest.
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FUNERAL WINDS
Funeral Winds from Holland presented the more traditional black metal approach. The singer entire covered in blood reminded slightly of the frontman of Impaled Nazarene and in general some similarities and mind association between two bands popped up while following their gig. However Funeral Winds’ blackish sounded quite pale after Irkallian Oracle’s sonic torment.
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GOAT SEMEN
Goat Semen hailing from Peru was one of those bands of the fest having travelled from the farest corner of the world for the fest. Goat Semen stands for the barbaric and brutal South American black metal force. The four piece is definitely heavily influenced by the old Sarcofago and of course the legendary Blasphemy. The blasphemous and chaotic songs with the sadistic insane growling were the obvious trademarks of the South American and in this case barbaric and brutal Peruvian black metal.
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VARATHRON
Varathron was one of the first bands presenting the first wave of the true Greek black metal over 25 years ago along with Rotting Christ, Necromantia. The band has undergone several line-up changes, but the mastermind and the leader of the outfit Stephen Necroabyssions has stayed the loyal to the ancient roots of the black metal. Varathron hit the stage by, especially the older songs still sounded and breathes the ancient Greek black metal identify and it can be recognized and worshipped.
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MYSTICUM
The Norwegian Mysticum had the utter privilege to conclude the last ever Black Flames Of Blasphemy festivals. The drums had been roadie away from the stage and had been replaced by a wide back screen. Several lighsystems had been placed on the stage to create the visual perspective for the show of Mysticum. The three piece unleashed the infernal maelstrom of the industrialized black metal. The visual aspects played the magnificent role creating the near epilepsy syndrome. Mysticum’s apocalyptic sonic assault was an extreme way of concluding the mighty Black Flames Of Blasphemy festival.
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The last ever Black Flames Of Blasphemy is now over and obviously will never ever happen again. The whole Black Flames Of Blasphemy festival has been a tremendous success one since the first event when Blasphemy started. The whole organization behind the Black Flames Of Blasphemy festival has done a lethal job by going into the catacomb of the real underground of death/black and delivered the most barbaric, sadistic, rawest and above all the legendary names to the audience up here in Finland. It is definitely sure those guys behind the festival will bring other cult bands.
