Incineration Fest 2015
9th of May 2015
Camden Town, London, UK
In spite of a little delay with the wristband exchange which annoyed some people in the queue, we were absolutely ready for a big dose of extreme metal which certainly ruled Camden Town that day and night. The festival was split across 4 venues featuring 30 bands from different background of extreme tunes. I concentrated on the Electric Ballroom stage, really enjoying the venue which surprisingly does not hold many more metal concerts. I have never been there before but I must say it is a quality place – nice sound and space made it rather pleasant to watch the bands there.
see below for pictures…
Aura Noir
What a great beginning of the festival! Featuring a group of well recognized Norwegian musicians, Aura Noir killed me with their dirty black thrash with no mercy at all. Hell’s Fire and Black Metal Jaw were the highlights for me, however I was really waiting to hear Condor as well. Great Aggressor’s vocals were definitely the strong point of the show as well.
Otargos & Prostitute Disfigurement
This was actually my only visit to the Underworld that day. I am not a fan of either of these bands and this didn’t change after the concert. I listened to a little bit of Otargos and I got bored to death. I paid, however, more attention to the Dutch death metallers. Also, this band did not make me stay there more than 3-4 songs. I appreciated Prositute Disfigurement much more than Otargos, but the brutal death metal chaos made me unable to find any interesting riffs. Sorry.
Melechesh
I came back to Electric Ballroom and prepared for a triathlon of the bands which I wanted to see the most at the festival. Melechesh surprised me quite a lot with their attitude and charisma. After the quite enigmatic entrance with Tempest Temper Enlil Enraged, I knew what to expect. Melechesh is certainly an interesting band musically and lyrically and that unusual atmosphere was noticeable during their show. The Hebrew overtones gave it all originality and the set consisted of a good balance of pure blasts and harmonic melodies. All the songs from the new album – Enki, sounded electrifying, although I was really hoping to hear my favourite The Pendulum Speaks.
Shining
Oh yes! Shining! I was waiting for a long time to see Shining again, and now finally was able to see them in London. Pure perfection as always. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the show, apart from the fact that it was too short. Very professional and competent approach of the band made their show really stand out. Niklas’ vocals just proved that he is one of the best vocalists for me – very strong and versatile voice makes it really difficult to complain about anything. From their new album they served, as suspected, Vilja & Dröm which seemed to be much more interesting live than on the album. Also, what is most exciting, I got to hear Låt oss ta allt från varandra from my top album, Halmstad. This really has put me into a different state of mind. Shining finished their short show with the extremely emotional For the God Below which finally enabled me to sing and lose my voice. The closing solo was impeccable and it seriously was the best ending of the show, any band can ever imagine.
God Seed
I will put that straight. This was one of the best concerts I have experienced this year. What is more, I totally expected that. Seeing Shining and God Seed one after another made me understand that I was actually seeing my two favourite vocalists on one night. This has caused myself to be spiritually absent at the concert, completely absorbing everything I was getting from the stage and not having any contact with the outside world whatsoever. That may sound like an exaggeration but this is what kind of feelings Gorgoroth always release in myself. Because it was the Gorgoroth songs that carry this unbelievable atmosphere incomparable with anything else. Carving a Giant has left me lost for words. Also, the God Seed songs which I disliked on the album, made me actually fall in love with them. The show seemed to be very long which certainly made me and my inner spirit happy. And this was in spite of some technical problems at first. Gaahl’s vocals and emotionless persona on stage is like nothing else on this planet. Pure evil! His voice was immaculate until the last second of the show which highlighted the amazing talent that he holds.
Alcest
Seeing Alcest instead of Unleashed playing in the Underworld at the same time was a tactical move. I like both bands, however, after such a long and exciting day, I felt more like watching something in the Alcest spirit. Their performance as a co-headliner was controversial and did not really go too well with the festival spirit. But who cares… They didn’t surprise me with anything, very good show with the emphasis on melodic and melancholic passages. Alcest is a good live band, however, after several songs they really made me feel sleepy and totally relaxed after such a day. This is what I expected so there is nothing criticize them on. I wish they presented more songs like Percées de Lumière as Neige’s harsh vocals sounded much better than his clean and depressive voice. All in all, the great ending for the festival!
Incineration Fest was a huge success and I think this has made the organisers want to grow it next year. It would be very nice to have the bands spread over two days. However, the great effort was noticeable and all the trying currently makes this festival the best event in London for the metalheads.
THE GOAT TAVERN 