Nile, Melechesh, Embryo
7th of April 2016
Bristol Bierkeller, Bristol, UK
Text and photos by Dawid Krosnia
FULL PHOTO GALLERY BELOW
It’s been eight months since Nile visited the UK shores on their first leg of tour promoting the new release, What Should Not Be Unearthed. In September they played and crashed to pieces everyone in the Marble Factory, this time the concert was held in the legendary Bristol Bierkeller. Since the tour announcement I was under no illusion that the gig would be something to remember for a long time, because of the top quality sound in this venue.
The second leg of the tour was organised by Massive Music. Both, Nile and Melechesh have long-term relationships with this agency. The Polish promoting titans have years of experience in finalising one of the best tour packages every year across Europe and USA. They are hard-working and fully dedicated metalheads who know how to put on an amazing show.
Upon arrival to the venue, I was surprised that the queue was pretty short, no more than fifty hungry for some metal action people. I was expecting a lot more people waiting outside. Seeing Nile at least ten times before, I’m used to seeing the great deal of fans attending their shows, but the hour was early enough so it was time for some local ciders to get me into the good spirit. I knew, I shouldn’t have worried too much about the attendance as the turnout was quite decent for the middle week show.
With only three bands on the bill, the Italian Embryo was first to hit the stage. This band was unfamiliar to me so I didn’t know what to expect. Embryo played a decent set of melodic death metal with hints of metalcore influences. There were a lot of dynamic changes throughout the whole performance. They were promoting their third album, simply entitled Embryo. I’ve learned that the Fleshgod Apocalypse drummer, Francesco Paoli made a guest appearance to record the drums on the band’s latest musical effort. It was fantastic start to the evening and the crowd was getting bigger. The set was short but the tension in the room was building up for the next band of that evening, Melechesh.
I’ve seen Melechesh live a few times before but only last year at Blastfest in Norway they blew me away. It was the highlight of the whole festival. Once again, they did that to me at Brutal Assault in Czech Republic a few months later. Melechesh latest album Enki, is one of the best albums that ever emerged from the Nuclear Blast catalogue. I was waiting to see them again with anticipation. Finally the waiting was over, the band hit the stage with The Pendulum Speaks from the new record. The mood in the room instantly changed. The crowd came to life. The next up was the opening track from the Enki album, Tempest Temper Enlil Enraged, fast and furious filled with ‘ancient‘ melodies song that gave me goosebumbs all over my body. Melechesh decided to take us back a decade and introduced the next offering, Ladders to Sumeria from the highly-acclaimed forth record Emissaries, followed by Grand Gathas of Baal Sin and Deluge of Delusional Dreams. Superb start to their set, you can sense that the band is doing this for years and they don’t take any prisoners. The evilness and power in Multiple Truths leaves me speechless each time I listen to it. When presented live, it’s not easy to just stand and watch, you have to bang your head from start to finish. Not many bands can create such positive vibrations during live performance like they can. The production and sound was flawless. I wish that was Melechesh was headlining show so we could have had a few more songs on the setlist.
Finally it was the moment which everyone was waiting for. With Nile’s eight fantastic albums, you know that you are up for a treat. Nile is one of the busiest touring death metal acts. They don’t seem to ever stop. Their commitment, precision and highly skilled musicianship are visible and clear in their every record. With every new album they take one step further and bring the brutality of their music to the new level. Ushabti Reanimator was the first song on the setlist. The band was still in the promoting circle of the What Should Not Be Unearthed record, so we could have expected lot of new songs that evening. Nile played five tracks from the latest album, the aforementioned opening song as well as Call to Destruction, In the Name of Amun, the title song and Evil to Cast Out Evil. We could witness a few cult songs like Sacrifice unto Sebek, magical Kafir and Black Seeds of Vengeance. These three are like a ‘holy trinity‘ of Nile’s performance. Without them, a lot of people would be left unhappy. I would be crying for sure. Once again, the sound and production was crisp and clear. The brutality of Nile’s music is always overwhelming. If you ever see them playing in your town, it doesn’t matter if you like their music or not, just go and experience the whole performance. You won’t be disappointed.
Just to sum up, it’s great that Massive Music continuously, year after year, bring that kind of tour packages to the UK. It was a fantastic evening, filled with top class metal and cider. The show definitely went down as one of the best live experiences for me. Massive Music are back very soon to the UK with another exciting tour, Marduk and Immolation, so don’t miss out!
Melechesh setlist:
The Pendulum Speaks
Tempest Temper Enlil Enraged
Ladders to Sumeria
Grand Gathas of Baal Sin
Deluge of Delusional Dreams
Multiple Truths
Triangular Tattvic Fire
Rebirth of the Nemesis
Nile setlist:
Ushabti Reanimator
Sacrifice unto Sebek
Defiling the Gates of Ishtar
Kafir
Hittite Dung Incantation
Call to Destruction
In the Name of Amun
Ithyphalic
The Howling of the Jinn
What Should Not Be Unearthed
The Inevitable Degradation of Flesh
Evil to Cast Out Evil
Sarcophagus
Lashed to the Slave Stick
Black Seeds of Vengeance
THE GOAT TAVERN 