As the Underworld was quickly filling up, Necroritual were first on and played their set to those who were already gathered by the stage. This band definitely looked the part, with the ever-present corpse paint and spikes, but for me their songs never really did anything to break out of this stereotypical mould, and a lot of their songs were rather average. From time to time there were some slower sections where some guitar ideas other than constant fast strumming were revealed, and they were more enjoyable, but overall their sound ultimately lacked variation and originality, even if they put on a reasonably tight performance.

The venue had filled out a bit, and it was getting increasingly hard to stand anywhere without being in the way, which has always been a problem with the Underworld, but the band stalls offered a chance to check out some t shirts and recordings. Of interest to some might be the alleged presence of Jon Nödtveidt of Dissection – I didn’t notice him myself but I am assured by some people that he was around somewhere! Nox were next on, who are a Dutch death metal band featuring members from Severe Torture and Centurian. This band clearly had the goods when it came to musical talent, and considering they only have one guitarist, the bass player and guitarist both did a lot to add depth to their songs. However, musical skill isn’t everything, and I thought the bulk of their set was quite bland and very by-the-book. Every song seemed to consist of samey blast beating drums with riffs that did not vary in speed a great deal, so that the better moments were forgotten amongst the rest of the songs. The main entertainment was watching the bassist and guitarist, who were clearly playing some complicated parts, but when it all added together it came to little more than quite an average death metal mixture.

Adorior were playing to their home city, and so the reception was unsurprisingly good from the crowd, who by this point had filled out to pack the Underworld quite full. The band certainly didn’t let the local support down, and delivered a simply crushing set of death and thrash metal fused together in a very effective way. Vocalist Melissa Hastings delivered a ferocious performance, while the drums kept the songs interesting with some excellent, tight playing. This band managed to capture a chaotic death metal approach while still maintaining a strong thrashy backbone to their songs which worked excellently live, and credit has to go largely to the quality of their riffs, which are the main thing that allow some bands to rise above so many others under the ‘death metal’ label. Adorior have a new album out called ‘Author of Incest’, and the title track was among their more crowd-pleasing songs. A thoroughly enjoyable performance, and I’m sure many people will be looking out for their next live appearance as a result.

There were plenty of Desaster patches and badges adorning jackets, and it was clear that a lot of people had turned out to see these German black thrash heroes. They soon took to the stage, and instantly won over the crowd with their infectious brand of old school thrash riffing mixed with a powerful blackened edge that works perfectly. This band have a great balance between the two approaches, and create a sound that I think is a really great angle on the traditional thrash sound, maintaining plenty of headbanging riffs and irresistible thrash drumming, but also bringing an evil twist with the malicious sounding vocals. Their sound was particularly impressive given that they only have one guitarist, but there were still occasional guitar solos and plenty of powerful riffs to make their set interesting right until the end. Desaster’s new album “Angelwhore” featured in their live set, with the title track receiving a good crowd response alongside other material like the closing song “Metalized Blood”, which got everyone singing along. For me this was the best performance of the night, simply due to the excellent thrash undercurrent delivered in an original form. Fantastic!

I say Desaster were my personal favourites, but this isn’t to take anything away from the headliners Nifelheim, who put on a slightly different but no less devastating show as they ripped through their fiercely old school black metal assault. Nifelheim must be one of the most spiked and studded bands you are going to see, and they seem determined to cling onto their (somewhat amusing) Halford-gone-evil image as much as their vintage sound, which juggles a strong Motörhead feel with a harsh and unrelenting portion of black metal. The screaming vocals in particular had a really tormented sound to them, helped by a lot of reverb, and the drums pummelled out some battering fast beats which added to the serrated sound of the guitar riffs. There were some great riffs throughout, and even if you’re not familiar with Nifelheim’s material beforehand, you can be easily won over by the raw but catchy songs that they deliver. I thought that their set got better towards the end, with a few stand out tracks like “Storm of Satan’s Fire” triumphantly sealing their right to headline. If there is one thing to be said about Nifelheim it is that they stick to their guns and do their chosen style very well, and you will not be let down if you are looking for raw, defiantly old school black metal. At the same time, it could be said that for this reason they lack variety - which I doubt anyone would disagree with – and to this extent a whole set can begin to feel a bit repetitious. However, much like the aforementioned Motörhead they do what they want without compromise, and they clearly had the crowd’s respect as a result. A very enjoyable end to an excellent night!