Destroyer666, Slaughter Priest, Skull Koraptor // Kyttaro Club, Athens, Greece // 07.09.2016
Friday night is alright for thrashing out to the Australian blackthrashers DESTROYER666. After their crushing new album “Wildfire” it was only a matter of time for them to visit our country once more. On the Athenian show, supporting acts were SKULL KORAPTOR and SLAUGHTER PRIEST.
SKULL KORAPTOR were the first ones to hit the stage, on probably their first gig with a different bassist, who tried to deliver and was decent, yet seemed as if he was brought in the band at the last minute to save the day, since one could tell he was not up to par with the rest of the band in terms of energy and overall performance. The band played 3 out of 4 songs off their only release “Dead Ahead” as well as songs off their upcoming (yet untitled) full-length album. They were definitely really good, but I think it’ll take some time for the new guy to blend in with the rest and have that fire and intensity that the band had developed during the previous gigs.
Up next, the guys from SLAUGHTER PRIEST, one of the oldest and most crushing black/thrash bands of the scene. A power trio that if you haven’t witnessed live to this day, you should do yourself a favor the next chance you’ll get. We heard songs off their upcoming album like “Menace” and “Hyperspeed Headbanging”, as well as old material of theirs: “Hellthrashing Demon”, “Beat The Disco Poser”, “Speed Metal Attack”, “Eternal Goat Reign”, “Bloodthirsty Pentagram Bitch”, “Christian Toxik Death”. They fired up our necks for good (but not the mosh pit which was non-existent before the headlining act came on stage) and now we can only wait for their new album “Iron Chains And Metal Blades” to wreck them completely.
Something that for that evening was DESTROYER666‘s job. With an attitude that brought days of 80s Slayer to mind, ready to destroy everything that stood in the way. And that’s what they did with “Rise Of The Predator” off “Phoenix Rising” and “Traitor” off “Wildfire” and all hell broke loose. We heard songs from “Unchain The Wolves” (“Australian and Anti-Christ” which was the encore), “Phoenix Rising” (“I Am the Wargod (Ode to the Battle Slain)”, “Lone Wolf Winter”), “Cold Steel…For An Iron Age” (“Black City – Black Fire”, “Sons of Perdition”, “The Calling”), the “Satanic Speed Metal” single “Wildfire” (“Live And Burn”, “Hounds At Ya Back”, “Wildfire”) and “Terror Abraxas” (“To Breed Apart”, “Trialed By Fire”) as well as two covers of timeless metal classics in memory of the fallen heroes Jeff Hanneman and Lemmy Kilmister (Slayer’s “Black Magic”, Motorhead’s “Iron Fist). A well-organized event that ended up with a packed Kyttaro smiling till they got home, going on late enough for people to catch the last train home. So until next time, cheers you Aussie lunatics!