MODU Club, Athens, Greece 10.12.2016
A cold and blackened wind blew all the way from Finland that Saturday night. Winter in Greece you say? I say the coming of the Finnish death/black trio Archgoat for a hell-raising ritual in Athens, Greece. An event that was one of the big bets for extreme metal events of December (along with Sadistic Intent and Possessed), taking into account all the shows that took place this year.
At around 20:40, IMPURE WORSHIP hit the stage, crushing everything in their path with their brand of black/death metal, blending the classic Norwegian school with vocals and riffage straightly influenced by early Deicide and Incantation. I couldn’t imagine of a better opening act for Archgoat than them to be perfectly honest. Props to them for covering a song by the underground punk/hardcore heroes Antidrasi, showing their open mind in terms of cover selections! Also props for the Convulse and Beherit t-shirts.
DODSFERD hit the stage soon after the warm up of Impure Worship, and I was truly surprised by how energetic they seemed to be! Quality black metal with its own character, loyal to both the Norwegian and the Hellenic black metal tradition. I always thought Dodsferd were a more depressive black metal outfit, so I expected a more slowed down version, more atmospheric. I was wrong, they surprised us and the crowd who knew them, destroyed their necks to their great stuff. Very distinct character from the rest of the scene, and props to them for doing so.
But that was just the preparation for the main course that was ARCHGOAT. They kicked in with “Invocation” off “Whore Of Bethlehem”, andor the next 60-70 minutes, they showed the jam packed MODU club, how to deliver brutal and relentless death/black metal, the Finnish way. Along with the coolest bass player on earth (probably, smoking while singing is a completely different level of badass!). And another thing that I noticed while the band played on: many people say that it takes no technique to play this kind of relentless death/black metal. Guess what: they’re all wrong! They’ve got some pretty intricate parts, that definitely require good musicians to play them.
We heard songs off “Heavenly Vulva (Christ’s Last Rites)” (“Blessed Vulva”, “Day of Clouds”, “Goddess of the Abyss of Graves”), “Whore of Bethlehem” (“Hammer of Satan”, “Invocation”, “Lord of the Void”), “The Apocalyptic Triumphator” (“Nuns, Cunts And Darkness”, “Grand Luciferian Theophany”, “The Apocalyptic Triumphator”), “The Light-Devouring Darkness” (“Apotheosis of Lucifer”, “Goat and the Moon”), “Angelcunt (Tales of Desecration)” (“Rise of the Black Moon”) and the “Penis Perversor” demo (“Penis Perversor”). 70 minutes of mayhem, and no more was needed, that’s it. End of story, Archgoat slayed the stage and left our necks wanting more!
Our props go out to 3 Shades Of Black for the exceptional organization and the great package that paid very well off in the end, taking into account how packed the venue was. Here’s to more events like that in the future! Cheers!
Photos by: Elena Vasilaki