Review and Photography : Stephen Brophy for MPM
Tonight we have a four band bill, opened by Ater and followed by heavy hitters HATE and Krisiun leading up to the headliner, a really impressive lineup for any night of metal mayhem. The venue is LostLane and it’s my first visit to the venue, not often I get to say that these days.
Ater don’t waste much time at all, with the doors opening slightly late they are already on the stage when the venue opens. This three piece hail from Chile and even with the very early evening start time there is a decent sized crowd in the venue to catch their set.
“The Fall” from last years Somber release is the stand out song for me tonight. Sadly the guys have to cut short their set slightly due to time constraints, but a very good introduction to the band for me and a number of others around me. There’s a doomy feel to their music which works really well.
Up next, one of my personal favourite Polish bands, HATE, who waste no time in smashing into a great set of their brand of Blackened Death Metal, the band have been around for over 30 years and remain as powerful and relevant today as they were in the early 90’s. Today with a short set we are lucky to hear a couple of songs off the very soon to be released Bellum Regiis, and “Iphigenia“ is a cracker, really looking forward to grabbing the album.
Adam’s vocals are just as ferocious as they have always been and the band are on fire, they just pummel you into submission, and the crowd are really getting into things now. The twin guitar shred attack doesn’t fail to chop through you either. A band that has always continued to expand their sound but never left behind the essentials of the music, as always tonight’s set is tight, powerful and just not long enough, would be great to see HATE back for a headline show sometime.Until then check out the new album and get out and see them live if you can.
Brail’s mighty Krisiun are next up and the place is absolutely jammed as they fly through a powerhouse of a set, it’s really crushing stuff, the band are always brilliant to see live, and never fail to show their appreciation for the crowd that bangs their heads, starts a pit or are just simply their for a live show. For a three piece they certainly know how push a huge sound, as always the drums are ridiculously good, guitars a blur and the bass/vocals of Alex are absolutely spot on as ever.
The guys apologise for the odd mistake, but there is never a need, it’s live music after all, and nothing is to the detriment of the music on show. Pounding drums and screaming guitars are the order of the day with Krisiun, and they work so well in sync with the lower growling vocals. In a small venue a mosh pit gets going pretty quickly and comes and goes throughout the set. It’s not only they they are an awesome band, but also maintain a brilliant connection with the audience, especially here in Ireland. The setlist is packed full of bangers and “Scourge Of The Enthroned”, “Serpent Messiah” and the set closer “Blood Of Lions” are never going to miss the mark. Please return again soon..
Onto the headliner, and after a few technical issues with amps and a pedal board Venom Inc take to the stage, with Tony Dolan (Vocals/Bass), Curran Murphy (Guitar) and Marc Jackson (Drums), carrying on the spirit and music of Venom while also performing music from their own albums works really well. The band are really tight and really seem to be enjoying what they do on stage, which is always a massive bonus for fan.
The set kicks off with some songs off the Venom Inc albums, which stand up pretty well live. Although the venue wasn’t quite as full as it had been for Krisiun it was still a full house, and you could tell that they were eagerly awaiting this set.
Getting a chance to hear those classic Venom songs is awesome, the sound is right, and with the guys in this band you are certain of quality. Looks like they have a setlist of around 20 songs which they work through whatever way they can in order to fit the set time.
Will list the full setlist below, but I’m not 100% certain which songs got taken out. Tony doesn’t spend all of the set chatting with the crowd, but when he does people listen. Like many others I don’t think I appreciated Venom enough as a band when I was younger, but as you listen to the songs you can here where the influence has been on many other bands since.
The set fly’s along but there was always only one way this set was going to finish the brilliant
“Countess Bathory” and followed by a rousing, roof lifting version of ‘Black Metal’. The venue is absolutely rocking at this stage, and a sea of arms in the air and singing the lyrics back to the band. The only problem is that it’s the last song of the show, short but never sweet, long may the guys continue to play these classics.
What a great way to spend a Saturday night, and as the phrase goes there’s plenty of life in this old horse yet, it was awesome to see Tony and the guys on a Dublin stage and they really seemed to be having a brilliant time, the reaction of the crowd had to play a big part in this. Venom Inc do their job like the pro’s they are, overcoming a couple of technical issues before they came onto the stage and powering through a set of both classics and newer tracks. Fingers crossed we get to see them back again soon on a slightly larger stage.
