GODS OF UDERWORLD EUROPA TOUR

MMXV

 

The end of 2015 was suffu sed with live shows, that’s for sure. Especially in December last year, there were plenty of gigs to choose from: PUNGENT STENCH in Wroclaw on December 5, PENTAGRAM CHILE in Katowice, just a day after P. STENCH, and on December 7, HOBBS ANGEL OF DEATH in Bielsko-Biała, the one I want to tell you all about. After we got to Bielsko, I met with my friend and we both went to the venue (Rudeboy Club). It was kind of hard to get there as the club itself is, so to speak, "off the beaten path". I had been there previously (at some gig organized by Hard Rocker), but it in fact was ages before. The club itself looked pretty much the same, and the atmosphere was really nice. Whilst waiting for the club to open and Before the gig started, I met a lot of my friends from Silesia who were talking about PENTAGRAM CHILE`s live performance from a day before.

 

 

The first two bands to show up were two Polish supporting bands. BESTIALITY opened the concert. A nice band indeed, they played some sulphur stinking blend of hellish black/death which sounded like a mix of RAGEHAMMER and IMPALED NAZARENE/ BATHORY /DESASTER. Yeah, this ass-kicking band get the audience going. Next was THUNDERWAR…not too good I am afraid. Didn’t like `em at all. Their performance was weak and inconsistent. Even NUNSLAUGHTER`s cover track didn’t impress at all, though it was BESTIALITY`s vocalist who participated in it. During these bands` performances, there showed up more and more people.

 

I thought there’d be even more fans coming, as I still remembered the HOBBS show from Cracow. Anyhow, the atmosphere was getting visibly denser and the audience becamewilder. INTERMENT, which entered the stage after the Polish bands, was a much better band to be frank. Impressive pitch-black sound so characteristic for the Swedish death metal, yeah that’s what this band is all about. The band has been active for the last 25 years, but they`ve never been as successful as ENTOMBED, DISMEMBER or GRAVE. Still, their music is glorified by a bunch of their worshippers. After a dark introduction, Death and Decayedwas played which a track from their secondalbum titled Scent of the Buried. This band, right from the beginning, got people before the stage into real madness.

The solid and massive sound of this band crushed the audience into the ground, that’s for fucking sure. There was plenty of head banging before the stage and even the band themselves head banged real intensely. Eternal Darkness which is a track from their debut album Into the Crypts of Blasphemy unleashed a real storm before the scene and this fact just got the Swedes into playing more and more expressively. Infesting Flesh was another part of this mass extermination. Some other tracks were Amazing Dawn of Blasphemyfrom Torn of the Grave and a brand new Scent of the Buried. These sounds did manage to control the sea of head banging maniacs. WhenFaces of Death Sounded, all the bullshit was over. This track, known from the FUNEBRARUM split from 2007, when played live, turned people into beasts. Thiscutmeans untamed aggression and total fucking destruction. Another classic Morbid Deathcomes from Where Death Will Increase. And it does sound much better than it does on demo 1991. The Swedes finished their performance with Nailed to the Grave.

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Actually, HOBBS didn’t even start their show yet, but I felt like I was put into a meat grinder. I didn’t see INTERMENT previously and got to tell you guys this band killed me. Had to take a breather and went to the bar to get some beer-calories, so to speak. Indeed, some other guys had already switched to much more powerful stuff which destroyed them pretty fast, yeah. I was really excited as Peter had announced he`d play the whole brand new album on that gig. Great, as HOBBS` new album hasn’t been released yet

Vade Retro Satanas opened the show and was just crazy. The band themselves, with a refreshed line-up looked real rad. Peter, being obviously in a great shape, was doing very well. Lucifer`s domain from the debut album told us very clearly what kind of band we were to deal with. Peter`s vocal fucking annihilates, that’s for sure. This guy`s throat is just amazing. A brand new track Son Of Godsounded very classic and made me ecstatic. I didn’t even have time for a breather when the band hit us again with a metal hammer in our occipital bones. What they did was to play Inheritance Depopulation from band`s second album.

 

 

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The live version of this track was surely impressive. Satans Crusadeis another classic song and this track showed clearly the devastation didn’t end. No time to take a deeper breath. The moshing audience before the stage was like a beast devouring more and more human beings. Peter skilfully mixed old and new tracks with each other. Another new track Dawn and Quarteris, when performed lived, simply stunning

 

 

The new album of HOBBS kills totally and I wish it was released in the vinyl format. I just can’t get it why no label wants to release this stuff! Wake up people! All right? Three other classics played that night were Jack the Ripper, House of Death and Crucifixion. These (debut album) tracks still sound young and fresh. Abominationswas presented during some shows in 2013 and it kicked my ass! I think this song fits other brand new tracks well. And the current band`s line-up seems very strong. Alessio "Came" Medici (ex-thrash metal band VIOLATOR from Italy) and IgoBrutchi (drums) seem to be right at home playing with HOBBS since 2013.

 

Also, the guitar solo parts performed by Simon Wizen (who instrumentally supports HOBBS` live shows) are obviously remarkable. Monstro Di Firenze is another blow that tramples you into ground. After that track, Final Feastfrom Inheritancewas played. I am curious to know why Inheritancehasn’t been re-released yet. This stuff is a good piece of music, maybe not as good as the debut album all right, but still very pleasant and, when played live, this stuff still sounds very brutal. Well, I was overjoyed.

Heaven Bledis another brand new track and a really good one to enjoy. ClassicThe Brotherhoodand Marie Antoinette which were next to raise some new energy from the audience. Yeah, it was hell before the stage, indeed. A total explosion of classically sounding black/speed metal "beheaded" everyone present in the club that night. After that, another two new tracks were presented Hypocrites and Come Walk the Past.

I was overjoyed to be able to hear the HOBBS ANGEL OF DEATH new and complete album. Peter, thanks a lot for that, dude. The Journey finished the show…damn, I was just overwhelmed by what I just saw. I respect Peter and his crew. I do hope to see them again at some European festival like Brutal Assault, for instance. I will remember this show for a long time as one of the most interesting gigs in 2015.

 

Leszek Wojnicz-Sianożęcki