A lovely Saturday evening in the Ruhr Area, is there a better thing to do than going to a concert where you can see some really legendary guys playing Death songs? I guess not! Many metalheads were gathered here to see Death To All and the local band Cerebral Invasion opening for them. Unfortunately DTA had some problems with their bus so they arrived very late and everybody had to wait more than an hour in a hall until the doors to the stage finally opened. Good thing about the hall: you could get something to drink, bad thing: there was no ventilation (maybe not the best in times where the number of Covid infections is rising again) and the worst thing: no internet! So you had to go old school and talk to people that you knew and some you didn't! Pretty crazy shit!

So finally the doors opened and soon Cerebral Invasion started to play. They had quite a home match in Bochum and got a lot of support though the crowd. I didn't know the music of the band and I was only aware of their name but what they performed was really convincing. They played a really old-school mishmash of death and thrash and had lots of fun on the stage. If I get it right, they will soon release a full-length album. They played some new tracks and an awesome Megadeth cover of "Hangar 18" at this gig. New album is coming - until then you can check their self-titled '20 EP.

Setlist: 'Pure Insanity' / 'Public Execution' / 'Face Of Fear' / 'Brainwashed' /  'Conquer All' / 'Hangar 18' /'Survival Of The Weak' / 'Rise Or Be Killed' / 'Rotting Existence'

After a short rebuilding break Death To All entered the stage and were loudly celebrated by the audience. I have to say that I got some shivers run down my spine seeing these guys on stage again (even without Chuck) after such a long time. The crowd was celebrating the band and it soon became clear that the music of Death still has a lot of supporters and a high status in the scene even after the tragic death of Chuck Schuldiner and the fact that their last record "The Sound Of Perseverance" is already 24 years old. Bobby Koelble (who made a lot of funny grimaces), Steve DiGiorgio (playing the old tracks with a 3-string-bass!!!) and Gene Hoglan acted as if they had never been away from playing Death songs and Max Phelps, the "new" vocalist / guitar player, 'replaced' Chuck very well (he even looks very much alike). The set was a very entertaining mixture of all stages through the band's history so everybody got satisfied with the music, no matter if it was more into the brutal tracks from the early days or more into the technical songs from "Human" or "The Sound Of Perseverance". It was absolutely amazing how skillful the band performed and the ease with which they did this. Apart from that, Gene Hoglan was in superb form. The last time I saw him was in 1995 where he had a lot of health issues but this night he was in top shape. Band's interaction with the audience was very authentic and pretty close but unfortunately all good things come to an end. The evening ended much too soon (OK, after 20 songs!!!) but everybody went home with a huge smile on his face. Impressive work by 'just a tribute band' – but if you should ever have the chance to see them live, don´t hesitate, just get a ticket and go!!

Setlist: 'Overactive Imagination' / 'Bite The Pain' /' Zero Tolerance' / 'Spiritual Healing' / 'Evil Dead' / 'The Philosopher' / 'Lack Of Comprehension' / 'Leprosy' / 'Jealousy' / 'Suicide Machine' / 'Living Monstrosity' / 'Trapped In A Corner' / 'Secret Face' / 'Perennial Quest' / 'Flattening Of Emotions' / 'Symbolic' / 'Zombie Ritual' / 'Spirit Crusher' / ' Crystal Mountain' / 'Pull The Plug'

Debut EP from NECRO CHAOS, "Spiral Of Obscurity" out on Helldprod records March 20th, 2020 on cassette limited to 100 copies, delivers a charming all the while hostile swing at the death metal genre. Erecting 4 walls of early to mid 90s death metal fury, the trio manage to contrive a familiar though seemingly unique sound of their own with the noticeable incorporation of synth and some classicism to march alongside bone-crushing and parasitic vocals, wrecking guitar riffs and drums with dark musical themes.

Few days before the album release date, MetalBite caught up with the band at the height of their momentum for a few words surrounding "Spiral of Obscurity".

What is the music on your debut EP "Spiral of Obscurity" about?

Morto - It's about different ways of evilness and how evil always returns, creating a Spiral of Obscurity. Sometimes inside the towers of power lives a selfish, greedy, mad man and his evil creations have a huge impact in the many around. In the "Spiral of Obscurity" we have War, Death and Hell!

How long did it take to record the music on "Spiral of Obscurity"?

Deathminator - It took me an afternoon.

DeadOscar - It was done quite fast individually as it took us one afternoon to record each instrument except for the vocals. It took all about maybe 2 months to do everything because one week we would do this and the next we would do that.

Morto - The process of recording was not long, we practiced our songs for some time and when we felt comfortable we went to our rehearsal room and recorded there. It took me a little more time with the vocals. I had never recorded vocals before, so I was not even aware of the sound of my voice. I had to try different levels of low and high vocals in order to obtain something that satisfied us. So it was an afternoon for the drums, one for the rhythm guitar, another for the solos, another for the bass and maybe 3 or 4 afternoons for the vocals.

What sets Necro Chaos apart from other bands within the domain of this style?

Morto - Well, first of all we try to have an identity and not to be something we are not. We try also to be as free as we can in the creation of our songs. We all listen to a lot of metal so we have many influences and not just one genera inspiration. The effects of DeadOscar are also something that is used to distinguish our sound.

Deathminator - I think what sets us apart is the use of effects in the context of the old school riffs which gives a different sparkle to the songs.

The band is from Portugal but your music has a very mid-era Swedish death metal sound; can you explain what led to that?

DeadOscar - I do love the early Swedish death metal so I take that as a compliment but I don't think we sound like that. Swedish DM riffs are generally more thick and punkish than ours. Our compositions are more influenced by the old American death metal and in terms of sound I don't think we sound so raw as the Swedish stuff. And there's no Boss Heavy Metal 2 involved.

Morto - Sweden is a very strong country providing good metal bands, some of them are my favorites, but not only the death metal bands. Of course I enjoy bands as Unleashed, At the Gates, Dismember, Merciless, Repugnant, Entombed and Hypocrisy, but I also enjoy bands such as Candlemass, Gotham City, Heavy Load, Enforcer, Ghost and of course Bathory and Dissection. So if you found something Swedish in our songs it is from those influences, or it can also be by the fact that Europe and Abba songs played a lot in the TV when I was young.

Full interview can be found here.

NECRO CHAOS is:

Deathminator - drums
DeadOscar - bass
Morto - guitar / vocals

MORE INFO AND PRE-ORDERS:

https://www.facebook.com/Necro-Chaos
https://helldprod.com
https://www.facebook.com/helldprod
https://helldprod.bandcamp.com

What a great black metal setup! This was probably one of the most anticipated black metal concerts of the year. Starting with the Austrian maniacs Theotoxin who just released their killer album "Fragment : Totenruhe" this was a very promising start into the unholy evening. Playing some harsh Scandinavian-like black metal stuff they did a very convincing performance which was clearly focused on the new album – only two tracks were from the predecessor "Fragment : Erhabenheit". Vocalist Ragnar nagged and yelled as if he would like to curse the whole world and their guitarist Fabian posed like hell. Though the sound might have been a little bit clearer they did a fantastic job that evening and got hopefully some more fans with that.

Setlist: Golden Tomb / Demise Of The Gilded Age / Sanatory Silence / Perennial Lunacy / World, Burn For Us / Towards The Chasm / Philosopher Of Light / Frontschwein

After Theotoxin the Norwegians of Whoredom Rife entered the stage and with them came a mystic aura into the hall. They looked pretty spooky with their corpse painted faces and I felt some gloomy vibes I haven't felt for at least 25 years at a black metal show. The show was an absolute banger and they played songs froml their three albums. Vocalist KR interacted heavily with the audience and was the most impressive guy on the stage. I think that this band really catches the spirit of the 90s black metal – on their albums and on stage as well.

Setlist: Curse Of The Moon / Gospel Of Hate / Cursing The Storm To Come / In Nameless Pagan Graves / Summoning The Ravens / Beyond The Skies Of God / Gitt Til Odin (Thanks you guys for sending me the list!!)

And now the band that most of the people in the audience came for - the legendary Archgoat. Their music is quite polarizing (in my family there are only two opinions about it but mine is the right one of course) but their appearance was pretty impressive. You can clearly hear those blunt death metal influences in their music (which remind me so much of very old Incantation) but their appearance and the style is much more sinister than that. They played songs from all their albums and created a very dark atmosphere, especially when they did the slower parts. Their drummer made me smile at times when he suddenly started to thrash like a maniac on his drums just after those slower parts. I think there is a thin red line between exaggeration and real black metal attitude but he didn't seem to care… They were pretty impressive in what they did and I hope that it was´t the last time I've seen them live. Thanks to everybody involved for such a fantastic concert!

Setlist: Heavens Ablaze / Lord Of The Void / Jesus Christ, Father Of Lies / The Apocalytic Triumphator / Goat And The Moon / Messiah Of Pigs / Darkness Has Returned / Rise Of The Black Moon / Nuns, Cunts And Darkness / Hammer Of Satan / Burial Of Creation (Thanks to the band for sending me the list!!!)