Page 119 - Metal Hammer Issue 334 - UK (May 2020)

LIVE REVIEWS
Vemod: once more
unto the breach
CATALEPTIC RITES
THE DOME/BOSTON MUSIC ROOM, LONDON
Vemod and Wolvennest lead a two-day journey to the outer limits
A NEW ENTRY wr#Orqgrqġv#h{wuhph#
metal scene, Cataleptic Rites is a
two-day assault that celebrates the
extraordinary entities lurking in the
murky depths of the black, death and
grrp#phwdo#hfrv|vwhp1#Fryhuhg#lq#
blood and resembling deranged
sanatorium escapees, MISTÞYRMING
duh#dq#Lfhodqglf#ĠIxfn#|rxġ#wr#wkh#
corpsepaint/Satan-fuelled mores of
wkhlu#eodfn#phwdo#shhuv1#Fudiwlqj#
a sadistic ambience with unpretentious
ulļv/#Pjôd0iulhqgo|#phorglhv#dqg#hhulh#
vocals sung in three-part unison, the
txduwhw#vwxq#zlwk#d#vkrz#ri#glvvrqdqfh#
dqg#ghswk1#SVARTIDAUÐI are also at
wkh#iruhiurqw#ri#Lfhodqgġv#srwhqw#eodfn#
metal scene and their live attack
mrxuqh|v#iurp#wkh#phorglf#wr#ixoo0rq#
chaotic tonight, although the
mismatched tones and syncopated
rhythms lack the subtlety and nuance
ri#wkhlu#uhfrughg#zrun1
TOM RUSSELL and Svartidauði, DROTTINN#Ľuh#
Ihdwxulqj#phpehuv#ri#Plvwà|uplqj#
a rocket through Saturday’s early
crowd, lashing the belligerent brawn
running through both bands to a more
jxwwxudo/#ghdwk0gulyhq#udpsdjh1#Iru#
all the sonic battery, though, there’s
a kernel of melody churning in their
primordial core that becomes more
apparent during the set, as if their
yhorflw|#lv#wxuqlqj#zklwh#krw1#DREAD
SOVEREIGN#rļhu#d#euhdwk#ri#rog0vfkrro#
melancholia, packed with doom-
zhljkwhg#sdvvdjhv#dqg#Lrppl0vw|ohg#
ulļv#wkdw#frqyhujh#lq#d#fryhu#ri#Black
Sabbath and psychedelic, acid-rock
xqghuwrqhv#wkurxjkrxw1#Dodq#Dyhulooġv#
rich tone lulls us back to the doom days
jrqh#e|1#SATURNALIA TEMPLE’s more
intoxicated take on doom takes on
more resonance live than the Swedes
riwhq#gr#rq#uhfrug1#Wkh#prqrwrq|#lv#
ohvv#wkuhdgeduh/#wkh#orslqj#ulļv#pruh#
drenched in atmosphere and the lead
breaks slake around the Dome like
the tongue of a particularly ancient
vhushqw#ghlw|1
WOLVENNEST#ľdxqw#deudvlyh#
tonality, haunting female vocals and
Wolvennest: celestial
shamanism in full effect
an ambient-infused darkness that
rļhuv#xqlpdjlqdeoh#ghswk1#Hdfk#
instrument and layer gradually crafts
d#wudqfh0olnh#ulwxdo#dwprvskhuh1#E|#wkh#
end of the hour, all senses are rewired
by their incendiary psychedelia that,
alongside the backdrop of space-age
theramin, pushes the crowd into an
rwkhuzruogo|/#vkdpdqlf#glphqvlrq1
There are greater heights yet to
dwwdlq/#wkrxjk1#VEMOD have always
been tuned to the more transcendent
end of the black metal dial, but tonight
vwdwxhvtxh#iurqwpdq#Hvnlo#Eol{#lv#
a channel for something yet more
exhilarating, sweeping elements of
post-rock into the Norwegians’
slipstream but reaching a vast, mantric
scope more luminously panoramic
wkdq#wkh#kxpdq#plqg#fdq#frqwdlq1#
Lwġv#d#frqvflrxvqhvv0udlvlqj#hqg#iru#
another marker point on the extreme
phwdo#fdohqgdu1
IEVA ISABELLA RUIZ/JONATHAN SELZER