Hate, Belphegor, Suffocation
Klubi, Tampere, Finland
23rd February 2020
I usually tend to avoid attending gigs on a Sunday as it makes the next day difficult. This time however, I was lucky enough to have the next day free which made it possible for me to go. My husband decided to tag along to see Belphegor hoping that they would play some of the old material. I was mainly interested in the Polish blackened death metal act Hate. I like their old stuff and I recently managed to check out the newest release prior to going to the show.
The event started rather early and sadly we missed the first band, a Swedish death-thrash metal group called Carnosus. We arrived just in time to see the German death metal band Betrayal. They played a good, albeit somewhat short set of solid death metal with a thrash metal tinge. One of their songs featured a short melodic part guitar instrumental which was somewhat unexpected but it worked surprisingly well. So not a bad start to the night.
Next up was the main band that I came to see. The Polish blackened death metal outfit Hate put on a hell of a show. These guys hail from the same country as Behemoth and they often get compared to their Gdansk-based brethren due to the similarities in the music style. This show proved though they have developed their own style and they have earned their place in the extreme metal scene on their own merit. This is definitely my kind of metal and I am looking forward to hearing more from these guys. The only issue I had with the performance was that it was too short. They were only on for half an hour. I would have wanted to hear more from Adam the First Sinner and the gang.
The Austrian blackened death metal act Belphegor sure do like their props. The stage was decorated with animal skull motifs and burning incense. They seem to have quite the following too, they actually attracted a bigger crowd than the night’s headliners. Sadly they mostly played newer material which neither me nor my husband were familiar with. The only song I recognized was ‘Lucifer Incestus’. Some of the new tracks sounded decent such as ‘Baphomet’ but a lot of them seemed a little slow and not super memorable.
Suffocation were pretty much what I expected them to be. They played some very solid brutal death metal. That is the main problem that I have with American death metal in general, most of the bands sound the same. There is only a handful of American death metal bands that I like. Most of them do their best to make their music sound as brutal, fast and ferocious. Ultimately though, after minutes of head-banging along to a few of the tracks, you realize that they all sound very similar to each other. It was like listening to one very long song throughout the show. I have to admit that they did a good job of agitating the crowd and getting the mosh-pit going.
Overall, it was a fun way to spend Sunday night. Betrayal were pretty good. Hate were my favorite performance of the night and it’s shame that their set was so short. Belphegor have changed their style quite considerably over the years and I do not like their new stuff as much as the older albums. As for Suffocation, they were decent live but I do not think that I will be checking out their music anytime soon.
Iza Raittila
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