It’s always nice when there’s a good turnout for a gig and there was already a decent amount of people inside The Magnet as the opening act, Not Above Evil (6/10) took to the stage. Whilst their music was by no means terrible, there wasn’t really much about the performance that really stood out and instantly grabbed your attention; they were more of a slow burner and grew on you as the set progressed. The sheer wall of sound they created at times was something to behold but it did just feel like they could have given more with their performance because it was just a fairly ‘standard’ one with no frills.
Up next was Forsaken World (7/10), a rather visually strange band as they had the visuals of a black metal band (save for the frontman, who appeared to be channelling Gerard Way from 2004) and they didn’t have a drummer, which took a little bit of getting used to when you heard the sound of the drums over the speakers but saw nobody behind the kit! They had more of a traditional death metal sound to their music and the performance itself was great, with them putting a lot into it and there was a good amount of movement about the stage – the set even finished with the frontman observing the band from the crowd!
Things reached a new high with De Profundis (8/10), who sounded massively tight from start to finish. There was this furious energy behind the music that kept the momentum going from start to finish and indeed, the way the five-piece dominated the stage was something to behold. Opening with a brand new song, it had a tremendous kick to it and it really gave a great impression of what would be coming with their next album. The way the band was so in-sync with each other was impressive and it was a pleasure to finally witness them live.
When Omnium Gatherum (8/10) took to the stage, the room instantly came alive and the reception given from the crowd right from the get-go was impressive; there was so many people into it that it truly made for a great atmosphere as a result. Things then picked up even further when frontman Jukka joined his bandmates onstage and you couldn’t help but smile at his enthusiasm as he put his everything into the performance.
Indeed, all six of the members really shone in their own ways; Omnium Gatherum is not a band that simply comes onstage and performs – they live and breathe the music and that really was evident in how they powered through each track in their set. As a whole, it was an all-round great performance – and judging by the crowd’s reaction, everyone else seemed to think so too!
