GIG REVIEW: Adorior @ The Dome (London, UK)

Four of the finest dealers of death and debauchery set the underground ablaze tonight. Below we will go through this subterranean carnage…

First up Ireland’s Vircolac with their twisted Black / Death Metal apparitions. Scathing us with an immersive, atmospheric and yet visceral take on extremity, this Irish horde has mastered the art of unique but classic songwriting. Deranged hooks and malicious verses of obscurity filled the air with pungent and cryptic music. Their ability to have such a strong sense of storytelling, a graven atmosphere and yet deliver direct and very riff-fuelled music is simply a perfect balance for me. Taking cues from more traditional Heavy Metal but with those gargantuan and evil thrusts into darkness, Vircolac made for a glorious opening set from a band I find to be truly underrated.

Next, Poland’s Death Metal masters Imperator are back to follow their crushing London show last year with more destruction. Of course the underground masters blister flesh with their ruthless and morbid carnage. Hammering out the powerful setlist, the return of this band still feels like a dream come true. A blend of tracks from their sole album and 80s demos ensured all salivating old school maniacs were fed a dose of brutality and with a precise performance that overcame a couple of technical issues with profoundly savage skill. A rare and unmissable band to see live, let alone twice. After their set with Mystifier last year, I knew these beasts would crush us and I was not disappointed. Personally, I think they are the best underground Polish Metal band alongside Kat, and this only confirmed my belief. Feel the eternal might!

Penultimately we get a performance from Columbian Death Metal decimators Masacre. The bestial horde ruptured the skulls of all in attendance with their tormenting macabre spirits, evoking the ancient ghouls and with their incantations of Death Metal triumph. With that glorious obscure and devilish sound that South America always has mastery of, the tastefully tyrannical set played across the board to give fans a really killer show to remember. Plenty of maniacs from overseas were in attendance and it felt like we got a taste of that Latin spirit for Masacre’s set which made it something special. Die hards cannot miss this band, they keep the flame burning and this set was a perfect example of why bands coming over from the South American region is a vengeful treat never to be missed.

Adorior finally takes the stage. They recently delivered a spectacular third album and decide to use the stage to inflict further harm on us… With it being my third time seeing the London blasphemers, I knew we were going to be annihilated. Instantly the sepulchral riffing lurched forth with some utterly insane drumming before the entire band launched their strike. Spitting venom from their new record and cult predecessor “Author Of Incest”, we got nine barbaric anthems. The confidence and on-stage delivery of this band is always a spectacle in itself and tonight they felt stronger than ever, purging all weakness from the room with a perverse and punishing onslaught of Extreme Metal as wild and free as it gets. Closing the set with guest appearances from the bands history only reinforced the feeling that tonight was a special one, even by the high standards of this underground entity. Malignant evil was conjured tonight.

Another Morbid Angle show where the whole lineup felt worthy of headlining and all bands delivered something special. Thankfully everyone got a decent set time so we could appreciate four titans of the Death Metal underground obliterate London as a hungry crowd of real maniacs raged into the night.