Kreator & Vader
2nd September 2017
The Studio, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Kate Taylor. Photography by Mark Derricutt.
Last night Auckland’s Studio The Venue may have smelled like the back of a wardrobe, due to the amount of patch jackets and old metal shirts that were emancipated into the evening; but for good reason as the faithful fans of classic thrash, black and death metal were rewarded with a slice of the Wacken Open Air festival right here in NZ, as Vader and Kreator swooped into town and took control of our hive mind for one evening. It was both Vader and Kreator’s first ever visit to New Zealand and mang…did we show our love for these pioneers of the genre.
Kicking off the evening with Auckland’s own vile and disgusting purveyors of sweet, sweet black, death and thrash – Exordium Mors stalked the stage for a brief set to rouse us from our humdrum life and into a scene of twisted torture as they performed their unholy hymns for us. Keen to get us moving, vocalist Scourge Witchfucker failed his limbs at us in ire, urging us to lose it to their frenetic pace as Scourge scaled the bodies in the front row in the last song, clawing at the audience and trying to incite the crowd into movement and much less of the usual Auckland semi-circle of polite nodding and clapping. Clad in the garb of some kind of evil monk, Scourge circled his bullet belt and spiked gauntlet wearing brothers as all delivered a very accomplished set of grim fairy tales to kick the evening into action. If you’re yet to discover the local chaos that is Exordium Mors and you like pulverising drums and blistering gat work, then you need to get on this ASAP as they’ve been waiting for you since 2004 and they’re only getting more devastating.
Next up Poland’s proud sons Vader joined us and as they did a forest of limbs arose from the pit topped with swaying forks to herald the return of these death metal pioneers. Formed in ’83 these gents know their way around a set and delivered a rampantly joyous appearance where; “Peter” on lead gat, “Spider” on Rhythm, “Hal” on Bass and James Stewart on the skins, were clearly having an awesome time entertaining us. Slaying us with Triumph of Death, Silent Empire, Black to the Blind, Final Massacre and Decapitated Saints amongst their stew of classic cuts; Vader simply shred our faces like an industrial strength cheese grater, forcing the assembled to collect their jaws from the floor. It looks effortless to Vader, the way they gallop and shred and then precisely stop on a dime causing a ripple of pleasure and a huge roar through the nicely packed out Studio floor. Addressing us directly, “Peter” barked “New fucking Zealand! You’ve no idea how proud are we to visit your country after so many fucking years! You fucking crazy, you know that right? Somebody warn me in Europe when you hit New Zealand you will see what is metal, now I know, respect! Let’s make some fucking chaos in this place!” As Peter incited riots in the pit and “Spider” worked as his tireless hype man while the stew of bodies at the front of stage looked like pure violence, if you examined more closely, you could see the joy and camaraderie that was there as the fallen helped each other up from the floor. Vader made a huge impression on this crowd, leaving us with the sublime Send Me Back to Hell before walking the stage, smiles wide to the refrains of The Imperial March as they cast picks into the pit. Damn, that was good.
Now while some readers may balk at the idea of reviewing what was going on in the breaks between sets, I say screw you…I was there and you weren’t so there! Plus if you were there, then you would have been part of one of the most vibrant sing-a-longs I’ve ever experienced as the assembled ripped their throats screaming along to Iron Maiden’s Run to the Hills as we awaited Kreator’s first ever New Zealand performance…new friendships were made this night my friends.
Then, without any pomp or ceremony the mighty Kreator infiltrated the stage as their blades of stage lighting backlit these German Thrash gods and brought their existence into reality for so many metal fans, some who’d waited 30 years since Kreator’s 1982 inception to have them aurally molest us. Opening with Hordes of Chaos there was no disputing that these pioneers where here to show us exactly why they’ve influenced so much of the international metal community. From their innovative riffage to their mind altering, classic metal album art, Kreator are the band’s name you drop when you’re assessing the cred of a fellow horn thrower. Treating us to a tight and vibrantly shredding set including faves like Satan is Real, Gods of Violence, Total Death and recent banger World War Now; it was before Phantom Antichrist that “Mille” addressed us saying that they were “dedicating this song to all the old school metal heads in the audience tonight…Auckland New Zealand, for the very first time we are coming to your country, we’ve been waiting for this for a very long time. This seems like a perfect night right? But not perfect yet, for a long time I’ve heard many things about New Zealand mosh pits.”
With that hanging in the air the assembled gulped and knew we were about to be commanded into wrecking our bodies at the altar of metal. Mille instructed the entire floor to split into two and then throw themselves into each other in a cataclysmic wall of death to the marker of Mille’s German countdown. Already feeling like one big thrash family, Mille called to us “ I’m dedicating this to each and every one of you in here tonight, this is about the unity of metal worldwide, it’s called Hail to the Hordes and it’s for you!” Kreator demonstrated their metal prowess tenfold last night and made a real effort to solidify themselves as the unseen hand that has been with their fans from the beginning “…Even though it’s our first time playing here…” Mille cried “…even though, we knew you were with us, through the good times and the bad times. Just like we will be with you in times of…Extreme Aggression!” Stage diving, crowd surfing, horn throwing, gat shredding, impeccable vocal slayage; Kreator’s Auckland uprising was the stuff that classic metal dreams are made of, with this flawless performance, brutalising catalogue and genuine connection to their fans, Kreator measured out their time with us bringing us to a frenzy before exiting on their final salvo of 1986’s Pleasure to Kill. It seems it was Kreator’s pleasure to kill us, as when the final sweet shredded note escaped their fingers a sound effect of an explosion repelled off the walls of Studio The Venue and perfectly encapsulated what had just had happened to all of our minds…our cerebellums blown apart by what we’d just witnessed. Thank fully we’ll have the rest of the weekend to put our minds back together…and of course thrash Kreator’s tunes relentlessly.
Vader:
Kreator:
Exordium Mors:
Were you there at the Studio for this magnificent metal masterpiece? Or have you seen either Kreator or Vader perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
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