By: Sander Van Den Driesche
Inter Arma | facebook | bandcamp |
Support: Mantar | Dune | Headless Kross
Audio, Glasgow | December 3, 2014
Last April both Windhand and Inter Arma played in Edinburgh, which was quite a unique gig as it was a Scottish exclusive show for Edinburgh and it was a near sold out show on a Monday night. Inter Arma absolutely blew me away that night (as you can read here), so it was amazing to find out they were going to be back in Scotland so soon again, this time playing at Audio in Glasgow. Even better news was the tour was going to be with German two-piece doom monster Mantar.
Glasgow promoter Joe from Black Reach Promotions always makes sure he gets some good local bands to support the touring bands, and for this gig Glasgow psychedelic doomsters Headless Kross were asked to open the night, which they did extremely well. I’ve seen Headless Kross a couple of times over the last years and they have really started to impress me more and more. Last night they played the loudest and probably the most captivating I’ve ever seen them. They started with an older song, ‘The Great God Proteus’, taken of their 2012 Demises release, followed by the unreleased track ‘Rural Juror’, which is a long and amazing piece of music. I’ve seen them play this track before and it again made me look forward to their new release a lot. They just recorded this new release at Jon of Conan’s Skyhammer Studio and it should be an absolute banger.
Next up were Edinburgh progressive space sludgers Dune, who I have seen many times already (this was the 6th time this year), but never before at Audio. Dune is another band that just keeps on getting better and better. They just released their new 2-track EP Aurora Majesty on new Edinburgh label Sea of Corruption Records. Audio is a great stage for Dune as it’s loud with great sound and a good sized stage. They started with a new, yet untitled song, followed by the last two tracks of their Progenitor EP, ‘Red Giant’ and ‘Orbital Remains’, and the two tracks of Aurora Majesty, ‘Into the Traveller’s Halls’ and ‘Of Blade and Carapace’. Damn, these guys can play! It is hard to describe how much they blow me away each time, just go and see them whenever you get a chance. If you like heavy music and you don’t grin from ear to ear seeing Dune live, then I don’t know what takes your fancy!
After the two local bands it was Mantar’s turn. The stage got completely rearranged, which most two-pieces do these days so they face each other while playing. Guitarist Hanno plays through 2 guitar cabs and a huge bass cab and manages to create a huge wall of noise through these, by employing a huge pedal board as well (yeah, everything about them was HUGE). Their last release Death By Burning made a big impression on me when Svart Records released it and I was keen to see them recreate this album live on stage. They did not disappoint at all. They played extremely loud, tight and very energetic. It was one big sonic attack. They used some great light effects as well, with the strobes really adding to the heavy riffing and drumming. I can only have a high level of respect for a two-piece creating such a huge wall of sound! They’re the nicest guys as well, so make sure you say hello to them if you get to see them.
Then it was finally Inter Arma’s turn. When they played at Bannermans in Edinburgh with Windhand they had a near sold out crowd. However, most people who were there that night were there to see Windhand as they hadn’t really heard of Inter Arma before. But they did leave a big impression at the time, so I was hoping a lot of people would show up to see them again at this Glasgow gig, but the turn-out was quite disappointing unfortunately (shame on you Glasgow music fans!). Not that it stopped Inter Arma to play another amazing live set. After they had a quick JD shot on stage they started with the Sky Burial track ‘The Long Road Home’, which is one of those tracks that starts slow and timid and progressively evolves into this huge sludge beast of a track. They followed this with ‘The Survival Fires’, which is the opening track of Sky Burial and a new (or old?) track, something I hadn’t heard before at least, but a very heavy slow-grinder of a track. They ended their amazing set with two more Sky Burial tracks, ‘sblood’ and quite a slowed down version of ‘Westward’. Singer Joe Kerkes was on top form, jumping like a madman, while throwing his intense stare into the crowd. But it was drummer T.J. Childers who impressed me hugely at the Edinburgh show, and again so last night in Glasgow. Some of the things he does on that drum kit are extraordinary and he really makes it look so easy, especially during ‘sblood’ (God’s Blood), during which T.J. basically plays one huge fill throughout the track, not hitting a single cymbal at all.
Some people were hoping that they would play their latest release The Cavern as that just got released, but with that record being one 40 minutes long track it would have taken up most of their set and they told me beforehand that they prefer to play the separate tracks of Sky Burial. I don’t think anyone was disappointed though as they played an incredible live set. I really hope they will be back again soon and hopefully their love for Scottish whisky might make that happen rather sooner than later!
You can see the full Inter Arma show here, courtesy of Denes Poszmik:
