LIVE REVIEW: Primordial @ Islington Assembly Hall, London
It feels like recently PRIMORDIAL have played London every year like clockwork, but seeing as other UK appearances are rare (basically coming down to whether Bloodstock or Damnation decides to book them or not), it still feels like an event, and the Irish extreme metal standard-bearers bring in fans from across the country to shows like these. Tonight is the UK date of a European tour marking the release of their ninth album Exile Amongst the Ruins, as much a cause for celebration as any seeing as PRIMORDIAL albums aren’t always the most frequent, but without fail end up being something you treasure right up till the next one.
The bill they’ve brought along with them is top notch, starting with Germany’s DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT, who released one of last year’s very best and yet most overlooked extreme metal albums in Finisterre. In the live environment, it’s just as fiery, despite not playing as much off it as you might expect. They open with Einkehr, arguably the standout track from their 2015 album Stellar and one that places their powerful grasp of melody right at the fore. Stellar’s Requiem and Zeichen from 2012’s Unstille also impress, the latter demonstrating their strong craftsmanship when it comes to laying out longer songs that continue to retain audience interest, but it’s the Finisterre cuts that shine brightest. Skepsis, Pt. 1 is a little jarring when it’s not being immediately followed by Pt 2, such is the perfect flow and complimentary feel of those two tracks on record, but it is still a beautiful thing to behold, its manic intricacy giving it the feeling of constantly growing and reaching higher and higher. Set closer Aufbruch is another thing entirely though, its enormous EMPEROR-esque choral parts adding a whole other layer of imposing grandeur. The band sound absolutely vicious, bassist Nico Ziska prowling the stage while drummer Tobias Schuler is truly unstoppable in his pace and precision. They could easily play twice as long and not lose an ounce of impact.
Rating: 8/10
MOONSORROW get a long set, breaching the seventy-minute mark, due to their song lengths they still only get to play six of them. They really do make the most of that time though, consistently able to keep the crowd on side and chanting along with their very Scandinavian take on folk metal. A lot of MOONSORROW’s material exists in this mid-paced zone designed perfectly for head-banging and fist-pumping, in effect from the moment they walk out opening with Pimeä from 2005’s Verisäkeet (once their bizarre intro tape of a man screaming in Finnish for about ten solid minutes finally fades). They draw around half of their set from their latest album Jumalten Aika, which goes down well with a crowd populated very heavily by people wearing MOONSORROW shirts who are just as happy to hear brand new stuff as they are an old classic such as Kivenkantaja from 2003. All of MOONSORROW’s songs are epics to the point where it feels redundant to refer to them as such, but they’re a band who excel in massively spreading their wings and creating real journeys from songs over their ten to fifteen-minute runtimes. What they also do well is filling those lengthy tracks with hooks, whether they be huge choral parts that perfectly encapsulate their pagan vibe or those stomping 4/4 riffs. The odd moment where they do decide to blast are made all the more blisteringly intense by their surrounding context. Bassist and vocalist Ville Sorvali is clearly enjoying himself, accentuating his parts with various grunts straight out of the Tom G Warrior playbook, and the keyboards slathered over the whole thing gives their sound a real sheen and texture. The closing Kuolleiden Maa from 2011’s Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa, arguably one of their best albums, is essentially just a victory lap.
Rating: 8/10
PRIMORDIAL though are on a different plane to the majority of their peers when it comes to the live arena, and they’re not about to start putting in bad shows now. Tonight is yet another celebration of everything that’s brilliant about this music, and the contributions this band have made to it. Over the course of nearly two hours, PRIMORDIAL reaffirm their place in today’s metal world, and the new material is a big reason as to why. Exile Amongst the Ruins has been greeted with a tad more reservation than any of PRIMORDIAL’s previous few albums, some people really loving it while others call it a slump. It has to be said that it’s an album that definitely reveals more of its secrets over time rather than all on the first go, but in the live environment, the songs from Exile are given a whole new dimension of weight and gravitas. Nail Their Tongues is a tremendous opener that has all the drama of PRIMORDIAL’s previous openers but channelled in a slightly different way, choosing to take the sinister creeping route instead of instantly erupting. It pays off, the track packing a powerhouse chorus and then devolving into some of the purest black metal riffing PRIMORDIAL have offered in some time, a flurry of tremolos and searing blast beats. The title track of Exile Amongst the Ruins exists in a similar realm to Babel’s Tower from previous album Where Greater Men Have Fallen, but maybe becomes even more gripping, the ebbs and flows of its beating heart absolutely transfixing right to the moment where the whole thing breaks down into ash. To Hell or the Hangman is an upbeat barn-burner that with its Irish trad rhythms translated through a raucous heavy metal filter could only be made by one band and is sure to remain a live favourite for years to come, and then there’s Stolen Years, a slow burn made all the more impactful by its simplicity, its stripped back approach opening its wounds and allowing all the world to see.
The focus on the new album means the older songs chosen are the reliable staples rather than any unexpected dives into deep cut territory (which if you were at PRIMORDIAL’s show at the Underworld in 2017, you know they are more than capable of doing), but anyone complaining about hearing As Rome Burns or Gods to the Godless again has a screw loose. These are some of the most timeless songs underground metal has ever produced, the “sing to the slaves” mid-section of As Rome Burns sounding absolutely spine-tingling tonight while The Coffin Ships is as emotionally devastating as ever, making its nearly ten-minute run-time feel like three. Frontman Alan Averill seems in relatively jovial spirits tonight (his introduction for To Hell or the Hangman based on the execution of Walter Lynch is more him trying to make as many puns around the subject’s surname as possible rather than something legitimately stirring), but that doesn’t make his performance within the songs any less phenomenal, the perfect focal point for his band who behind him are tireless in their approach to building such momentous bodies of music. It all of course finishes on Empire Falls, the ultimate rabble-rouser in their canon, stirring the floor into chaos as that eternally immense chorus fills the room. This next chapter of PRIMORDIAL’s history is off to a flying start.
Rating: 9/10
Check out our photo gallery from the night’s action in London from Jorden Mclaughlin Photography here:
