LIVE REVIEW: Satyricon @ O2 Academy 2, Birmingham
Just hours after the St Patrick’s Day parade had swept through, outside Birmingham’s O2 Academy 2 the streets full of pint glasses and giant green hats were now mixed in with people head to toe in black queuing all around the block. This is Norwegian black metal giants SATYRICON‘s first return to Birmingham since 2008 so it was eagerly awaited.
The only band opening for SATYRICON was SUICIDAL ANGELS, a thrash metal band hailing from Greece. When SUICIDAL ANGELS first started it seemed to surprise a lot of the black metal fanatics when thrash started crashing out the amplifiers, sounding like a concoction of old school SLAYER and KREATOR giving us a very classic thrash sound from the Greek quartet. As the show went on the crowd was warming to them as an attempt of a mosh pit opened up only two songs into their set and this dramatically improved song by song as the guitars kept shredding. There was a few minor technical faults and misbehaving microphone stands throughout which hampered their impact somewhat but SUICIDAL ANGLES carried on playing without hesitation and, importantly, kept that floor moving none stop.
Rating: 6/10
SATYRICON took to the stage member by member building up the excitement within the venue. Opening with Midnight Serpent, from their most recent studio album Deep Calleth Upon Deep, they then played multiple songs off this album throughout the night. However choosing not to dedicate their set entirely to the new album, the few songs they did play were spread across the show alongside a lot of their distinguished back catalogue of tracks, much to the crowds delight. Frontman Satyr turned to the crowd after a rendition of Black Crow On A Tombstone and commented on their last show in Birmingham was plagued with technical faults resulting in a large loss of playing time, so, as a result, the Norwegians were putting on a much-appreciated longer set for us tonight. With such a diverse choice of songs over an hour and a half headlining set, their performance was perfect for fans of any part of their discography. As things drew to a close, SATYRICON finished on the classic King resulting in an eruption of a huge mosh pit, taking up half the size of the venue with bodies clashing all around frantically. A fitting finale. Satyr and Frost have been playing their brand of black metal for over two decades now, and the fact their shows are still so enjoyable is simply incredible.
Rating: 9/10
Check out our photo gallery from the night’s action in Birmingham from Jamie Vann-Watson here:
