LIVE REVIEW: Vader @ Rebellion, Manchester

Despite the merry-go-round of personnel changes over their lengthy career, for VADER, they have stood the test of time in extreme music. For four decades, the Poles have been at the forefront of death metal and whilst the sub-genre has grown and evolved into the multi-faceted beast it is today, the band (spearheaded by Piotr ‘Peter’ Wiwczarek) are still going strong. To celebrate such a landmark achievement, even more-so given the bombastic nature of their musical craft, the band take to the road once more and a eagerly rabid crowd awaits them at Manchester’s Rebellion.

Openers AETHERIAN have been bubbling away under the surface in extreme music circles and given the pedigree of The night’s headliners, there’s a healthy number of bodies congregated to experience the Greeks. And although their brand of melodic death metal is easily the most accessible sound of the evening, the conviction in which the quintet dispatch it makes them a strong opener. Material from this year’s At Storm’s Edge gets copious live outings as the twin guitar harmonies from guitarists Angelos Maniatakos and John Reaper echoes INSOMNIUM in their delivery and present plenty of exquisite moments whilst the growled vocal delivery of vocalist Kostas Mexis is strong enough to hold its own. Although they might be a name some might not be aware of, based on their outing in Manchester, AETHERIAN are a hidden gem for quality metal.

Rating: 8/10

French outfit SKAPHOS are up next and they offer much more of an aural battering than AETHERIAN. Aligning themselves more to blackened death metal than melo death, the band proceed to unleash a barrage of blastbeats and thundering riffs that rarely fail to dip in their intensity. With just two records to their name, 2020’s Bathyscaphe and last year’s Thooï, SKAPHOS‘ set borrows heavily from both and it showcases a band that really beginning to cut their teeth in the extreme metal underground. Stephan Petitjean‘s guttural snarls and growls sound utterly monstrous, with the title track from 2020’s record setting an immediate impression, and drummer Paul Sordet rarely misses a beat and deploys machine gun-firing kicks with aplomb. Although the sound was muddy at times, SKAPHOS more than upped the ante and had the crowd hungry for more.

Rating: 7/10

VOMITORY hold a certain pedigree in death metal. Since forming in 1989, the Swedes’ uncompromising approach to making nasty metal has been welcomed with open arms for those who appreciate the heaviest of metal and since their official reunion in 2018, UK fans have eagerly awaited the band’s return to our shores. And they did not disappoint. Bursting into a vicious opening salvo of All Heads Are Gonna Roll and Stray Bullet Kill, it’s immediately clear that the band have not lost any of their potency for delivering pulverising death metal.

Material from this year’s comeback record, All Heads Are Gonna Roll, is heavily populated throughout the set with the likes of Raped, Strangled, Sodomized, Dead and Ode To The Meat Saw sounding absolutely monolithic as the crushing riffs from Urban Gustafsson and Peter Östlund encourage heads aplenty to bang in rhythm, and Erik Rundqvist‘s vocals have enough force to level the building. Judging by the engulfing pit, it’s clear that VOMITORY are cherished by Manchester’s contingent of extreme music fans and next time they roll through, it wouldn’t be surprising if it was a headlining tour.

Rating: 9/10

With this tour coming in celebration of their four decade long career, VADER opt to populate their headlining set with enough material to appeal to every single person congregated in Rebellion. And what follows is a celebration of death metal’s finest. Arriving to a thunderous roar, set opener Decapitated Saints lays down the gauntlet of what to expect: fast, frenetic and heavy death metal with Piotr ‘Peter’ Wiwczarek leading the line with the same energy you’d expect to find in the youth of today. From there, the band run a victory lap across their extensive discography and leaving few stones unturned as they treat the Manchester crowd to bout after bout of death metal goodness.

Black To The Blind‘s raw thrash tendencies send the pit into utter bedlam, Halleluyah!!! (God Is Dead) snappy switches from mid-tempo builds to blistering speed is a set highlight, and Triumph Of Death ends the set with one final flurry of death-tinged thrash as the room swirls in response. For four decades, VADER have sat in the upper echelons in extreme music and based off their tenacity and rapturous reception in Manchester, there’s still plenty of life left in this beast yet.

Rating: 9/10

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in Sabrina Ramdoyal Photography here: 

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