October, 10th – Stuttgart, Club Zentral – Centaurus-A, Deadborn, Embedded, Subconscious

Upfront of organizing this show I already knew that this would be something for progressive death metal enthusiasts only. Addressing a small and very unique crowd has never been simple but we did our best in the fields of promotion due to a bunch of helpers. Anyway I wanted to do this show because I adore the precision and musical virtuosity (if you can say so for musicians playing brutal death metal) of the bands that were scheduled.

The advance sales were quite low and there were only approx. 40 people attending the shows of this amazing package. All the ones who stayed at home this rainy day have missed an event with a really familiar atmosphere and bands that were playing death metal over the top – every single one with its very own approach.

As SUBCONSCIOUS entered the stage there were only few people in front of the stage but it seems like everyone enjoyed the progressive death / thrash mix which is always described with its propinquity to Chuck Schuldiners DEATH which is not only based on the vocals which have the typical throaty sound but also results from the quite similar approach to death metal by using very complex patterns and incredible guitars sweeping solos. Rainer on bass guitar was once again playing in an own world. A lot of people compare him to Steve DiGiorgio but I know that he has never heard this name before nor did he even knew bands like DEATH, MESHUGGAH or ATHEIST before he joined SUBCONSCIOUS. The band decided to put some new songs on the set list which made the show a lot more interesting for me because I have seen them for more than a dozen time and also because this might be possible songs for an upcoming album which would probably again be released on my label Supreme Chaos Records which is dedicated to progressive extreme music anyway. The last two albums were released there – so be sure to check this band out if you are into DEATH or similar.

SUBCONSCIOUS

From Southern Germany to Osnabrück where EMBEDDED are coming from. I have heard several tracks of their new record “Beyond the Flesh” released on DB Agency earlier this year. They play very down to earth death metal with a kind of old school attitude but still with enough technical finesse to fit into this billing. And so was their live show – very strong and straight forward. You could see the first people moving around. EMBEDDED put up a decent death metal show and went at full tilt.

EMBEDDED

Some of the attendees were waiting for DEADBORN to show up on stage and so they did. Technically on a high level they fired a broadside of brutal death metal with just one guitar. And they did a hell of a job showing up with a very powerful stage presence. I knew this local band for some years and have never seen them live paying full attention before. So they blew me right to the wall. If you have the possibility be sure to check out one of their next shows!

DEADBORN

I was really curious about how CENTAURUS-A would transpose their very complex and highly progressive songs onto a club stage. After the show I was sure that the guitar players of CENTAURUS-A must be in league with the devil. It was simply insane what this band showed on stage and it is also sad that this band does not get more attention! Instead there are bands like NECROPHAGIST and OBSCURA take all the credit for highly progressive death metal from Germany (which they deserve for sure but other bands do as well). CENTAURUS-A means guitar licks beyond the speed of light combined with pure drumming complexity and under-laid by cool bass lines. You could either just watch these guys playing with your jaw hitting the ground or go totally crazy…

CENTAURUS-A

Four amazing bands, nice people – both on and in front of the stage -, a great concert crew made an unforgettable evening with top-notch death metal – period!

Links:
CENTAURUS-A: MySpace – Merchandise
DEADBORN: MySpace – Merchandise
EMBEDDED: MySpace – Merchandise
SUBCONSCIOUS: MySpace – Merchandise

Metal Nights homepage: Event details – Gallery

And now I am off through the rain to see TANKARD.

Extreme Music Blog