Suicidal Angels released probably the best album of their career so far and one of the best in 2019 for my personal taste. Their headline show in the Academy was a great chance to witness a memorable night, especially when they were joined by two great bands with very good releases lately.
Upon arriving to the venue after the scheduled opening of the doors, I noticed once more a big line outside. I don’t know what is the cause behind it, but I’ve seen the same phenomenon in many shows there with (at least) three different promoters, so I can’t understand why this keeps happening. It needs to end at some time, when you are the best indoor club in the capitol you can’t have so many fans wait for forty minutes outside in the cold.
Luckily, this delay didn’t affect the rest of the night so much, as all the bands came out just ten minutes after schedule. Domination Inc. entered the stage with a tremendous mood and attitude and I have to say that I was caught off-guard. I don’t remember seeing them before in the past and this was a big slap in the face. Constant mobility, great performance and an unstoppable thrash attack that fans enjoyed very much judging by the mosh pit in the center of the venue. Even the ten-minute long mid-tempo “Dey VIII: Deus’ Ignorance” (in which unfortunately we couldn’t hear Theo well due to a mic problem) was flawless and didn’t make their show less energetic. They played mostly songs from their new very good album “Memoir 414”, but they didn’t forget their older releases (what a killer tune “Crisis” is) with the audience creating a nice atmosphere with their voices in “Infants Of Thrash”. One thing is for certain, they gained more fans that night, especially those who haven’t heard them before.
Setlist: Dark City, Crisis, Infants Of Thrash, Day VIII: Deus’ Ignorance, Cutting Edge, The Eye, The Sickening
Full House Brew Crew that came next, wanted to add their own special touch to the show, as they brought their own lights. Instead of music, from the speakers came out a strange ominous sound that gave you the impression that something brutal was about to happen. And from the moment the groove metallers entered the stage, it was clear that they wanted to shake up the Academy for good. What if their sound wasn’t similar to the other two bands? Their performance was heavy as fuck. So heavy that after the second song some fuses were damaged (I think from an amplifier) and towards the end Vagelis’ guitar pedal had a malfunction and he focused on the vocals while playing guitar at certain parts. It was bad because the sound seemed empty without it, but on the other hand it showed how cool, focused and well-rehearsed are because they didn’t lose their shit and continued the pounding. Their set was based in the amazing second full-length album “Me Against You”, without leaving outside the debut “Bet It All”.
Setlist: No Retreat, Me Against You, Black Shade, Bury Me, Hollow God, The Undisputed, Bring The Chaos, No One’s Safe, Black Empty Box, Cannot Be Judged
The wait for the headliners seemed bigger than it was, but from the first riffs of “Endless War” everything was forgotten. A steamroller on the stage accompanied by an amazing light show and a lot of smoke created a terrific atmosphere. Especially during the second song “Capital Of War”, the scene where the fans screamed “fire, fire” while the machined pumped out smoke was well-suited. The mosh pit didn’t seem to close and the audience had great reactions to old and new songs, even the mid-tempo ones, showing that they really like their new album. Of course, they didn’t forget any of the previous releases (“Vomit Upon The Cross” was a big surprise for me) in a set that was very enjoyable. The only negative I could find was a solo of Gus Drax, in which he also played the opening riff of “South Of Heaven” and the fans followed with a sing-along, something that I found unnecessary like every live solo of a musician in general. There were also some few issues where we couldn’t hear at all one of the guitars for a few seconds (couldn’t notice if it was from Gus or from Nick), but that’s a small detail. As for the rest, war, great songs, amazing performance, denial, defiance, destruction, attack, apokathilosis.
Setlist: Endless War, Capital Of War, Bloodbath, Years Of Aggression, Bloody Ground, D.I.V.A., Frontgate, Eternally To Suffer, The Roof Of Rats, Beggar Of Scorn, Moshing Crew, Vomit On The Cross, Seed Of Evil, Born Of Hate, The Sacred Dance With Chaos, Bleeding Holocaust, Apokathilosis
In the Academy there was a thrash metal party with the best hosts our country has in this particular…sport. Suicidal Angels were spectacular, they deserve everything they have achieved and many more. The support bands were also amazing, the fans filled almost all the ground floor of the venue and showed how much they like this band. I hope their next headline show in Athens won’t be long, as we need to see them more often.
George Terzakis
Photos: Dionisis Partheniadis http://thepit.gr/photos/2020/live-aggression/
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