Lords of the Land @ SWG3, Glasgow (6th April 2019)
with Electric Wizard, Coroner, Tankard, The Black Dahlia Murder, Belphegor, Rotting Christ, Anaal Nathrakh, Akercocke and Winterfylleth
Opening the festival, at the slightly later than scheduled but otherwise at the still blurry-eye worthy time of 11:30 were the Manchester atmospheric black metal band, Winterfylleth. This was a band that I casually started listening to a few years ago when I was starting to get into much heavier music, but I had yet to ever see them live.
The band would face a challenge starting the day, as the bar wouldn't open until the end of their set, (something I only realised when the frontman pointed it out a couple of songs in), so this factor plus the earlier start time meant that there was quite a sedate atmosphere within the crowd. Winterfylleth's brand of black metal was pretty much ideal to get the day started off well however. As they were only playing for half an hour, the band's setlist consisted of heavier material rather than the more gentle atmospheric stuff, which worked pretty well at warming the crowd up.
Other than a few minor tech issues (which thankfully didn't affect the sound of the band), Winterfylleth were musically tight, and by the end of their set they had won over a fair amount of the crowd who were initially rather indifferent. Some casual head bopping, and even a bit of headbanging could be seen, particularly in some of the faster, more furious sections of pure black metal blast beats. The fact that the frontman seemed really enthused to see so many people in the room so early in the morning meant that the set felt like even more of a success as well.
I feel like Winterfylleth were the perfect band to open things off in a day full of such intense metal, as they were heavy enough to engage and wake people up, but had enough of a more sedate vibe in the instrumentation that it never felt like it was too much for such an early start. I'd definitely like to see this band do a headline set in the future so I can see them delve into their more chilled out material, as they were really pretty good live.
A band worth checking out for sure, but the late set up of the band and the appalling sound quality let them down that day. Hopefully their other live shows are a bit better if I see them again.
And all for good reason. Thankfully they didn't suffer the same misfortunes as Anaal Nathrakh as their set went off without a hitch and was probably my favourite of the festival. With a combination of chunky, at parts wonderfully thrashy black metal and more melodic guitar solos and Lamb of God-esque growled and cleaner/chanted vocals, the band showed tremendous showman and musicianship from the band who have been around since 1987.
Not wanting to stay in the past however, they did play a couple of songs from their new album with set opener 'Hallowed Be Thy Name' (so fun chanting along to this), and 'Fire God and Fear' in which the guitar solo just absolutely rocked the place. This set is the first one that really had the crowd going and was definitely a favourite of the majority there with their insane guitar work and great selection of classic songs. I only wish the set was longer but I am getting to see them do a headline set at Bloodstock in August so I can't wait to experience them again.
A video of their set is available just below this review if you wish to check this out. I strongly encourage that you try and catch this band live as well.
Up next, and slap bang in the middle of the day were the Austrian black metal band, Belphegor. I wasn't too familiar with the band coming into the festival but I did listen to quite a few of their popular songs from Spotify and I did enjoy what I heard. Sadly that didn't really translate well to the stage that day.
In terms of the sound, the sheer volume was like getting crushed with a sledgehammer, but not in a way that was enjoyable. With arguably the loudest and most full on sonic performance of the entire day, the volume was actually physically painful at times, even with earplugs in. The lack of variation from the full on blast beats and noise got old quite quickly as well and never really seemed to go anywhere all that interesting.
Perhaps the most interesting part of this band was the visual appearance, but even then, this wasn't particularly innovative. Sporting the typical black metal set up of corpse paint, skulls and inverted crosses, the excessively cartoony nature of the band, and overly dramatic vocalist seemed a bit daft at times. I know that's not unexpected when regarding black metal but hear me out. All in all, they ended up somewhat coming across as a second-rate Behemoth visually and musically.
I don't think that following on from Rotting Christ helped them much either but the majority of the crowd didn't seem all that into them either. Other than a few people moshing the centre, there was a sense of indifference through the minimal movement or headbanging of the crowd.
Ending the set at what seemed to be a shorter length than some of the other bands was probably the best for everyone. My least favourite band of the day. It definitely felt like it was time much of the crowd to have a break and a sit down during this set.
This could barely have been more different for the sixth band to perform that day. The energetic vibes were brought fully back to the stage with Michigan melodic death metal/deathcore band, The Black Dahlia Murder. I've always enjoyed what I've heard of this band but have never had a chance to see the band live. For that, I feel like I've missed out severely now.
From the get go, the audience was swirling with mosh pits and crowdsurfers. Perhaps in the case of the latter, it would be the most that the festival would see all day. The level of engagement and sheer energy from the band and the crowd at large was great to watch. A bit part of this was due to the vocalist, who exuded a sense of enjoyment through raucous grins, while bounding across the stage, making direct eye contact and pointing to those who were shouting along.
The fun vibes were reflected in the music, perhaps surprisingly considering how heavy it all sounded. Alongside some blisteringly fast but sonically tight death metal, The Black Dahlia Murder's embrace of the parts that make deathcore great when it's done right made a really good combination.
Thankfully there was no reliance on the conventionally overused and repetitive breakdowns from deathcore bands, instead chucking out an abundance of blast beats and intense riffing, alongside an impressive variety of squeals, growls and some cleaner vocals. Crucially these still sounded powerful rather than sappy, and alongside some awesome melodic, fast shredding, this material sounded pretty killer.
I thought the band were therefore pretty great and an excellent choice for the bill. They were complex enough to engage death metal fans but also had some of the more engaging characteristics of deathcore that made this a really fun watch. I had a thoroughly good time and perhaps a bit too much headbanging ensured.
There's a video from their set below if you want to check that out as well.
WORDS: Joanne Gray // Ross Donald
Lords of the Lands has become somewhat of a Glasgow institution within the underground metal community in the last few years. Onto its fourth outing, the scale of the bands on offer has grown with time, leading to the creation of the lineup above and thus the first visit for either of us in RWEI. Quite a remarkable achievement for the small team behind Lords of the Lands (who also own the 200-capacity Audio venue in Glasgow).
Originally scheduled to be held in the Barrowlands, the festival was moved last minute to the smaller SWG3 because around half of the audience for Lords tend to come from mainland Europe and with Brexit just around the corner... Yeah... Makes sense... Anyway, politics aside, we've never been to this festival before so had no previous experience with the Barrowlands for an all day gig. We'll get to some of the pros and cons of the setup of the venue later though. Let's get to the music, huh?
As there are a whopping nine bands to get through during the day, we decided to split the reviews between us to try and cover as much ground as possible, so here goes!
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WORDS: Joanne Gray
Opening the festival, at the slightly later than scheduled but otherwise at the still blurry-eye worthy time of 11:30 were the Manchester atmospheric black metal band, Winterfylleth. This was a band that I casually started listening to a few years ago when I was starting to get into much heavier music, but I had yet to ever see them live.
The band would face a challenge starting the day, as the bar wouldn't open until the end of their set, (something I only realised when the frontman pointed it out a couple of songs in), so this factor plus the earlier start time meant that there was quite a sedate atmosphere within the crowd. Winterfylleth's brand of black metal was pretty much ideal to get the day started off well however. As they were only playing for half an hour, the band's setlist consisted of heavier material rather than the more gentle atmospheric stuff, which worked pretty well at warming the crowd up.
Other than a few minor tech issues (which thankfully didn't affect the sound of the band), Winterfylleth were musically tight, and by the end of their set they had won over a fair amount of the crowd who were initially rather indifferent. Some casual head bopping, and even a bit of headbanging could be seen, particularly in some of the faster, more furious sections of pure black metal blast beats. The fact that the frontman seemed really enthused to see so many people in the room so early in the morning meant that the set felt like even more of a success as well.
I feel like Winterfylleth were the perfect band to open things off in a day full of such intense metal, as they were heavy enough to engage and wake people up, but had enough of a more sedate vibe in the instrumentation that it never felt like it was too much for such an early start. I'd definitely like to see this band do a headline set in the future so I can see them delve into their more chilled out material, as they were really pretty good live.
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WORDS: Joanne Gray
After warming things up quite nicely, the next band up were the London based progressive black/death metal band Akercocke. These guys would be the first of a few bands that I had only briefly listened to just before seeing them. They were quite a bit more impressive live than I anticipated.
Being a good bit more energetic than the previous band (and perhaps the addition of alcohol helped with this for the crowd too), Akercocke conjured up the first mosh pits of the day. This wasn't surprising considering the nature of the songs which switched between doomier, groovy slabs of chunky metal and more fast paced thrash with some quirky changes of pace to keep things interesting.
The stage presence of the band was particularly engaging as well. Shout out to the vocalist who barely stayed still for a moment and hyped the crowd up throughout the set. The keyboardist was the real star however, as he spent most of his time air guitaring and drumming along to the rest of the band, which was more fun to watch than it really should've been.
Although the sections of the set where the clean vocals dominated the sound didn't really do much for me, as they felt a bit flat compared to the heavier rasps and growls, I thought this was a pretty fun set overall that really started to build the energy for the rest of the day. I'll need to check out this band more in the future.
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WORDS: Ross Donald
By the time that one of Birmingham's most well-known extreme metal band Anaal Nathrakh came onstage, the energy from the crowd had reached a palpable level.
Anaal Nathrakh were one of the main bands I was looking forward to the most due to the fact that their latest album A New Kind of Horror was one of my favourite albums from last year. The band has also been known as the soundtrack to the apocalypse, which had me quite hyped. Crowd surfers and moshing was aplenty from pretty much the get go and it's no wonder when a good chunk of their set was made up of A New Kind of Horror material.
Sadly the set in its entirety left a bit to be desired and ended up being a bit forgettable due to a few factors. First off, it was clear during the set opener, 'Obscene as Cancer', that the sound wasn't quite right. The mix sounded a bit off and muddy, and you could barely hear vocalist Dave Hunt at all. This was an issue that remained throughout the rest of the set.
The band did come on to the stage a bit late as well and it was clear that Dave was pissed off as he said he wanted to play a few more songs but wasn't allowed. This left a bit of a negative feeling by the end of the set. I will give them credit for their performance of 'Forward!' which really got the crowd going and caused a nice wall of death to take place. I had fun singing along too, so at least it wasn't all bad.
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WORDS: Ross Donald
Next up were the Greek black metal legends, Rotting Christ. This was the band I was looking forward to the most as I've been listening to the band regularly since the release of their most recent album The Heretics (my review of that album is here). I'd also came to the festival with the Rotting Christ shirt I bought beforehand, so it's safe to say that my hopes were high. The fact that the audience was pretty rammed by the time the band came onstage suggested that plenty of other people were in the same position.
And all for good reason. Thankfully they didn't suffer the same misfortunes as Anaal Nathrakh as their set went off without a hitch and was probably my favourite of the festival. With a combination of chunky, at parts wonderfully thrashy black metal and more melodic guitar solos and Lamb of God-esque growled and cleaner/chanted vocals, the band showed tremendous showman and musicianship from the band who have been around since 1987.
Not wanting to stay in the past however, they did play a couple of songs from their new album with set opener 'Hallowed Be Thy Name' (so fun chanting along to this), and 'Fire God and Fear' in which the guitar solo just absolutely rocked the place. This set is the first one that really had the crowd going and was definitely a favourite of the majority there with their insane guitar work and great selection of classic songs. I only wish the set was longer but I am getting to see them do a headline set at Bloodstock in August so I can't wait to experience them again.
A video of their set is available just below this review if you wish to check this out. I strongly encourage that you try and catch this band live as well.
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WORDS: Ross Donald
In terms of the sound, the sheer volume was like getting crushed with a sledgehammer, but not in a way that was enjoyable. With arguably the loudest and most full on sonic performance of the entire day, the volume was actually physically painful at times, even with earplugs in. The lack of variation from the full on blast beats and noise got old quite quickly as well and never really seemed to go anywhere all that interesting.
Perhaps the most interesting part of this band was the visual appearance, but even then, this wasn't particularly innovative. Sporting the typical black metal set up of corpse paint, skulls and inverted crosses, the excessively cartoony nature of the band, and overly dramatic vocalist seemed a bit daft at times. I know that's not unexpected when regarding black metal but hear me out. All in all, they ended up somewhat coming across as a second-rate Behemoth visually and musically.
I don't think that following on from Rotting Christ helped them much either but the majority of the crowd didn't seem all that into them either. Other than a few people moshing the centre, there was a sense of indifference through the minimal movement or headbanging of the crowd.
Ending the set at what seemed to be a shorter length than some of the other bands was probably the best for everyone. My least favourite band of the day. It definitely felt like it was time much of the crowd to have a break and a sit down during this set.
______________________
WORDS: Joanne Gray
This could barely have been more different for the sixth band to perform that day. The energetic vibes were brought fully back to the stage with Michigan melodic death metal/deathcore band, The Black Dahlia Murder. I've always enjoyed what I've heard of this band but have never had a chance to see the band live. For that, I feel like I've missed out severely now.
From the get go, the audience was swirling with mosh pits and crowdsurfers. Perhaps in the case of the latter, it would be the most that the festival would see all day. The level of engagement and sheer energy from the band and the crowd at large was great to watch. A bit part of this was due to the vocalist, who exuded a sense of enjoyment through raucous grins, while bounding across the stage, making direct eye contact and pointing to those who were shouting along.
The fun vibes were reflected in the music, perhaps surprisingly considering how heavy it all sounded. Alongside some blisteringly fast but sonically tight death metal, The Black Dahlia Murder's embrace of the parts that make deathcore great when it's done right made a really good combination.
Thankfully there was no reliance on the conventionally overused and repetitive breakdowns from deathcore bands, instead chucking out an abundance of blast beats and intense riffing, alongside an impressive variety of squeals, growls and some cleaner vocals. Crucially these still sounded powerful rather than sappy, and alongside some awesome melodic, fast shredding, this material sounded pretty killer.
I thought the band were therefore pretty great and an excellent choice for the bill. They were complex enough to engage death metal fans but also had some of the more engaging characteristics of deathcore that made this a really fun watch. I had a thoroughly good time and perhaps a bit too much headbanging ensured.
There's a video from their set below if you want to check that out as well.
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WORDS: Ross Donald
Thoroughly continuing the party vibes from the band before were the seventh act of the day: German thrash band Tankard. This was another band I was really looking forward to seeing as I'd started listening to them just before attending Lords of the Land and found their thrashy songs about drinking beer and zombie attacks to be a ton of fun and don't take themselves too seriously.
These guys are part of the Big Four of thrash metal bands from Germany, and I did see one of their counterparts, Destruction a few weeks ago. (You can read my gig review of that here). If these two bands are anything to go by then I really need to start listening to more German thrash bands.
Getting back to this set, I did miss the start as it was quite late in the day and we went to go grab some food as quickly as we could. The lack of decent food onsite was one of the slight drawbacks to having the festival in a venue which is in the middle of nowhere... I think we only missed two songs though so it wasn't too bad.
This was the first time the band has played in Glasgow and they certainly made the most of it as you could tell they were having a blast. The crowd was one of the most energetic of the day with some absolute huge pits, singalongs and a wall of death. This applied to the band as well who were absolutely full of beans that day. Quite a feat considering they were some of the oldest oldest guys on stage. The sense of fun really did translate well to the crowd as everyone was just having a great time.
Some great song choices included 'Rules for Fools', 'Zombie Attack', and 'A Girl Called Cerveza', before ending the set with '(Empty) Tankard'. This is a song that is still stuck in my head. It even gave us an epic visual of guitarist Andreas Gutjahr on the shoulders of a big guy running around the mosh pit while still playing the final riff. You can't really top that. Definitely check the band out if you're a fan of thrash and haven't done so already.
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WORDS: Joanne Gray
Getting to the penultimate band of the day, I started off near the front to watch the Swiss progressive thrash/death metal band Coroner play their first ever Scotland show. This was another band I had only briefly listened to beforehand, but I was interested by their off kilter approach to songwriting.
Onstage the trio packed a hell of a punch musically with some dirgy Pantera esque riffs before picking up the pace with some rhythmically interesting thrash which flirted with different time signatures and expansive structures. The band really sounded a lot bigger than their size would suggest.
Visually, there wasn't much to see as the band were pretty static, but this generally fit the feel of the music pretty well and there was small but dedicated mosh pit taking place during the first few songs. The less active visual presence did mean that I didn't feel so bad about going to the back of the room for a sit down and a shut eye however. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't that I was bored, I was just really knackered after such a long time standing around (get more seats next time, Lords!).
Thankfully the material was still interesting enough while I was just listening to them rather than watching them. This seemed to be the case with a lot of the people around me as well, a few of which were sitting down like myself. When each song would finish, the band would get a big response showing that the crowd was appreciative even if they were a bit more physically and/or mentally tired. Perhaps, like me they were also conserving energy for the final band of the evening.
I enjoyed the rest of the set sitting down as the heavy but technical nature of the music meant I could still listen somewhat in peace but still feel engaged. Another band I need to check out more of. I also thought they started to set things up nicely with some of the dirgy riffs for the main and final band of the evening, and the main reason I bought myself a ticket.
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WORDS: Joanne Gray
Dorset's stoner doom metal legends Electric Wizard have been a band that I have a fond attachment to. After seeing them play short performances at both Sonisphere 2014 and Download 2016, I've been dying to see them play a full set. Both times I saw them (particularly the first time during my first festival experience at 17), I've got the sense that I was witnessing something really special and those shows have really stuck with me ever since.
Getting to this gig, that sense of occasion was perhaps even greater than it had been beforehand. In the last few years, the band don't seem to have toured that much, other than playing a couple of European and US festivals. Managing to book them therefore was an impressive and super intelligent choice from the festival. Having such a big size of room to perform in further added to this sense of occasion as well.
Initially flashing their iconic swirling logo onto the back screen, Electric Wizard absolutely melted the faces of everyone in the room with their opening song 'Witchcult Today'. Just 8 minutes of ground shakingly heavy droning riffs that makes you feel like the walls are caving in around you. With all the bands that graced the stage that day, it's pretty remarkable just how much heavier Electric Wizard are than pretty much anyone on this planet.
This sense of earth-shattering heaviness continued throughout the set with the band's typical serious, banterless nature contributing significantly to the insane atmosphere of weed-infused doom goodness. As the set went on, I felt myself getting lost in those hypnotically layered pulsing drones in the way that makes Electric Wizard the absolute masters of their genre.
By the time the set ended on the utterly mind-blowing 'Funeralopolis', almost the entire crowd was sucked into the otherwordly trance of the band, with most people (myself included) swaying about like the drug-addled creatures that the music seems to bring out from within even the most sober of minds. It helps that this song sounds like the world is ending in the most gloriously satanic way over the course of its masterfully constructed 9-minute sludgefest.
I've got to say that the visual elements of the set really made this performance stand out all the more to me, as the vibe was solidified even further. Switching between footage of gore-heavy satanic trashy horror films full of naked bodies and pleasurable torture to mind altering psychedelic flashes of lights and colours, the screen really helped pull you into the band's dope induced occult darkness. This reached a pinnacle upon the last song where the epileptic seizure kaleidoscope alongside the frantic nature of the music made it feel like you were in the middle of a nuclear apocalypse. In the best possible kind of way.
It always seems cliche to say that seeing a band live is a communal experience that enriches the senses, but for Electric Wizard, that is most certainly the case. Every time I've seen this band, I've come away with the same intense feeling of euphoria that accompanies the replication of being stoned out of your box. This was beyond a doubt the best time I've seen the band though, and I thoroughly recommend checking them out live if you ever get the chance to. If you're lucky, it may just blow your mind, like it did for teenage me in that hazy tent at Download. They continued to do so during this set as well. What. A. Band.
Although you won't have the same experience watching the video below, it may just give you an idea of what I'm talking about. Honestly, go see them if you can.
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At with that utterly glorious ending, that brings us to the end of a tiring but completely awesome day of metal at the SWG3. As a whole, I thought that the venue was actually pretty decent for this gig, other than a few issues relating to transport, food and seating. But it really was the bands that made the day such a great one.
If the lineup's anywhere as enjoyable as this one was, there is a high chance I'll be there next year as well. Well done Lords of the Land for putting on such an awesome event in our city that has struggled with metal festivals over the last few years. And well done to all of the bands (even Belphegor) for showing how diverse and awesome underground metal can be.
It will definitely take a few more days to recover from this festival (as my neck, back and legs can testify to), but I'm really glad I decided to get a ticket.
Long live metal!
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Thanks very much to Ross for helping out with this pretty stacked review, and thanks to you for checking this out!
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