NAPALM DEATH w/ Dying Fetus and Daemon Foetal Harvest

The gates opened at the Factory Theatre on time to a small crowd of early gatherers awaiting the return of British grind legends Napalm Death to our soil. The first thing everyone noticed was how long we were going to have to wait to hear any band playing. After we all amused our selves with the bar socialising for a long hour for the first band to start, what we were treated to was an incredible night of high energy and engaging brutality.

The first band to hit the stage was Daemon Foetal Harvest, who came out with hard hitting riffs that you could feel in your chest. The band had a great mix and the guitars were tight and the drums were powerful and driving, the singer did a good job of making their presence felt though the crowd. The crowd reacted well to their set, many sitting back and being engaged by the sound and a few die-hard fans up the front showing full support. Daemon Foetal Harvest were a great opening act for the night, but unfortunately it was somewhat disengaging to see blatant looks of disinterest by one or two of the members at key points of the performance, other than that it was a flawless set.

After being made to wait so long for the first band it was an awesome treat to see the quick change over between the first and second bands. When Dying Fetus started off their set I was nearly crushed by the sudden swarm of punters rushing from outside to the front of the pit. Dying Fetus commanded the stage and delivered an amazingly precise and powerful set.

They played a good mix of new and old songs, pleasing both newfound fans and old school supporters alike. I must confess though that before this show I never thought too much of the band, but now my mind has been easily changed, the fast and technical sections were delivered with clean almost effortless precision which stunned the crowd, then they changed to their slow, heavy and hammering sections which engaged the crowd to pump their fists and bang their heads as hard as possible.

Personally I usually find it hard to sit though an entire set of fast technical bands, I usually lose interest after the first 500 sweep arpeggios and find myself heading to the bar, but this was not the case with Dying Fetus at all, their perfect mix of fast technicality, mid paced groove with catchy vocal placement, slow head banging sections and their stage presence made it awesome from start to finish.

After Dying Fetus raised the bar significantly for the show the only band left was the eagerly anticipated Napalm Death. The Factory was packed full of metal heads and grinders alike both waiting to witness one of the greatest live acts the scene has to offer, the venue was hard to move though and occasionally hard to breath towards the front.

When Napalm Death started their set they hit the stage like a speeding freight train that had lost all control. The quartet showed incredible - arguably unbeatable - energy on stage and the music was a thick wall of pounding and catchy riffs, at the same time being both decipherable and overwhelming. The crowd towards the front wasted no time in starting a pit to match the energy the band was projecting, and even the crowd towards the middle and back were joining in with chanting, raising horns, pumping fists and raising beers.

The most incredible thing about the band was that unlike most extreme bands who focus on looking tough and moving in particular ways, Napalm just freely rocked out in whatever way they wanted, fronted by singer Barney, whose presence and movement were nothing less then admirable and astounding, and the fact that the band has been playing for as long as it has and it still manages to put on such a show while still having natural smiles on their faces and a general sense of enjoyment and fulfillment was inspirational.

The band was relentless, pounding out favourites such as Silence Is Deafening, Suffer The Children, When All Is Said And Done, Scum and many more, the band made an effort to play as many songs one after another as possible, whilst breaking to have front man Barney engage the crowd with his antics and political/social beliefs which he mused with great conviction and had the audience cheering with respect and acknowledgement. I can safely say that this was possibly the most entertaining and fulfilling show I’ve ever been to. And considering the attitude of the crowd, I don’t think I’m the only one.