Live Reviews : Kreator and Death Angel @ HQ, Adelaide 17/04/2014

So it’s a cool Thursday night in the City of Churches where people have finished their working week thanks to Good Friday Public Holiday and before the doors open there is already a clamoring of black outside of HQ chomping at the bit for a night with thrash metal legends Kreator and Death Angel.

Normally a nightclub most nights of the week, this is the first metal show that I have seen at the venue and just from walking in and seeing the set up, the equipment, the lighting and everything,  that you are going to be in for a memorable night and a perfect start to the four-day weekend.

With the first band not due to take the stage until about an hour after doors open, the punters steadily stream in and have the chance to sink beverages, engage in some friendly banter and get themselves primed for the metal assault that is to follow.

And just like clock-work the lights dim and California’s Death Angel hit the stage for a long awaited return to Adelaide. From the opening notes of ‘Left for Dead’ and ‘Son of the Morning’ off of their latest offering ‘The Dream Calls For Blood’, the band launch a 5-pronged blistering attack on all ear-drums in attendance.

Constantly thanking the crowd for their support and joining the celebration that is metal, the band had fists pumping during ‘Evil Priest’ and followed up with ‘Claws In So Deep’ and ‘Relentless Revolution’. Things went up a notch when the crowd totally lost it to the opening riffs of ‘Seemingly Endless Time’ off of the classic ‘Act III’ album.

Getting a great sound mix coming through the system, the band played with breakneck technical proficiency and military precision while Mark Osegueda’s vocals soared over the top with a stage presence that drew the crowd in.

As the set started to draw to a close, Mark introduced the band before launching into ‘Succubus’ off of ‘The Dream Calls For Blood’ – the album which made up most of the set. Death Angel closed their set to a pit full of banging heads and thrashing limbs and got the night off to a cracker of a start.

After a much needed drink and cigarette break, the crowd reconvened in front of the stage ready for what the rest of the night had to offer. It was at this point that I noticed just how much of an older crowd it was. I know that the definition of ‘older’ is debatable but it was great to see people sticking by their music after all these years and exchanging war stories -it had that unique sense of connection among the crowd which only added to the occasion.

As once again the lights dimmed to commence the second part of the evening, there was a real energy to the room in anticipation for the arrival of German thrash metal legends Kreator. With the introduction track of ‘Mars Mantra’ the crowd noise built to a crescendo which exploded as soon as the band kicked into the opening strikes of Phantom Antichrist. Vocalist Miland Petrozza screams out ‘Adelaide! F**k! This! Place! Up!’ and the crowd totally, to put it bluntly, lose their shit.

Proving an unstoppable force, the band continued into ‘From Flood into Fire’ and ‘War Curse’ which got the crowd surfers being passed around the floor. It was at this point that Miland instructed the crowd to split in half and announced that he was going to count to three in German and when he did he wanted everybody go crazy and form a mega mosh pit….and go crazy the crowd did. It was quite the site to see and to be honest I was pretty proud of my city and to the extent that we could rip it up.

Just when you thought that it couldn’t get any crazier, the band announced ‘Pleasure to Kill’ and then it went to a whole new level again, and even then the calls were being made for more violence and brutality in the mosh pit. The energy in the place was off the chart and the sound that these four horseman of the apocalypse were making was faultless.

After ripping through a few more tracks the band introduced ‘Enemy of God’ to a massive reception before leading the crowd into the big fist-pumping sing-a-long that is ‘Phobia’. As had been the case all night, the energy, sound and performance of the band was at a maximum – this was a most ferocious display of metal at its finest.

The lights went out for a short pause in the set with chants of ‘Kreator! Kreator! Kreator!’ echoing throughout the venue. Returning to the stage to the sounds fo ‘The Patriarch’, the band got the second half of their set into full gear with ‘Violent Revolution’ before taking a pleasantly surprising change of pace with an awesome acoustic guitar solo which was met with a great reception.

Amping back up, the rest of the band took to the stage and delivered another massive one-two punch in the form of ‘People of the Lie’ and ‘Civilization Collapse’. As had been the case all night, everything demanded of the crowd was met and the place turned into one big blur of thrashing heads.

Waving a massive Kreator flag , Miland thanked the crowd for all their support, not only for the amazing night but for the all the support over the many years and the crowd showed the band their appreciation accordingly. With that, the band went into ‘Flag of Hate’ with the crowd going crazy in a massive circle pit along with accompanying stage divers. Finishing their set with ‘Tormentor’, Kreator almost brought the place to the brink of the destruction before finishing their set with arms fittingly raised in triumph.