VADER

VADER

By the time the venue was eventually reached - side note, never trust public transport - both support bands in the form of As You Drown and Divine Chaos, have been and went but, judging by how fired up the crowd is in Ivory Blacks tonight, it’s needless to say they must have went down well with the people here tonight. The room is packed and the swaying crowd make it an uncomfortably warm night, and this is all before Vader even hit the stage. As vocalist Piotr “Peter” Wiwczarek’s hulking H.R. Giger-esque style microphone stand is brought on to the tiny stage, it gives an idea of scale and just how intimate this show really is; there is barely room enough for the band to move around. The lights dim, smoke floods the stage and penetrates the front rows of the crowd as the rest of the patrons here tonight are waiting for their time to strike and roaring their battle cries in anticipation. The pit sends bodies flying into pillars and the madness begins. Vader rip through a lot of material tonight, ‘Silent Empire’ from ‘De Profundis’ makes an appearance, ‘Carnal’ and the album’s title track ‘Black To The Blind’ alongside the likes of ‘Dark Age’ from ‘The Ultimate Incantation’, the Polish black metal legends blast through their back catalogue to give the fans what they want. The crowd are loving every minute that Vader are on that stage; the energy presented by the band is incredible, they are more than just a typical death metal band - they have passion and technicality, their music is more complex than the straight forward style with some of the songs tonight showcasing that fact brilliantly as the layers of the songs fill together with some solos from current session guitarist Marek Pajak that come simply crushing down. Wiwczarek’s vocals are on top form tonight, intensely guttural and bellowing, his voice is flowing so well alongside the incredibly tight guitar work and constant assault of double bass. The band themselves are constantly moving, whether it be darting around their side of the stage or windmilling, the energy is there and it is mirrored by the crowd’s energy levels which continue to rise as the front rows head bang at intense speeds and the pit consumes more victims. Tonight, Vader are playing incredibly, proving that they are one of the greatest death metal bands around at this moment in time and are a driving force in that genre. It almost seems a shame that they are playing such a tiny venue when their skills show great capacity for larger venues. Overall, Vader are a band who shall no doubt continue to produce some fantastic death metal and then just blow everyone away live; this was definitely the case tonight.

DATE:

VENUE:

Friday 5th March 2010

Ivory Blacks in Glasgow, UK

Reviews by Siobhan Hogarty