With such an outstanding debut album, it only makes sense that black metallers Zhrine sail the seas to present their ominous and eerie string of notes on a live stage. Tonight they perform the intimate Black Heart venue in London along with Icelandic comrades Severed and Audn.
The Black Heart venue has become a cult classic given it’s intimacy, and presents a perfect opportunity for Zhrine to showcase ‘Unorthea‘ in it’s entirety to a small yet refined group of music fans, who have packed out the venue this evening to show appreciation for the rising Icelandic metal scene.
[date]20th May 2016[/date]
[venue]The Black Heart[/venue]
[city]London, UK[/city]
[support_bands]Audn, Severed[/support_bands]
Audn
Audn are a band that are certainly on the rise, not only turning heads with the release of their brilliant self-titled debut, but also winning the Wacken metal battle for Iceland, securing a spot to perform at the festival this summer.
The band instantly make an impression donning solid black suits – almost a statement of intent that Audn are serious about the integrity of their music. It’s justified straight away amongst the first augmented dark notes that blast through the PA.
Admittedly I have run through their debut once, but Audn certainly have given us reasons to return to the album for a few more listens. Through out the performance the band perfectly execute a raw, paganesque edge to their music what seemingly progressed from a crushing atmosphere to an epic finale. An excellent performance all-around.
Severed
Intermittently between the two black metal acts this evening comes a bit of brutal death metal under the name of Severed. Glazed in the same blue Nordic light as their live predecessors, the band fire off the series of blast beats that have become synonymous with the genre, making every guttural note known the audience.
Though being an integral part of the Icelandic metal showcase this evening, Severed took the opportunity to debut a couple tracks off their freshly released EP ‘Songs of Decomposition‘, making quite the impression on the London fan who came for the black metal.
Despite the frontman having to hobble his way through the performance with a broken ankle, the energy was all there, and Severed certainly impressed with their Nordic incarnation of brutal death metal.
Zhrine
Now attention turns to the centrepiece of the evening – black metallers Zhrine presenting their debut album ‘Unorthea‘ to underline a statement of a new wave of Nordic metal streaming it’s way into the hearts and minds of the more refined metal fan. The recorded album did just that, but with such a unique atmosphere and technical intricacies placating the album, fans have shown up to see just how well it transists on the live stage.
It would turn out absolutely seemless, as the band again bathed in heavy melancholic lighting, begin their presentation with ‘Utopian Warfare‘, with each track being thread right into the next. The sound is as it should be, a raw and eerie resonation that embraces the audience with a cold touch.
The atmosphere plays a grandiose part in the performance, but the technicalities of the music bring an impressive feat. Every dark augmented chord is executed flawlessly, and the unique edge brought about by a double-bass providing the backbone to the amplified rawness. Particular favourites are that of ‘Spewing Gloom‘ and ‘World‘.
It’s particularly arguable that Zhrine are a standout act in the black metal scene, that point was made with the release of the album. But an excellent execution of a live performance like this one may just take them to full international acclaim, and the first of many stories in the saga of Icelandic extreme metal dominance.