Spring is already in full swing outside — sun, birds, and all that goes with it. What more could one want on such a day (a Sunday, at that)? A session, of course! ;). Without a moment's hesitation, we head to Torba, where an event with the resonant name Death Manifest has been planned, organised by a relatively new outfit called Noise Cult. Arriving half an hour early, I found people already milling around the entrance in full force, drinking beer and chatting — in short.
This time the organisers managed to avoid the eternal problem of delayed starts almost entirely; people were only let into the club 2 minutes after the announced time, but nonetheless the organisers received an official reprimand from Crow ;).
No problems with entry. The crowd passively resisted the organisers' attempts to herd everyone inside, where the Lviv death metallers INFARCT FOCUS were already climbing onto the stage. First impression... wow. Second impression... WOW! Very, very good. I personally had not expected this from a band little known (at least to the Kyiv audience) from Lviv. I feel that a new star may be about to ignite in the "underground" sky. The vocals particularly impressed — they were not hammering away at one thing but shifting in some imperceptibly varied way. The audience, however, responded rather sluggishly, despite Tiamat's (an IDOL member and MC) requests to come near the stage and mosh. Probably because people were in no hurry to enter the stuffy hall (and it was genuinely stuffy, which slightly marred the overall impression). But anyway — in my view they played very well.
Then the Kyiv band SCORN AGE followed. A band whose work I have long been familiar with and, let us say, enjoy ;). They played with considerable power and aggression, the vocalist attempting to produce the most brutal growl possible. In principle they achieved everything they set out to do, but the performance itself felt somehow dry. At any rate compared to the preceding band. The audience, however, was already starting to warm up, and moshers began appearing near the stage.
After SCORN AGE's set followed a brief break during which the first competition began: contestants had to shout the name of the next performing band — AWOKEN — as low and juicily as possible, multiple times. The winner received a goblet of beer, though in my personal opinion the prize was awarded to the wrong person. But such is life ;), and meanwhile the Illichivsk black/death formation AWOKEN appeared on stage. At this point the hall had fully fired up. A powerful pit broke out near the stage, people were moshing in earnest. The band performed well, though the CANNIBAL CORPSE cover they played didn't impress me. I simply cannot picture "Hammer Smashed Face" with screaming. But it sounded interesting overall, and I particularly liked the interplay between the two guitars.
After AWOKEN's set there was another competition — this time the task was to spin a long hair "helicopter" for as long as possible. The winner received a five-litre keg of beer. In general the crowd entertained themselves as best they could, until the Lviv psycho-death band AMBIVALENCE appeared on stage. Impressions were mixed. At the start of the set I did not recognise them at all. This was not psycho-death but something considerably more brutal. I would even say I had expected them to be considerably more distinctive. But approximately halfway through the set the music changed, becoming more recognisable and characteristic of this band, whose own style has been established for some time. In short — a good performance.
And finally the death 'n' roll band IDOL appeared. A slightly unusual style, but it was precisely this unusualness that turned out to be the most interesting aspect. Driving riffs, and on vocals a girl doing the growling. In short — for anyone who has never heard them, I recommend listening at least once. However, here the general downside emerged, so to speak. I had always previously thought that thematic sessions focused on specific styles were cool, but precisely this session changed my view. By the end I was simply tired and even starting to get bored. And this despite not having been moshing myself. What can be said of those who had been slamming around in the stuffy hall all evening... in short, IDOL were already performing to a half-empty hall. A shame.
And in closing I want to thank the organisers for bringing interesting bands. We hope it won't be the last time.