Gorgoroth / Samael at Shibuya Stream Hall, November 2nd 2018
According to Wikipedia, a police force comprised of 35000 members was put in charge of protecting The Beatles during their visit to Japan in 1967. Similarly, on Halloween this year, just a couple of days before this show, Shibuya was turned into an annoying hubbub of police officers yelling into microphones and megaphones, limiting walking transit in general.
The reason why I bring this two cases of disproportionate use of vigilance is because of a serious communique posted on Twitter hours before the show and reiterated during it. The post said that crowdsurfing, moshing and taking pictures will not be allowed. That the bands could leave the stage at any point if any of this happened. Imposing these rules at a black metal show seems paradoxical and it goes completely against the rebellious nature of the genre. But then again, the genre is a paradox in itself.
Dayal Patterson said it best in the introduction of his book “Black Metal Evolution of the Cult”, when he said that the genre “is a multifaceted beast, at once fearlessly conservative yet fearlessly groundbreaking”. In this music there are no holds barred, its impact is immediate and ferocious. Yet some of the most pedantic fans are very callous about what’s black metal and what’s not.
On this bill there were two co-headliners. One band was the quintessential black metal band, appealing to the most orthodox sensibilities, while the other, after being a pioneer in the genre recording one of its first EPs back in the eighties, evolved its sound to more of an industrial one. This contrast was promising and it delivered.
The show took place at Shibuya Stream, a brand new huge landmark building in that area that opened just a month and a half prior. The venue was brand new. I hope they get to do more shows of the kind this blog covers there. I thought the size was ideal and the sound top notch.
The Spanish band Atrexial opened with a decent black metal set that got every one pumped. Samael took the stage to the sounds of Hegemony, the title track of their latest eponymous album from 2017. Even though I was there for the second headliner, they won me over and the rest of the audience with their energy and charisma on stage. Instead of live drums they use programmed beats performed by someone who’s behind a hybrid of keyboards and drums set up. These industrial leanings are more Rammstein than Godflesh, which means they’re more accessible than not. The tunes are catchy, the delivery is tight. They engage in stage banter acknowledging the crowd, which is sometimes rare at black metal shows.
Security’s policing got annoying during the set and the subdued crowd was more a result of it than a lack of empathy with the band. As a matter of fact, I tried snapping a couple of pictures for this site when I was stopped by a staff member. The funny thing is that him and many of his coworkers were taking pictures from behind the barrier. That’s the hypocrisy of authority for you. But don’t get me wrong, I think Evoken de Valhalla did an excellent job putting this show together, it ran smoothly and it was well organized.
The last two songs from Samael’s set were my favorites. They closed with Baphomet’s Throne from their 1994 Ceremony of Opposites album and Black Supremacy from their latest. Many people will argue that the lyrics from the latter are exclusively about evil and darkness, but I know exactly what they’re talking about. Listen to it when you get a chance. It’s an amazing song that manages to integrate politics and social matters into the realm of the occult, the preferred context in the genre.
Occult themes are the bread and butter of the second headliner. When Gorgoroth takes the stage the first thing you notice is the smell. If you’re close it’ll hit you like a ton of bricks as a reminder that these people live the lifestyle. A lifestyle that, in the nineties, included arson and all types of sensationalist appalling behavior. More than twenty years have passed since things spiraled out of control in Norway during the second wave of black metal era. I can see where they’re coming from, but at the root it’s all about “praise satan!”, can’t get more cartoonish than that. Those are not real problems, those are first world problems, just like a Halloween celebration mobilizes thousands of cops.
That being said, Gorgoroth projects a misanthropic worldview with an intimidating disposition on stage. Despite the plastic spikes in their wrist gauntlets, I guess customs wouldn’t have it any other way, an evil atmosphere permeated the whole place, while the band plummeted through some of the most relentless, unapologetic black metal you can think of. What makes them stand apart from similar other bands is the quality of their riffs. Their first album is one of the masterpieces of the genre because of it. In a live setting their show flows without feeling like it’s the same song repeated all over. With Hoest from Taake in charge of lead vocals gauging jack and cokes, and founding member Infernus on lead guitar as menacing as ever, the blast beats and cacophony achieved delighted everyone present with a setlist that covered pretty much each of their releases.
All in all it was two hours -one for for each band- of unadulterated, confrontational and yet at times accessible black metal of the finest kind.
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