Reanimator Thrash Night - Bristol Pear - Saturday 9th February 2008

The moral of this tale is don't drink a lot of cider before going to a gig, then switch to Guinness and lager and expect to remember much about it the next day! Still I'll give it a go...

Acral Necrosis got the night under way. Thanks to Al for the EP, a review of which will appear on a new section of this site soon. These guys are fast and very brutal residing somewhere in the twilight zone between between thrash, death and black metal. Vicious set, couldn't really hear the bass player which was a pity as he was flying up and down the fretboard of his five string. Other than that enjoyed them a lot and will hopefully catch them again soon on their next trip south from Wigan. Intriguingly I thought thay sounded better when they slowed it down a fraction on their last couple of songs however I am being picky. Great start to the night.

Salute were next up. Another British band this time a 3 piece who bulldozed through their allotted time. They were on a winner from the off with me as I have always loved the sound of a Rickenbacker bass. Heads down trad metal played savagely won over the crowd from the word go. Can't fault them musically and another band to add to my "keep an eye on" list. Hate the Thin Lizzy rip-off logo though fellas!

Nocturnal. Billed as headliners there is a strong rumour flying around that they wanted to be moved up the bill so that they had more post-set drinking time!! Over from Germany a must-see when they next descend on Blighty. Shatteringly savage thrash they pummelled all into submission and win the award for the first band to get a pit going at a Reanimator evening I've attended at this venue. Setlist as follows; "Temples Of Sin", "Merciless Murder", "Tormentor", "Old Iron Instinct", "Creation Of The Possessed", "Preventive War", "Burn This Town", "Satanic Oath", "Armada Del Sur", "One Of Us", "Thrash Attack" and "Awakening..." were their original tunes with a stunning cover of Exodus' "A Lesson In Violence" concluding their stint. Can't fault them at all, I'll be tracking down their back catalogue very soon.

Serpent Cult. First time in the UK for this female-fronted Belgian outfit and from what I remember they played a good set (unfortunately at this stage I was slightly the worse for wear!). Thankfully we managed to obtain the setlist - "New World Order", "Arkanum", "The Harvest", "Weight Of Light", "Red Dawn", "Templars" and closer "Screams F/T Deep". Thanks to the drummer for the drumstick and for the introduction to the band's lovely vocalist Michelle. Compact and bijou as Stephen Fry once commented, she's very cute and possesses a fine and surprisingly powerful voice for one so diminutive. Nice to see the drummer using a Mapex kit as well - they really do have a superb tone.

Another quality evening from the Reanimator crew, can't wait for the next one on the 24th - 2 days after Megadeth, Job For A Cowboy and Evile at The Academy - that weekend is going to be purgatory!!

Thanks again to my gig-buddy Bill who will be posting photos of the evening on his site soon - http://www.myspace.com/number_chruncher - and apologies for being so pissed at the end of the evening!!