UNHOLY TRINITY SKELETONWITCH/GOATWHORE/TOXIK HOLOCAUST/PATHOSIS
Eddie's, Birmingham - 3 December 2009

Before the rotating headlining triumvirate, local old school death metallers Pathosis had twenty minutes or so to impress a largely disinterested crowd. Sound issues didn't help - the drum kit was practically inaudible for the first song and a half, the guitar tone was nowhere near slicing enough throughout, and strangely the volume seemed to have been cranked right down - but they didn't do much to endear themselves.

Toxik Holocaust played a blistering set of turbo charged brutal thrash that was most reminiscent of Slayer, Possessed, and Venom, with touches of Gama Bomb and even Overkill. Many of the tracks had an underlying punk vibe combined with a high level of thrash chug. The new album understandably featured prominently, track titles such as "March From Hell", "War Is Hell", "666", "Endless Armageddon", and finale "Nuke The Cross" tell you all you need to know. Pulverising from start to finish despite a still far from great sound doing its best to put a dampener on their efforts.

Goatwhore got a markedly better sound and unleashed track after track of vicious blackened thrash with more than a hint of death metal fury. Coupling a savage approach which bordered on being feral at times with musical dexterity and intricacy this was an exercise in almost surgical brutality. The set list was cunningly assembled so that the intensity built progressively; closing track "Apocalyptic Havoc" was utterly crushing although I could have singled out many others of similar ferocity throughout their concussive performance.

Skeletonwitch were not to be outdone and played a stunningly executed, murderously heavy, set of blackened thrash. I'd been waiting to see them live since first marvelling at the mayhem of "Beyond The Permafrost" and they more than lived up to my expectations. Tracks from both the debut and more recent "Breathing The Fire" intermingled with a common malevolent intent. Thrash metal is alive and well and Skeletonwitch proved that in its current incarnation it can hold its own with the heaviest and most brutal out there. From "Submit The Suffering" to "Within My Blood" this was a breathtaking display and rounded off an evening of the highest quality, marred only by the sound issues.