October couldn’t have started better for me. Last night, on Saturday the 5th, the maniax of Insane Hellride Enternainment organized a somehow last minute show with Gleichmacher and fucking Ultra Silvam, a band I have been dying to see live ever since I discovered their S/T debut demo back in 2017.
Currently on a short European tour with the Germans Gleichmacher, the Swedes stopped one fine Saturday night in Budapest’s Riff Klub, which proved to be an excellent location for such a true underground black metal show. The club does not have a very big stage so the bands need to play on the ground level, with the mikes right in front of those attending the show. This creates a fucking old school and intense atmosphere, watching the guys singing right in front of you, with no barriers in between.
Entrance fee was 10 euros (what a cool price!!) and the night promised to be a very good and intense one. Once at the location I was happy to meet up with some fine people I did not see in quite a long time and with whom I had some nice talks before and in between performances. As expected, there was also a small merch stand, but I was mostly interested in some Ultra Silvam stuff which for one reason or another I had missed when it came out. M.A was in charge of selling the band related merch so I had a nice conversation with him while buying the stuff I came for. Too bad they forgot the “The Spearwound Salvation” LP’s in their van, but I am sure there’ll be a next time to buy it.
The opening band of the evening was DVVAD from Szeged, a band I already saw earlier this year and whose performance I really enjoyed (and reviewed) back then. I don’t know what happened this time, but despite their efforts to put on a good show, something shadowed their performance a bit, at least for me. Nevertheless I still enjoyed the show and I was glad their opening spot (40 minutes) allowed them to play their “MRKLB” record in full, as I really like that album. Their cavernous blackened death metal has definitely reached its target as quite a large number of people came to see their show and cheered the band enthusiastically. I am looking forward to their next performance, as their music and the atmosphere it conjures puts me in a certain (un)pleasant mood.
After the change over and a relatively short sound check, Gleichmacher walked on the “stage”. I was not too familiar with this band, so I recently watched some live videos on YT to better understand what to expect. If the stuff on YT did not move me too much, I must admit that live these Germans know how to evoke a dark atmosphere. This is the second time Gleichmacher goes on tour with Ultra Silvam, so I assumed the bands must have developed a strong musical connection.
Their black metal is fast, aggressive and quite raw, exactly the way I like it. The 2 vocals complement each other very well, while the riffs and the blast beats go straight to the throat. Last night Gleichmacher showed they really know their craft and put a lot of passion in their energetic setlist, based mostly on tracks from their debut album, “Kränkung, Fall, Verderben“, released in 2022. I am glad I saw them live and I really appreciated their performance, it’s always good to make new musical discoveries, especially in the black metal spectrum.
Last for the night was Ultra Silvam, the band I came for in the 1st place. I did not know what to expect, because on disc they sound very well and a bit polished, so I was afraid that live they might sound a bit chaotic, if the settings weren’t good enough. I watched the quick sound check the band did right before their performance and I was pleasantly surprised, everything went fine. Moreover they were a trio this time, just like on the records, with M.A handling the guitar and the vocals. Once the check was over, the band went backstage to dress up and then all hell broke loose. The guitars were just amazing, sounded even better than on the record and the sharp riffs went straight to the heart. The drummer was an animal, I was expecting to see bits and pieces of his kit flying in all directions, but somehow he kept it all in one piece. The bass guitarist shredded his bass which sounded crunchy and heavy, I heard it quite well from where I was standing (in the very first row, right in front of them). When he was not headbanging like a maniac he also did some vocals, adding an extra layer of savagery to the songs.
There was not too much communication with the audience, but that’s not why they came to Budapest for. They came to destroy the place with their rotten Bathory infused black metal and that’s exactly what they did. The set list covered all their materials to date, from the demo to the latest record, “The Sanctity of Death”. I was pleasantly surprised to the hear “Crooked Horned Prophet“, along with some of my favorites tracks like “Sodom vises himlafärd“, “The Sanctity of Death”, The Spearwound Salvation”, “Black Soil Fornication” or the fantastic track that closes their sophomore album, “Of Molded Bread and Rotten Wine“, with its bluesy, melancholic, almost funeral ending. The audience was quite enthusiastic, perhaps a bit too static, but they really seemed to feel the energy and aggression transmitted by the band. Once again, I cannot stress enough the skills these 3 guys displayed last night. Watching them from so very close, I just couldn’t believe my eyes how insanely good their playing was, it really felt like they have been doing this since the dawn of time. Ultra Silvam is one of those bands you absolutely need to experience live, in a small club like Riff, because then and only then you can truly feel the true devastating beauty of their music.
Drawing the line, a big cheers to the organizers, for putting together this last minute show, and to the bands who played there, this was one hell of a night that I am not going to forget anytime soon. Til next time!
“In the abscence of light, the greatness of nothingness crowns the halls and inverts the spheres and embraces the sanctity of death“
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