DreamLongDead, Automaton, Soulskinner // An Club, Athens, Greece // 20.03.2015
Friday night we are led to An Club for another night of greek metal mayhem: the release live of Doom/Deathsters DREAMLONGDEAD, who reached their second album called “AriseHowlingDarkness: Of Cyclopean Masonry & Non-Euclidean Geometry“. That night they were being supported by the Doom/Sludgers Automaton and old school Deathsters Soulskinner who were the first ones to hit the stage.
SOULSKINNER play Death metal in the style of Vader, Malevolent Creation and Morbid Angel, meant for live shows and devastating venues through moshing. That did not happen yet everybody enjoyed them to the max, since they delivered old school brutality in our faces. Promoting their new album “Crypts Of Ancient Wisdom” with some songs off “Non-Stop Killing” to finish it off (our neck that is!). The band was in a great mood and thanked everybody for being there, supporting them and the rest of the bands.
The next ones to hit the stage were AUTOMATON . They had this Doom/Sludge sound I’m personally not very familiar with, but I can appreciate as it creates a certain atmosphere, making the listener create landscapes images in his head, by using all the sounds a guitar can make. They did a damn good job and they were super tight. Only downside of their performance: not even saying the song titles, just said thank you to DreamLongDead who they really loved for inviting them on. But I’ll get to that after talking about DreamLongDead.
DreamLongDead came up next with a Doom/Death sound that brought early Paradise Lost, Asphyx, Pyogenesis and Grave (whenever they sped up) to mind. Sick mixture, I surely loved what I heard! We’re talking about one of the heaviest Doom/Death bands of the scene, they know their sound and they are great at it. Well done on their part. They played songs of the “AriseHowlingDarkness: Of Cyclopean Masonry & Non-Euclidean Geometry” since it was its release party as well as from the previous one of 2012. They seemed to be loved by the crowd and rightfully so.
And here comes the same complain concerning these two last bands and some bands I’ve seen recently: they don’t even give a typical foreword of their work, not even something along the lines of “this songs’ called insert_song_name_here”. I’m getting really sick of this, I gotta tell you. If you’re interested in promoting your work to someone who’s never heard it before and was really interested into checking it out, why not give him an insight of the song he really enjoyed? Do you want to stay in a cult status where only you and a bunch of your friends know your songs? If that’s the case be my guest, but don’t feel neglected if nobody gives a damn about you outside of that cult.
And some people may say “they were too lost in their art to do that”. Give me a break, if some of the most emotional bands in the whole metal genre (My Dying Bride being one great example) can do that, it’s not that hard to ask. That so-called secrecy gets on my nerves when we’re talking about 2015, the album’s on the merch bench, everyone can see it. Especially when we’re talking about a release show, you’re supposed to talk about it more. It’s how it works, and whoever’s interested will follow and buy your album. But not doing so, is like shooting your own foot. I liked you guys, don’t get me wrong, it’s just something that I really can’t stand. Wish you all the luck in the world, you did great!