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It's hard to fathom how a
band like Destruction can play huge open air festivals one month, and then
completely re-adjust
to playing small venues, just like Cork's An Cruiscin Lan, a bar venue
with a capacity of 300 max, located just on the outskirts of what is
essentially a very small city in the South of Ireland. So surely this
scaling down to in your face intimacy can only result in the venue being
jammed? Wrong. As Britain’s reformed thrash metal pioneers Onslaught take
to the confined stage, the floor space is plentiful to say the least.
Nevertheless, those who have assembled to watch are treated to around 45
minutes of clinical thrash, complimented by an absolutely insane mosh pit
on the floor, making up for the fact that still less than a hundred people
are in the venue. Many had come especially to catch Onslaught and from
talking to both sides afterwards, it was easy to see that both band and
fans were hugely impressed with these Briton's first appearance in Cork.
Thankfully the crowd had
become a bit larger by the time that the lights dimmed for the entrance of
Germany's finest export (behind Erdinger and Helloween), and the ensuing
performance was nothing short of sheer thrashtastic brilliance. I can only
imagine that the experience was similar to that of the bands early club
gigs, the sweaty, intense, in your face atmosphere, with fans falling onto
the stage, and unfortunately for some of us, Schmier standing on your
fingers with his New Rocks.
The latter, along with guitarist Mike and "new
boy" drummer Marc ploughed through (quite literally) over an hour of thrash
classics, which are about as comforting to the ears as a nuclear
explosion, although I suspect that the desired results were achieved on
Destructions part.
'Mad Butcher' and
'Nailed to the Cross' are absolutely
clinical, Schmier is nothing short of a metal god as he treads the stage
in his menacing way, truly appreciating the energetic pit in front of him,
which to Destructions amazement consisted mainly of girls, giving it right
back to the guys.
Following on from a question I asked him earlier on in
the day, Schmier addressed the crowd to the tune of "I see a lot of Wacken
t-shirts here, and I don't care where the fuck we're playing, if it's
Wacken or Cork, I want to see everyone fucking moving!", before introducing
closing anthem
'The Butcher
Strikes
Back'.
Destruction manage to make it look just so easy, pounding out song after
song without breaking a sweat, and truly live up to the statement that the
smaller gigs are just as important as the huge, open air shows located in
rural areas of Germany. Kudos has to be given to both Destruction and
Onslaught for giving such stellar performances to such a small crowd, when
many other bands would have gone back into rock star mode in a similar
situation.
It doesn’t say much about
the Cork metal scene though, that a band with such legendary status as
Destruction, can play a tiny pub, and get a total of 140 people in
attendance. The metal scene is obviously somewhere, as Gorgoroth 2 weeks
afterwards was absolutely jointed with the black clad masses, but where
were they for Destruction?
Undoubtedly a return to Irish shores will be on
Destructions future itinerary, after 2 great shows this year, but whether
they come back to this Southern city is anyone’s guess.
Either way,
Destruction live is not to be missed, they will kick you right in the
face, and you'll enjoy every second of it. Fact.
* Review by Shadow Warrior.
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