Once again RTMC gave us a surprise before the Old Grave Festival, bringing Cenotaph (Tur) in Fabrica on 15 September.
According to the schedule at 20:00 they opened the doors. After a 22 minutes delay, the first band that walked on stage was Acid Scorn.
This was the first time I saw Acid Scorn live and the first time I heard about them and, for some unexplainable reason, the first thought that came in my mind was of Suicidal Angels and their “Beggar Of Scorn” song. Thus, my expectation, misguided as it may be, was for them to play Thrash Metal. That they do, though with a healthy portion of New York Hardcore, giving the band a strong Metalcore (or Other stuff-core, I’m no expert) vibe that, frankly, is not my cup of tea. Given the genre, one can’t but congratulate the bassist, who seemed the most technical and the most experienced of the bunch. Kudos to the Sound folks for making it possible to hear said bass as well.
Personally, I probably won’t actively seek them soon, but a few people seemed engaged with their music and were actually having fun, so they did their duty as an opening act. Other than that, the stuff they played clearly requires a lot of practice, so it’s cool that they’re hard working and each knows his place in the band.
The second band was Saddayah and they started with a total of 26 minutes delay from the scheduled time.
They are playing a Death (as in the band) related metal, obviously influenced by Chuck Schuldiner work. I couldn’t describe it properly, mostly because for me Death Metal has another definition. Again as a personal matter, I would have expected something else from a Death Metal band, but this doesn’t mean they weren’t good or something is b
ad, no, on contrary, I saw that the public was really receptive and felt good.
The band interacted with the public all the time, in a natural way which made things feel more comfortable and enjoyable, the lead guitarist brought my attention by its charisma. He created an honest connection with the public all the time; involving it in their show. They played some old tracks, from their beginning as a band. Some isolated sections from their work were good from a Death Metal point of view, parts that I would have put more accent on. They also covered “Pull The Plug”, that as far as I saw was really appreciated by the public.
As a personal note: I truly believe they have a potential, but for now they gave me the impression that they don’t really know what they want to play exactly, it’s more like they are making an experiment by putting together their favorite genres, without an exact goal, so because of this I don’t get the right message from their music, nor understand it completely. I consider that a band is a teamwork so each of them must know, decide and keep a common direction, but of course, this is just me. Experimenting shouldn’t be confused with originality.
And now the headliner – Cenotaph! This show is a part of their European tour “Perverse Dehumanized Dysfunctions” for promoting their last release-album. They started the tour as a four-piece but played without the bassist. I’ll keep it short and simple: It was killer! I was a little surprised because there weren’t too many people (even though, by this point, the crowd was 5-6 times the size since the opening acts), but hey, quality before quantity, right? Back to Cenotaph, it was a live demonstration of how to play Brutal Death Metal with technical interludes. It was a memorable Brutal Death Metal show with an impeccable performance. Brutal until the end, the time passed so fast that I haven’t realized when it was over. It seemed not to be enough, so of course, they were asked for an encore (I would have asked for more), which they promptly delivered. Evidently, the last album was their focus, the songs from which sound as expected. An album that deserves all the attention.
They were unwavering regarding the performance so they played their brutal death metal with sincere consideration. A band fronted by the veteran Batu Çetin that knows exactly where they stand and what they stand for even live.
Cenotaph and Saddayah merch was available. One could also find some promos for Rektal Tuşe (guitarist Erkin Öztürk’s grindcore band) and I was happy to find also Batu Çetin’s one-man band- Grotesque Ceremonium – EP – Blasphemous Goat Observance (a limited edition cassette of which I proudly own copy 10/150).
Overall it was a fine experience to waste your brain and your neck on, with nice people and a good quality live Brutal Death Metal from Turkey.
Don’t forget to support all the bands involved in this concert and last but not least the RTMC that brought us this beautiful carnage.
