Fjorårets Überthrash måtte for undertegnedes del vike plassen for Sarcoma Inc og Cadaver på Garage, men den andre utgaven skulle jeg ikke gå glipp av, og derfor var jeg tidlig ute på John Dee dette året.
Det var samme band som spilte denne gangen som under fjorårets konsert, og det var vel ikke så veldig rart siden det er disse 3 bandene som er med på den doble split 7 tommeren Überthrash II som blir utgitt av Duplicate Records.
Jeg hadde en liten formening om at 3 thrash band av denne typen kunne bli litt for mye, men heldigvis ble det ikke slik, for Infernö, Audiopain og Nocturnal Breed leverte 3 forskjellige konserter musikalsk og
opplevelsesmessig. Jeg kan med en gang si at dette ble en forrykende aften der alle oppmøtte storkoste seg, og det inkluderer bandene selv også og undertegnede.

Litt over klokka 22 entret Infernö scenen og kallaset var i gang. De åpnet med låta fra den siste 7 tommeren sin, Thrash Metal Dogs, og deretter Rot In Hell og When The Children Die og derifra og ut konserten ga en meget intens vokalist Tore Gjedrem absolutt alt hele tiden. Han falt overende, han krøp,
han lå på scenegulvet og han stod oppreist innimellom. Kort sagt, var han overalt, og det var veldig morsomt å se en vokalist gi absolutt alt på scenen. Minnet veldig mye om den gamle punken på slutten av 70 og begynnelsen av 80 tallet. Gromlåta Roadkill kom som fjerdelåt og ble etterfulgt av Metal Commando og Alcoholocaust. Sa jeg at det var intenst? Vel, enda mer intenst ble det da de fyrte opp Violator, og mange av de oppmøtte ønsket nok at dette ikke skulle ta slutt. Men dessverre kom slutten
med låta Necroslut, og mamma mia for en slutt på en fantastisk bra konsert fra Infernö.

Etter en kortere røykepause var det klart for Audiopain, og her ble det ikke mindre intenst. De kjørte i gang med The Habit Of Fear og fortsatte med Homicide og The Scourge. Vokalist og frontmann Sverre Dæhli var sin rolle verdig til gangs, og leverte det ene fete riffet etter det andre. Folk ute i salen ble revet med og vips så var vi i gang igjen. Audiopain har med min tilstedeværelse aldri levert en dårlig konsert, ei heller denne gangen. Som fjerdelåt fikk vi servert en av mine favorittlåter i Believer, og den ble etterfulgt av den nye låta Psalvation. Deretter fulgte Forsaken Son og Thrash Mental før vi fikk kastet The Hunt og Relinquished i trynet. En herlig opplevelse som har satt seg fast i hjernebarken. Audiopain avsluttet med He Who Walks Among You og den perfekte avslutningslåta Revel In Desecration. Sistnevnte har så kule riff og driv at den kunne ha berget bortimot enhver konsert fra å bli en katastrofe. Denne konserten derimot, var alt annet enn en katastrofe. En mektig konsert fra et av Norges beste
thrash metal band.

Etter nok en røykepause var det klart for de tredje og siste bandet denne kvelden; Nocturnal Breed. Jeg klarte å bli syk da de var i Trondheim bare vel 10 dager før og leverte noe som etter sigende var den beste konserten i Trondheim på lang, lang tid, men denne gangen skulle de ikke slippe så lett unna. Gutta viste fra første tone at her var det spilleglede av en annen dimensjon og de åpnet som sedvanlig med Thrash The Redeemer og fortsatte med The Artillery Command, Killernecro, Frantic Aggressor og Fist Of Fury før de tok oss med på Alcoholic Rites og deres meget velspilte coverlåt Metal Church. Så langt var salen fullt med på hva som foregikk på scenen og livet var herlig dere. Deretter fulgte de opp med The Tools Of The Trade, Code Of Conduct, Maggot Master og Locomotive, før de leverte Possessed, Motörmouth og Scything Harrow.

Så var det klart for Screaming For A Leather Bitch, og her dukket det opp en stripper som så absolutt fikk flere av de oppmøtte til å måpe. Hun ga oss en liten oppvisning som var litt på kanten, men ikke usømmelig og det var nok mange i salen som kunne tenkt seg å bli bedre kjent med henne. Nummeret
varte kun under denne ene låta, men Nocturnal Breed var ikke ferdige enda. De kjørte på med Silver Tongue Devil og gromlåta No Retreat, før kveldens andre overraskelse dukket opp på scenen; selveste Nocturno Culto tok over bassen til Kenneth på de 2 neste og siste låtene (Sodomy & Lust og Evil Dead) under kveldens Überthrash konsert.
Et meget kult og uforglemmelig høydepunkt for mange, der dessverre mange hadde blitt til heller få i salen. Så der gikk dere glipp av en skikkelig godbit folkens.

Alle 3 bandene har meget sterke scenepersonligheter som fronter dem, og det trengs kanskje. Men med slike personer i front, blir det fort liv i salen, og det var det til gangs på John Dee under dette kanonbra tiltaket, som for mange ble sett på som et vorspiel til Inferno. De som hadde tatt turen til John Dee denne kvelden fikk oppleve 3 av Norges beste thrash metal band på en og samme scene, og det var så absolutt verdt turen å dra til Oslo en dag for tidlig dette året også. Blir det Überthrash III neste år vil jeg være der, helt sikkert, for norsk thrash er råkult live.
Rune, Eternal terror

After the huge succes of last years Überthrash double ep and Überthrash gig it was very clear that there should be a follow up with yet again Norway's finest thrash bands around. Once again Audiopain, Aura Noir, Nocturnal Breed and Infernö are presented on utter black hellish vinyl with exclusive tracks
for this gatefold double 7"ep and to celebrate this release there was this special Überthrash II party with all bands presented. The only band missing was Aura Noir, simply because they're supposed to perform at this years Inferno festival only two days later. But still Infernö, Audiopain and Nocturnal Breed were ready to teach us some lessons in alcoholic thrash.

The first band this evening was Infernö which some of you still remember from the European tour they did along with Absu and Enslaved in april 1997. After their last album "Downtown Hades" it became very silent around Infernö due to several reasons. But it was last year that they've returned back on stage, louder and meaner than ever! For me personally it was 1997 as well that I've seen them thrashing live on stage for the last time. It was on a small stage in a local venue and back then they left a big impression on me. And over the years I've always been playing their records over and over again and I was hoping to see them perform live again one day. And hell yes, tonight was going to be thé night! The day before this gig there were some rumours circulating that Infernö should perform with a replacement on vocals because their own vocalist Hazardous Pussy Desecrator was ill and therefore not able to sing properly.
But once inside the John Dee I found out quite quickly that their own vocalist was going to sing after all. And to me this was really good news as Infernö's latest output "Thrash metal dogs of hell" contains some really great intense maniacal and insane vocals and I was really curious about how it was going to sound live on stage. I think it was about 22:30h. in the evening that Infernö started their set with the title track from their latest ep which is "Thrash metal dogs of hell". Already from the start I was blewn away by the intensity with which these madmen played their songs. And by watching the audience it became clear that I was not the only one whom enjoyed the gig. A lot of thrashers were gathered in front of the stage to bang their heads off while drinking loads and loads of beers. In about 35 intense minutes all highlights in
Infernö's carreer passed by like "Death squad", "Alcoholocoust" (my personal favourite!!!), "Violator", "Roadkill" and "Rot in hell" to mention just a few. On stage it was very obvious that Hazardous Pussy Desecrator was thé eye-catcher with his crazy and insane behaviour....running and jumping around, lying on the floor while trying to read some of the lyrics, riding up against Aggressor's leg and stumbling over his own feet and repeatingly falling on to the floor, but at all time singing and screaming on like it
was his last gig ever. He really gave it all on stage and from time to time he looked more like a mental patient than a vocalist.....what an amazing performance! To be honest, for me personally this gig could've lasted much longer because it really was a pleasure to watch to and drink along with.
Hail Infernö!!!

Next up was Audiopain from Asker. I guess by now all of you know them or at least have heard of them. I think Audiopain is thé biggest and most known unsigned band at the moment. With their complete own approach of doing things and their complete independence they're slowly building up a well settled reputation which grows stronger day by day, gig after gig. Over the last two/three years I've seen Audiopain perform quite some times already and this far they've never disappointed me and I was therefore curious about what this night would bring as Audiopain hadn't done much gigs lately and also hadn't rehearsed a lot lately. But already from the start it was obvious that Audiopain was ready to conquer. As a reaction towards Aura Noir's statement: 'We're the ugliest band in the world', Sverre said after the first song to the audience and to the Aura Noir members, whom where present as well, the following statement: 'We're the prettiest band in the world', so there was still room for some humour as well this evening hehehe. Minor point to the first half of the set was the volume of the vocals which
were way too low on the speakers. It was even very difficult to hear the vocals at all from time to time though luckilly during the second half of the set this was improved a lot. By watching this gig it became clear how 'big' Audiopain really is in homecountry Norway. Overhere in Holland the interest in Audiopain is getting bigger and bigger though I was quite impressed to see the huge fanatism from all the fans in Oslo. This enthusiasm reflected over to the band which presented us an amazing gig with lots of highlights like "Habit of fear", "Homicide", "The scourge", "Psalvation", "Forsaken son", "Thrash mental",
"The hunt", "Relinquished","He who walks among you" and as last song "Revel in desecration". After the gig the band received a huge applause from the audience which obviously enjoyed this gig to the max. Worth mentioning is that even though Sverre suffers from a back-injury and therefore is in much
pain while singing he still managed to do this full-length gig without giving in to the pain. So respect for that! For the ones whom haven't heard from Audiopain yet it is about time to open eyes and ears and start getting hold of their really great demos (which recently have been re-released by Vendlus Records), cd and exclusive 7"ep's. They're all definately worth your last money!!!

Headliner this evening was Nocturnal Breed, a band which all underground fanatics should've heard of already. Last october the band was touring through Holland, Belgium and Germany and during this tour they proved to still belong to the top in this genre, even after 'being away' for many years. The only problem during that tour was the fact that the band wasn't able to bring along their complete show because of the fact that it would become too expensive. But luckilly now they're playing in their hometown
which enables them to do whatever they want to do on stage. Earlier this evening Destroyer already told me that this would be a special gig with a special guest towards the end of the gig so with this said he made me really curious about what to expect. It was already really late in the night when Nocturnal Breed started their set and one would expect most of the audience being too drunk to stand straight but already from the beginning the audience went berserk on tunes like "Locomotive death", "Under the blade", "Alcoholic rites", "No retreat, no surrender", "Tools of the trade", "Thrash the redeemer", "Warhorse",
"Killernecro", "Frantic aggressor", "Maggot master", "Nocturnal breed", "Ballcrusher" and many many more. As we are used to from Nocturnal Breed the gig was played with great enthusiasm. The lightshow fitted the songs well and also the sound was really good. At one point Destroyer asked the audience if we like naked women. A lot of screaming out of the audience could be heard at this point and the ones whom have seen the band before knew what to expect next: "Screaming for a leather bitch". Destroyer even asked the ladies in the audience to join on stage though none of them went up...maybe stage-fright hehe?! Anyway, during "Screaming..." a striptease dancer came on stage to do her thing and some frustrated men around me started screaming like a pig when that dancer showed her nipples. I guessed
they'd never seen a naked lady before. But I have to admit this act does fit Nocturnal Breed's sex, beer and rock'n'roll image very well. Towards the end of the gig the long awaited special guest came on stage to join Nocturnal Breed. This special guest was no-one less than Darkthrone's Nocturno Culto, whom took over the bass from Destroyer for the last songs. His appearance was welcomed with some very positive enthusiastic feedback from the fans and it made this evening indeed a special evening. It is just
one of those gigs where you simply had to be at! As final track the song "Evil dead" was played and it seemed everyone around was singing along. Great!!!!! Once again Nocturnal Breed forfilled all my expectations and this gig had everything in it which a classic gig should have: great music, good
sound and light-effects and enthusiastic stage-acting. This gig was 'Metal to the bone' as the boys would say themselves!!!!

In the end this Überthrash II gig was a huge success again (just like last year) and I really hope they'll continue with this event and make some kind of anual happening from it. It became obvious there is still need for some good ol' fashioned thrashmetal and with Aura Noir, Audiopain, Infernö and Nocturnal Breed you've got thé best bands Norway's got to offer!!!
Marcel - Vampire magazine

If you have a review not listed, please mail it to us.