Exodus, Obituary, Heathen, Morgoth Live @ Fuzz Club, 09/06/2012, Athens, Greece

Exodus, Obituary, Heathen, Morgoth Live @ Fuzz Club, 09/06/2012, Athens, Greece



I wanted to go to a 100% extreme metal gig for a long time. And that time was finally here. 4 great bands from thrash to death metal, were more than enough to satisfy my hunger for tonight. Among the bands was also Heathen, another great band from the legendary Bay Area that I’ve been longing to see live for many years.

The first band on the bill was the recently reunited Morgoth, a band that has a lot of die-hard fans who went in the gig only for them. These Germans are definitely not your everyday death metal, their music has way too many elements to be categorized. Despite the fact that their guitarist was not present due to a sudden illness, the band played their songs perfectly and maybe a little more “groovy” than usual. The overall sound had it’s ups and downs but from the middle of the venue it was great. The band seemed very relaxed and professional and they were never losing contact with the crowd as well, especially their bass player who is Greek, and their singer. Their performance was great and I believe they gained many new fans that night.

Morgoth setlist:

Body Count
Exit To Temptation
Unreal Imagination
Opportunity Is Gone
Resistance
Suffer Life
Lies Of Distrust
Under The Surface
Sold Baptism
White Gallery
Burnt Identity
Pits Of Utumno
Isolated

Time for the mighty Heathen! The band has risen to fame among the thrash crowd, despite the fact that they only have 3 albums, and it was time to enjoy that fame. This was their first visit to Greece and they’ve announced that they were going to play a full set as well as record a live album!  I had the bad idea of heading in the front of the venue where the sound was a little muffled at times. Despite that, the band was very tight and with a lot of energy which they were passing on to the crowd. Lee Altus was nailing every song leaving everyone speechless; he’s a total master of the guitar. He was after all considered to be the best guitar player at the 80s Bay Area among all band members, fans and critics. The crowd wasn’t responding too much though, who knows why, maybe we had more deathsters that night or maybe many people haven’t heard of the band. Heathen have added too many melodic and prog elements to their music, a fact which is not accepted by many fans of the “old school thrash” I guess. The band was very tight and their performance was satisfying although I believe that it could have been a little better.


Heathen setlist:

Intro / Dying Season
Control By Chaos
Goblin's Blade
Open The Grave
Fade Away
Heathen’s Song
Arrows Of Agony
Hypnotized
Opiate Of The Masses
No Stone Unturned
Silent Nothingness
Mercy Is No Virtue
Death By Hanging

After a big break Obituary came on stage and there we had another absence. Their guitar player Ralph Santolla was not there, something that made their songs sound way more groovy and maybe a little hardcore at some parts. I’ve never seen them play live before but you could easily see that they were the main reason that many people got their asses to the gig at the first place. Numerous Obituary t-shirts and an instant response from the whole crowd when they started playing left no doubts about that. Despite their extreme style, the sound was very good and clean which is always a plus. The absence of guitar solos was more than obvious though. At least the Tardy bros, Trevor Peres and Terry Butler, all legendary death metal figures, left no one unsatisfied. Their massive sound, the hellish screams from John Tardy, the bass-attack from Terry Butler and their very excellent choice of songs made Obituary hands down the best band of the night.

Obituary setlist:

Redneck Stomp
On The Floor
Internal Bleeding
List Of Dead
Blood To Give
Chopped In Half
Turned Inside Out
Dying
Threatening Skies
By The Light
Find The Arise
Dethroned Emperor (Celtic Frost cover)
The End Complete
Slow Death
'Til Death
Evil Ways
Slowly We Rot

After having seen Exodus once in the past and not having the best of memories from that show, I expected something way better. Sadly it seemed like I was about to witness a repetition. After a totally exhausting day -and night since it was after midnight when they came out- the last thing I wanted to see was more of that bad sound. Well… guess what? It was like we had only drums and vocals at certain points and I won’t go into any further details. Most of the crowd could hardly hear the guitars and the only thing that made this a thrash show was the endless moshpit which seemed like it was never stopping. Gary Holt’s absence was more than obvious but at least Lee Altus was giving his best once more.  Most of the crowd seemed to enjoy the Exodus performance as time went by though. The sound on the other hand never got any better. Their choice of songs wasn’t the greatest but it still had a lot of classics for fans of their older stuff to enjoy. Near the end of the gig the whole venue was a total mess.  After a massive wall of death –probably the biggest ever in a Greek venue- we had a moshpit which spanned nearly to ? of the venue! That’s the true meaning of thrash metal.

Exodus setlist:

The Last Act Of Defiance
Iconoclasm
Piranha
Shroud Of Urine
Brain Dead
Metal Command
And Then There Were None
Pleasures Of The Flesh
A Lesson In Violence
Scar Spangled Banner
Blacklist
Impaler
Bonded By Blood
War Is My Shepherd
The Toxic Waltz
Strike Of The Beast

I won’t guarantee that everyone left with the best memories but it was definitely a very good show that we don’t get the chance to see very often. Sadly it ended very late and many people missed Exodus because they had to catch the last bus. Despite the lack of guitarists though the greatest “enemy” was the bad sound once more, which is sad because it’s somehow growing into a tradition in the certain venue. Overally it was a very good show and I’m more than glad I attended it.

Also on Burst.gr - http://burst.gr/live/reports/item/1231-live-report-exodus-obituary-heathen-morgoth-live-fuzz-club-09/06/2012-athens-greece