This gig allowed me to add another name to the list of venues I’ve been lucky enough to witness a show in, and also marked the last time I would visit the city of Glasgow before actually moving there to live in September. The Barfly was the establishment’s name and The Red Chord was the band that had lured me there. My first exposure to them had been about one year prior, when Iain gave me a copy of their second album, ‘Clients’, for my 20th Birthday. I had been impressed by their technicality and unrelenting brutality, whilst feeling little revulsion over their tendencies towards hardcore music that seemed to have put off many other death metal fans. So, I was rather looking forward to seeing them live for the first time. Joining me would be Iain, who had orchestrated our attendance, and William, who can usually be counted on to attend any gig you invite him to within the borders of Glasgow.

The evening was kicked off by a local band called Madman Is Absolute, whose leanings towards hardcore music were, in contrast to The Red Chord, a bit too damning in my mind. They made some interesting music, and I enjoyed once again hearing the pummelling drumming of my old acquaintance from Sons of Slaughter, Matt Holland, but I’m afraid they just weren’t capable of swaying me in the end. Things took a turn for the worse with the next band, From a Second Storey Window, though they actually stick in my memory the most clearly out of the support bands. Unluckily for them, this can be attributed more to the attire and mannerisms of their bassist than their music. I use the term ‘bassist’ very loosely here, as he seemed to be much more concerned with acting like an absolute reprobate than actually playing his instrument. This was evidenced by his tendency to hang his bass from the lighting rig by the strap and paw lamely at the strings, or hoist it onto his shoulder, mimicking a rocket-launcher in a pale parody of Steve Harris’ classic ‘crowd-strafing’ stage move. Throughout all this he seemed to be devoting absolutely no attention to which notes he was playing. But, fortunately for us, he was turned down so low and had heaped on so much distortion that all we were subjected to beyond his ridiculous stage antics was an indistinct rumble. Oh, and he was dressed up like a fat grandad in hot pants. I’m sorry to say that the final support band, Architects, didn’t manage to excite me to a great extent either. Once again, there were some interesting riffs, but these were effectively drowned amidst a sea of disjointed ‘technicality for technicality’s sake’. Horrible vocals and uninspired breakdowns confirmed my distaste for the band, and the support acts in general.

With the headliners arrived a much greater sense of professionalism. And despite the crowd having remained surprisingly sparse since the beginning of the show, The Red Chord put a lot of energy into their performance right from the outset. They led off with several numbers from ‘Clients’, and tended to stick to these for the greater part of their set. This boded well with me, as I had heard very little prior to that album and recognised a good proportion of what was being played in such songs as ‘Antman’, ‘Black Santa’ and ‘Upper Decker’. The sound was powerful and the performance extremely tight, but sadly there were simply too few people present for the excitement amongst the crowd to reach the deserved zenith. There were a couple of people who seemed to be completely taken with the music though, and it was through them that I first bore witness to wholly unreserved ‘hardcore dancing’. Now, the scene probably wasn’t aided by only two people taking part, but I’m afraid I couldn’t help but find it all rather pitiable. I would basically describe modern hardcore dancing as a frenzied flailing of the limbs coupled with a shambling motion meant to bring you into contact with, and allow you to strike, any surrounding individuals

There were some complications over who was going to attend this gig with me, but thanks to Will and Iain stepping in at the last minute, I avoided having to go by myself, and only one of the tickets that I had went to waste. After sinking some beers at Iain’s, the three of us headed to the nearby Garage at what we believed to be quite a reasonably early hour, hoping to catch the beginning of Celtic Frost’s set. However, to our disappointment (mine in particular), they had already completely finished their part of the show by the time we made our entrance! This was a great surprise to me, but the reason for it would be revealed to me later on in the evening, during a rather special encounter…

My dismay over missing Celtic Frost didn’t last too long at the time though, as it was Kreator that I was most excited about seeing, and they were now moments away from beginning their set. Starting off with ‘The Patriarch’, the headliners soon made their appearance on stage, receiving a hearty welcome from the crowd. As this short, introductory song from the recent ‘Violent Revolution’ album came to an end and segued into the title track, things really kicked off. Despite being a generally mid-paced song, built around an anthemic, sing-along chorus, the mosh pit was in full swing. Looking around me and seeing that it was largely composed of long-haired, veteran thrashers, I knew I was in for a satisfactorily brutal night.

Keeping the chit-chat to a minimum, Kreator forged on with some classic thrash hymns, including such personal favourites as ‘Pleasure To Kill’ and ‘Extreme Aggression’, whilst mixing in a healthy smattering of more recent songs too. Although this aided in keeping things fresh, some of the latter-day material was undeniably of a substandard quality for such a legendary band as Kreator. Purists might actually assert that they haven’t recorded a truly worthy album since ‘Coma of Souls’, back in 1990, but there have always been highlights to accompany their lesser songs, in releases that could be most tactfully described as ‘experimental’, and most derisively as ‘boring and uninspired’. My opinion lies somewhere in the middle of those two sentiments. Either way though, there’s no denying that when they get a song right, they really fucking get it right, as they did recently with the glorious ‘Reconquering the Throne’, and the equally remarkable title track from their latest album, ‘Enemy of God’. These songs testify to the belief of some Kreator fans that the band has recently had a return to form, and both felt imposingly grand in their live execution, like being smashed in the face with a diamond-encrusted sledgehammer.

The crowd remained rapt throughout the performance, and the mosh pit rarely ceased long enough for me to regain my breath. In fact, as I’ve often found at such intense gigs, going for a crowd surf proved an excellent means of replenishing my stamina, and I took that course of action a couple of times through the evening. The instance that sticks in my mind the most was during another beloved track of mine, called ‘Betrayer’, as it was around then that Will felt the vigour and joined me in the midst of the action. But, once the song drew to a close, false ending and all, we were approaching the end of the performance. The ensuing encores included two more favourites of mine, ‘Flag of Hate’ and the traditional ultimate song of Kreator’s live performances, ‘Tormentor’. It seemed that the rest of the crowd shared my enthusiasm for those classic numbers, as everyone somehow managed to step it up another notch, adding further to what was already a euphoric atmosphere.

Wrapping things up with a penetrating crescendo of noise and some sincere words of thanks from their front man, Mille Petrozza, Kreator carried their set to completion. Now, throughout my days of attending gigs, I’ve made a habit of trying my utmost to get some interesting

A mere 24 hours after arriving back from my jaunt in France, it came time for me to catch the bus to Glasgow and take in the first sizeable gig of 2007, which was rather long overdue. I met up with Will in the late afternoon before heading over to Iain's, where a whole army of Orcadian Mastodon fans eventually gathered. We drained many a beer bottle before travelling swiftly on our way to the ABC, a venue that I would be checking out for the first time.

The support band's set began drawing to a close not long after we entered, but we had made it just in time to beat the rush for the bar that usually precedes the appearance of the headlining act, and took advantage. When Mastodon's arrival was heralded a little later by the beginning of 'This Mortal Soil,' one of the songs from their latest album, ‘Blood Mountain,’ most of us headed down into the midst of the crowd to get closer to where the action was. It was a surprisingly laid back song to open the proceedings with, but it made for a very dreamy atmosphere, and eased everyone into the set most effectively. This was then sharply contrasted with the frenzied opening track from the same album, ‘The Wolf Is Loose,’ which everyone recognised instantly, due to the distinctive drum intro. As the guitars kicked in, all the pent up energy from the previous song was released, and the crowd erupted. The abounding excitement was highly infectious, and reflected in the amount of people getting involved in the pit. Mastodon’s expert fusion of heavy and light material in this fashion was to be a major facet of the gig, and added greatly to the grandiose feel of the performance.

The showcase of new material then continued, with the band demonstrating their impressive technical chops on such songs as ‘Capillarian Crest’ before slowing the pace down for ‘Sleeping Giant,’ another of the more mellow songs from ‘Blood Mountain.’ The perfectly synchronised reverb during this song helped give it a lulling, ethereal quality, and it was definitely one of the highlights of the set. This can also be said of the instrumental ‘Bladecatcher,’ albeit for entirely different reasons. With its stop/start composition, clear ‘moshing sections’ and orgasmic riffage, it was always bound to be a favourite amongst those with a taste for heaviness, and went down very well in the pit.

So far, there had been absolutely nothing for me to fault the band on. In fact, blame for the main shortfall of the gig instead falls at the feet of the crowd, or, more accurately, a very small portion of people in the crowd who were more concerned with their own neanderthal pissing contest than simply enjoying the show. Whereas most of those roundabout me just wanted to have a spirited, sociable mosh to some excellent music, these guys took it upon themselves to set up a shambolic wrestling tournament in the middle of the crowd, which simply involved sending individuals in to fight each other one-on-one whilst the remainder of the group tried to restrain anyone else who entered the vicinity. Now, people can have differing opinions on mosh pit ethics, but if there's one thing the pit should absolutely not be, it's a competition, and even worse than that is an exclusive competition. Luckily though, it wasn't too long before everyone tired of their bullshit and simply overran their little activity, and any ill will was soon washed away by Mastodon playing the mighty duo of ‘March of the Fire Ants’ and ‘Where Strides the Behemoth,’ both of which garnered a most triumphant response.

The set continued with a greater mix of old and new material towards the end, reaching something of a crescendo with the ever popular ‘Blood and Thunder.’ Just like the first time I saw Mastodon, about a year and a half prior, I decided it was the perfect song to serve as the force behind a crowd-surf. With some help from Will, I started my journey on the hands of my fellow metal-heads towards the space at t