As I had to travel through Oldenburg anyway, I picked up INGURGITATING OBLIVION singer Ulrich on my way to Osnabrück  At the venue we learned that local act STEEL DEATH had moved up the billing so that INGURGITATING became the opening act. Strange but no big deal with the boys. We also learned that STEEL DEATH had contacted GRIND INC. and told them that SD were supposed to be co-headliner. Some would call this self-confidence. Their next faux-pas was that they had insisted on bringing along the bass equipment. Unfortunately their bass player had left the band and so there was no bass equipment. STEEL DEATH might have told so in advance, but who cares? Somehow they managed to organise a combo which sucked but worked. Actually they were quite nice guys, just highly unprofessional. Next close-to-disaster was that the GRIND INC. drummer Adriano who was in charge of the drum kit that evening didn’t want anybody to use his stool nor his snare stand. As far as I know (and all the other drummers that evening), that’s usually part of the deal. In the end, he gave the snare stand to his associates but the other three had to sit on a pretty silly chair. Finally, there was the fact that the catering might have been enough for two bands. For four it was simply not enough. Well, the fact that INGURGITATING had to be the opening act enabled them to compensate by drinking up all the booze after their set. The organizers from Burning Stage didn’t exactly make an overly professional impression that night. Being nice guys sometimes isn’t enough. When INGURGITATING OBLIVION finally hit the stage, there were almost as many people watching as when GRIND INC. or GOREROTTED rocked the house. Still, Tor 3 was far from being sold out. As far as I heard, there hadn’t been much advertising in Osnabrück. Anyway. INGURGITATING played their material from their UBR debut “Voyage Towards Abhorrence” and the crowd seemed to like that. Not too many seemed to know the material except for ‘Nothingness’, though, which had already been released on the “Cadence…” demo. Not everybody can be as much involved in the underground as GOREROTTED’s Tim who had the album at home for some time already. I have to admit, I’d like to hear INGURGITATING perform ‘Nyarlathotep’ again. Okay, back then the band was still called OF TREES AND ORCHIDS but I bet that quite a few people will remember that song as it was on quite a number of samplers back then. The band seems to get better every time I see them but that night singer Ulrich talked a little too much and the breaks in between the songs were slightly too long. That takes away tension and force. Still, I had a lot of fun. Ulrich starts getting a little more extroverted and the guitarists Florian and Sascha don’t belong to the frozen kind anyway. When INGURGITATING had finished the last song, the audience demanded an encore and so the band dug up a “cover” tune from their disbanded side project GALLERY OF DARKNESS, namely ‘Alienation Feeds Existence’ from the 2001 demo “Instinct” which they interpreted the INGURGITATING style: not quite as straight as the original and with some additional lava. Then it was time for STEEL DEATH. I’d never buy their records, I guess: completely unspectacular Thrash Metal with a Hardcore edge to it. But live they rocked quite a bit. For such a situation a hyperactive singer is simply impressive. In the studio, though, he already smashed a drum kit. Who cares as long as it’s good entertainment? Unlike all the other bands, STEEL DEATH suffered from a loss of audience - local heroes my ass. At least, the few fans seemed to know their lyrics by heart. But nobody screamed for more. GRIND INC. were fun to watch: fast, straight and deadly. The diva behind the drum kit played like a fucking machine but to be honest I was slightly disappointed because on CD there was simply more drive. And I have no idea what they need two singers for. Christoph was cool but Thomas didn’t impress me very much. But check ‘em out anyway cause the fans liked them and the CD is quite a blast. I confess I only know the latest GOREROTTED album and to be honest: it bores me to death. Live they were simply impressive, though. And highly congenial: there was one completely hammered fan constantly hopping on stage, trying to snatch away the microphone and take over the vocals, hugging and kissing the band and nobody kicked his butt! I mean, such guys are okay for some time but not for the whole show! Some people just can’t handle alcohol. The fact that the bass combo on stage simply wasn’t loud enough made bass player Wilson (what a maniac!) sometimes simply stop playing because nobody could hear him anyway. I’m sure this wouldn’t happen to IRON MAIDEN’s Steve Harris, harghhargh! At some point drummer Junky Jon took off all his close except for the socks and played naked for the rest of the set! Despite all the shit that happened that night I guess everybody had some fun and that’s what counts.

www.ingurgitating-oblivion.de, www.steel-death.de, www.grindinc666.de, www.deadagain.fsnet.co.uk, www.burningstage.net

Live report & pics: Ramon Claassen

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