1st Nelsonian Black Metal Sabbat: Daemon, The Adversary, Beltane @ Smiths Ford, Maitai Valley, Nelson

This was the first in what is hoped to be an annual event. As twilight started to fall we arrived at the venue, which was a large natural bowl which provided a really cool atmosphere. The crowd was very small and consisted only of local insiders, because the flyers had only been produced 24 hours before the gig. No one was worried about this however as the alcohol started to flow.
The bands had hoped to get underway at 20:42, as this was the exact time of the Solstice, and that is what this event was celebrating. However, it wasn't until about 22:00 and daylight was totally fading that Beltane finally took the stage, after an opening invocation by vocalist/guitarist Xanataph. They played a set of rather melodic and atmospheric Black Metal, which the locals didn't really get into at all.
Next up was a dark jam session featuring Kez screeching her dark poetry over the distorted guitar of Xanataph and the drumming of the Beltane drummer. The sound rolled around the valley quite impressively and was very evil.
At about midnight The Adversary was finally ready to hit the stage, and they played a very dark and technical Death Metal, which finally got a drunken fan up the front. In every pause between the songs he yelled about how he had only come to see The Adversary, not some hippie folk shit, which didn't exactly endear him to everyone who had enjoyed the previous set. At the conclusion of the set a drunken red-neck pulled a large gun out of his pick-up truck and let a few rounds off into the sky. We were quite relieved when this brought absolutely no attention to our gathering.
It must have been about 02:00 when Daemon finally picked up their instruments, and by that time most of them were stoned and tripping. Giles the maniac pyromaniac ran around keeping the torches alight as the band played. Towards the end of the set Xanataph went to light a cross that they had constructed, but it burst into flames rather completely and he danced dangerously and rather wasted through the flames, while the more sober around the place tried to get all the leads out of the fire.
That was about the end of things, but we stayed on, because the PA system was perfect for sitting around and listening to Darkthrone and Mayhem on - about the closest you can get to seeing them live in this part of the world.

brutal truth, malevolence, denial, fatal error @ indigo, wellington

Me and Natas missed Fatal Error because at that time we were still at my house drinking vodka and listening to such Thrash Metal classics as «Whiplash» and seeing as we were seeing Brutal Truth, «Metal Thrashing Mad». But I've seen them before and they're a Hardcore Punk band who at some stage each set yell "Black Metal!" and then plough into something the same as the rest of their songs only with more screaming than yelling for the vocals.

Anyway, it was raining, so we got rather soaked as we ambled down to Indigo, causing me to ponder whether or not my bullet-belt would get rusty (it seems it hasn't). We climbed the stairs and found ourselves in a dodgy bar filled with bogans and skinheads in Cannibal Corpse and Deicide shirts. Quite as expected really. I felt quite conspicuous in my bullet-belt, Iron Maiden T-shirt and denim jacket (sans sleeves) with the Anthrax back-patch.

Denial came on and started to play their Cannibal Corpse-styled Death Metal, and we stood lamenting how far behind the trend the New Zealand extreme Metal scene is. The vocalist yelled "Here's one you'll all know!" and I think most of the crowd did, but I needed Natas to inform me that it was «Hammer Smashed Face» by Cannibal Corpse.

Malevolence were down from Auckland to play, and they played some heavy music which wasn't very memorable but had Punk influence and Black Metal vocals, and finally managed to get some of the crowd down to the front of the stage. It was at this point that I realised how sober I was and wished I'd either had a lot more vodka or wasn't at some skody bar with a bunch of bogans listening to shitty bands whose songs all sound the same (Jesus, even Darkthrone have a little melody and can write riffs that are distinctive).

Anyway, Brutal Truth finally came out, the vocalist in a ridiculous cowboy hat - at least they had also entered into some spirit of fun this evening, unlike most of the patrons who were just here because they live for blast-beats and alcohol (not necessarily a bad thing, but hardly an intelligent lifestyle choice).

Me and Natas got down the front, where I proceeded to yell such banal things as "Anthrax!" and "Metal Thrashing Mad!" whenever I thought Dan was listening. The bastards didn't play either of these things, but they did do what they claimed was a Slayer cover - I don't know because it sounded quite similar to the rest of the set and I was only a couple of feet away from the vocalist at the time and consequently couldn't hear the lyrics.

But everyone had a good time and a good mosh anyway - mainly because the large drunken skinheads stayed at the bar and so everyone was safe (unlike some other gigs I've been to). As for the "Black Metal Elite" (read: 17 year old kids with shoulder-length hair in Dimmu Borgir and Emperor shirts), they stood at the side of the stage watching the drummer's heroic single-kick action and being "too cool to mosh".

When the band disappeared from the stage, and came back for a few more songs, and went again, I noticed a member of local Black Metal band Defiled Symphony and tried to tell him he should get in contact with my 'zine, but he was so drunk all he could say was "my band are fucking awesome" over and over again. I guess he'll go far in the underground.