HOLIDAY: Oslo, Norway

Way back in February I was trying to find some information on a new Whiplash album that I saw mentioned somewhere, when I happened to notice a Facebook post announcing Zeromancer's first gig in seven years (at the Vulkan Arena in Oslo). Now I had pretty much given up any hope of ever seeing Zeromancer, not least because they pretty much announced years ago that they weren't touring any more and that any gigs they did do would probably be in Norway or possibly Germany (where the majority of their fans live) and when I pointed it out to Rose I had no intention whatsoever of flying 1000 miles to see them. 

But after watching several Boris T videos on YouTube, Rose was already very keen to visit Norway, so it made sense to go there when there was actually a gig to go to, especially since Rose had warmed up considerably to Zeromancer over the last couple of years (having previously only liked selected songs). To be honest, I wasn't particularly keen on the idea, but I eventually figured I was going to have to fly to Norway sooner or later, so I might as well do it when Zeromancer were playing!

And so the whole hoopla of organising the trip began: arranging travel insurance, flights, hotels, concert tickets... and so on, and then suddenly the day came for us to leave. 

MEAL OUT: The George, Great Oxendon

Unfortunately Rose's birthday fell on a Monday this year, which always limits the options for a meal out, and with The Grey Goose doing Italian on a Monday we decided to try somewhere else. That somewhere else turned out to be The George at Oxendon, which we hadn't been to for probably thirty years. In the meantime it was extensively remodelled, so unsurprisingly we didn't really remember the interior!

It was a nice place, great service from the friendly staff. Rose had beef medallions which was very good. I had sirloin steak which was, okay, a bit chewy in places. I probably should have had the sausages really, but the chips were very nice and the peppercorn sauce was nice too.

For dessert Rose had a raspberry souffle which she loved, and I had sticky toffee pudding which was nice too. All in all it was a nice evening, not somewhere I'd rush to go back too, but maybe once in a while (the seats were a bit hard by the end of the night, those wicker pad things really don't do much at all).

GIG: Kreator (Manchester)

We were a bit undecided about whether to go to Manchester (on a Saturday) to see Kreator, or London (on a Friday), but in the end I think we made the right decision. Because a) I think Manchester Apollo is a better venue than Brixton Academy, and b) because we didn't have to catch a fucking train from London on a Friday night!

But that said, the journey wasn't entirely smooth sailing. While scoping out the walk from 'Circle Square' to the Apollo, I noticed that we actually passed the 'Manchester Aquatics Centre' multi-storey car park. Thinking this would save some shoe leather, I punched that in to Google Maps and off we went. Well at least that's what I thought...

We arrived at the Aquatics Centre right enough, but only to the normal 'swimmers' car park, which I'm not sure we would be able to park in. We could practically see the multi-storey from where we were but Google told us that it would take eight minutes to get there as we had to navigate some one way streets. On the way we passed 'Circle Square' car park and decided to just park there as it really wasn't that much further and it was open 24 hours (and also we knew we didn't need a stupid app to pay for parking!).

It was quite a walk to the Apollo, and it would have been better to park in the other car park for sure, but time was running short and patience was wearing thin. Also I really wasn't feeling that well, so that was fun... but never mind, we just kept walking and we got there soon enough. We just had time to visit the tiny toilets before we heard Exodus' intro music start playing and headed into the arena.

Our last visit here was quite a while ago, nearly twelve years in fact... so I had largely forgotten what it was like. It's quite a big venue, certainly the biggest I'd been in for a while (3500 people), but despite that it didn't feel too vast and impersonal, like say the NEC Arena. It's incredible to think that once upon a time places like this were cinemas. Which is why my memories of going to the cinema when I was a child don't tally with modern cinemas I guess!

We didn't see the opening band (Nails) as we checked them out on YouTube and didn't really care for their sub-Entombed Death Metal. Besides, we didn't want to be standing up any longer than was absolutely necessary and we knew we had three bands to get through as it was.

First up was Exodus, who we hadn't seen since March 2020 (the last band we saw before the Covid lockdown kicked in). In the meantime the band had parted ways with vocalist Zetro Souza and re-recruited former frontman Rob Dukes. The band kicked off with the opening track (3111) from their new album 'Goliath' and all seemed well. The sound was a little bit odd, but not too bad and with the assistance of the sloped floor we could see quite well despite being some way back.

For some reason though, once the band ripped into the tracks from 'Bonded by Blood', they seemed to lose themselves completely. It was like they were playing the songs, not just faster than on the album, but faster than they could actually manage. And I have to say the blame would seem to lie with drummer Tom Hunting who seemed to be playing like a lunatic.

In fact, it wasn't until they hit 'Blacklist' from 2004's 'Tempo of the Damned' album that they really started to make a proper impact. But then they played the 'dirgey' title track from the new album and that kinda brought everything down. Thankfully 'The Toxic Waltz' brought the energy back up, but they did the same hokey 'Reign in Blood' false start they did in 2020, which feels a bit lame, honestly. 

'Strike of the Beast' wrapped up the set (as it always does) and thankfully Tom Hunting had calmed down a bit by now, so it didn't turn into a messy blur. All in all, pretty good, but definitely not the best I've seen the band... 

Believe it or not the last time we saw Carcass was in the Wulfrun Hall back in 1994 on the 'Heartwork' tour, so I was quite excited to see them and hear the songs from 'Heartwork' live again. Carcass's slower, groovier delivery served them well after the sometimes slightly messy blur that Exodus fell into, but Jeff Walker's appearance was a bit of a shock: a far cry from the dreadlocked crust punk kid of 1992, he looked mostly like 'someone's Dad'. But he still sounded the same and Bill Steer can definitely still play as well as ever, and he's still wearing flares - bless him. 

Highlights of the set were absolutely the songs from 'Heartwork' and in particular the title track itself, which has to be one of the best metal songs of all time. 

Our last time seeing Kreator was also quite a long time ago, albeit not as far back as Carcass... that being at Birmingham Institute in December 2014. A sizeable venue, but nothing like as grand as this one. Indeed it seems like Kreator have become a lot more popular over the last decade and they definitely don't seem to be a band that trades on the reputation of their formative years. On the one hand I'd like to hear more 80/90s songs, but on the other, this line up has been together a long time and they are really more suited to playing the 'slicker' material from the 00/10/20s. 

Last time we saw them they played the intro to 'Awakening of the Gods' and segued into 'Endless Pain' (which pissed me right off, quite honestly) and this time they gave us the intro to 'Coma of Souls' before breaking into 'Enemy of God'. I still find it annoying, but I knew it was coming and while I do like 'Coma of Souls', it's never been as awesome as 'Awakening of the Gods'.

The thing that was quite surprising was the sheer scale of the show, it was like being back in the 1980s seeing Iron Maiden or Dio or something with the demon statues and whatever the hell that thing was supposed to be that Ventor was sitting on top of. Added to that there was endless flame throwing (just like at Testament last year), two figures setting two other figures on fire and a huge stage-wide barbecue (that I'm sure they must have bought off of Slayer).

Mille's sage green guitar was a bit odd though, and Mille is still trying way too hard (as he has since the mid 2000s really) to get the crowd going. There really is no need for all this 'The Kreator has Returned' nonsense... and asking us how we feel every five minutes. Thankfully, for the most part the music did the talking and it was the newer songs that really came over the best, in particular 'Hate Uber Alles', 'Krushers of the World', 'Satanic Anarchy' (start the fire indeed) and 'Phantom Antichrist'.

All in all it was a great show and great value for three 'headline' bands, it was just a pity I had such a shitty cold and the walk back to the car was a bit of a ballache. Next time we will make sure we get to the 'Aquatic Centre' car park! But still, it was definitely better than going to Brixton... and as (is becoming) 'usual' I got complimented on my awesome Razor shirt by some random metal dude!