From the depths of Los Angeles in 2006, something weird was born. It was Nekrogoblikon. Enlisting the help of John Goblikon, the bands life-insurance-selling creature, they have taken both the internet and thus the world by some kind of storm, staring in the face of the cynics who label the Goblin clan a gimmick. 10 years, 2 records and an EP later, and the band are back in Norwich to tear the Waterfront studio in half. And they’ve brought some friends.
Saigon Kiss commenced the night’s entertainment, establishing a heavy and intimate tone, giving us growling vocal performances and thumping double-bass drumming. Gregg Cuss, the bassist, stood with comfort and authority, slapping the strings with a certain chillness and Steve Hardy delivered guitar tones that made us reminisce of metal bands from decades before. The crowd had a relaxed reaction to Saigon Kiss, however, but this is typical stuff for a first act. Nevertheless, they still showed interest and mingled close to the stage, responding to any interactions frontman Kev made. If anything, they made their hometown, Norwich, quite proud, borrowing nostalgic vibes that harkened back to classic thrash metal.
Next up were Yorkshire blues-metal-groove-whatever-it-was band The Bastard Sons, and it was here that the bar was raised. Lead singer JJ lassoed the audience in, dragging them closer and closer to the already close-enough stage, and I couldn’t help but be drawn in myself. Relatively new to the scene, The Bastard Sons proved that they had a sound worth bopping too, forging together groovy riffs, raw cymbals and grizzly vocals. It only makes sense that the lead singer fashions long hair and a long beard; this band were metal. However, don’t let such a label fool you. It quickly became clear that The Bastard Sons have their fingers in a few genre-pies, making them quite difficult to pin down, only proving to us how diverse and interesting the metal corner of music can be. Amongst their setlist, Release the Hounds and A Lie Is a Lie were the most stand-out tracks. The latter, of course, being inspired by the London riots and the lies our government feed us. Their performance was sharp, cutting the insides of our ears and although the crowd were beginning to get into it, The Bastard Sons exited the stage, leaving us tender and eager for the headline act.
Finally, it was the moment we had all been waiting for. The expanding and distorting intro of Full Body Xplosion riled up something strange in the crowd as they anticipated the first note of the guitar, and as that note was hit, boy did Norwich let Nekrogoblikon know they were up for it. I have never in my life heard something as brilliantly different as Nekrogoblikon, and by the time their Goblin mascot was moshing around on stage, I found myself grinning, literally, from ear-to-ear. It was melodic death metal madness and the audience reacted in the exact same way, opening the floor right up with ferocious moshing and fierce head-banging. From the first note to the last, it was intimate and small-scale carnage. Frontman Scorpion growled, screeched, sung and even had this odd fusion of growl-rap in a few of their songs, perfectly epitomising what the band are all about. Death metal guitar riffs tagged-teamed with gloriously satanic keyboard solos and by the time we got to Bells & Whistles, they threw in exactly that and ritual-sounding choir vocals. To be honest, I think we were all surprised they didn’t throw in a kitchen sink on top of that. And this, I think, is where you have to give Nekrogoblikon credit. Suffering from a lot of backlash for ‘being a gimmick’, they counterattacked such criticism in the appropriate way, playing upon their weirdness. They introduced us to songs, explaining that robots and talking lobsters gave them the lyrics, before fighting them or eating them afterwards. They threw banter straight back at any hecklers, completely destroying the seemingly un-crossable bridge between audience member and band member. But that’s the thing, it was all harmless banter. It was just a bit of fun and I have to give the band massive respect for that.
After moshing and bouncing through a thick handful of songs, we finally got to ‘We Need a Gimmick’ where Nekrogoblikon lathered us with satire thick and fast: “I don’t know what this song’s about…” Scorpion proclaimed as John Goblikon crawled around on stage. Get it? Eventually, we got to the joyous and upbeat ‘Giraffe‘ and there just happened to be a dude in a giraffe onesie in the audience who was hoisted up on stage to join in with the hype.
Melodies, metal, madness… Crowd-surfing goblins.
Overall, I think it’s safe to say that everyone had a good time, and really, that is what going to a gig is all about. You can dismiss Nekrogoblikon all you want, but after that night, I think it’s pretty clear that this band aren’t going anywhere and they’re probably only going to get better.
Words – Chris Hambling
Photography – Kayleigh Warren
