This was supposed to be written and posted yesterday, but I was under so many impressions and emotions about this gig that I just couldn't sit down and scrabble some words for a review. Yes, I was so blown away by what I saw and heard that I really needed to take some time and recollect everything appropriately.
The concert took place two days ago on Friday 13th (evil date for a crust gig, fuck yeah) in the "small club" of "Akademija" ("Academy"). I already mentioned this club when I wrote the review for the "Went" gig, so you should be familiar with it and my feelings for it (if you didn't check out that writeup, you can check it here). I'll repeat myself a bit as far as the club is concerned, since I really hate the place for its bad sound and horrible acoustics. When I remember the "Went" gig, the very venue crippled the band quite much and I was hoping that the same won't happen to this show. Luckily it was the exact opposite, but I'll get to that later.
Anyways, me and my mates got at the club somewhere around 10 PM, on time just in case it actually starts on time. Unfortunately, the gig was extremely late, beginning around 11:30 or something like that, I can't quite remember since I was just dying to get inside. Once we got in and managed to grab a fine spot amidst a fair number of people present at the show, "Helltard" kicked off. I was talking a bit with my brother and his mates at the time, so I sadly didn't pay much attention to the band (yeah, I know, I suck at local band support sometimes), but from what I managed to hear they play a combination of thrashy grindcore and punk. Quite frantic and fast tunes within extremely short songs, so their part of the gig wasn't very long. Their music was interesting, though I think that I wouldn't really enjoy them at home if you know what I mean. Needless to say, they were good live, despite attracting some audience hate with random jokes between songs. Don't do that shit guys, just rend next time. You can check their tunes out on their myspace page found here.
When "Helltard" finished, I grabbed the chance and went to the distro section and drooled a bit before actually buying a shirt and the 2x LP "Asleep in the Ashes" from "Nux Vomica". I'll say it now, if you love their tunes definitely buy their merch! The design of the shirt is great (and yes, my cat already succeeded in destroying a part of it). But oh my, the "Asleep in the Ashes"... whole different meaning of the word "awesome". Beautiful artwork, colored vinyl, great package, just amazing. So, as I said, support the band, they really do an excellent jobwith their releases, you'll be doing yourself a huge favor!
But back to the gig... After a short pause, "Nux Vomica" took their instruments and literally killed the audience. I have to say it right away, this is the best concert I have ever watched and listened, without a single doubt. Up until this Friday, the "In Flames" gig I attended was my number one show, but now it definitely shares the first place with "Nux Vomica", simply because both shows struck me in two quite different ways. "In Flames" performed superbly and the show was full of energy, me and my friends just dancing, jumping, screaming, moshing and making fools of ourselves constantly for the duration of the gig, a really beautiful memory in my mind. But with "Nux Vomica" it is completely the other way around. They managed to impact hit me so hard and I just remained pinned down in one place, totally stunned and in a catatonic state. I was just standing there amidst everyone and just stared and absorbed every visual and audio stimulation coming from the band. Somehow, even the venue obeyed and aided their music, since the sound was so powerful and chaotic, but every instrument remained decipherable. Never before did I attend a show where the band succeeded in creating such a massive sound, you literally feel swallowed by it. Everyone was so close to the stage, since the club is small, so the sound just bounces off of you, as if you can feel it materialize on your skin. This all probably sounds like a load of bull to the readers, but I still can't believe nor explain what I experienced that night. Even now while writing this and looking back to the show I get shivers at how amazing it was. Every second of their performance was just perfect, full of energy and radiating with passion. The ambient went along well with the music, since there was a minimum amount of light, everything was dark, so the movement on stage was visually entertaining.
Their repertoire contained two of my favorite songs, "All The Clocks Have Different Times" and "Room Silencer", amongst many others. I thought that those two will be the peak of the show for me, but the band surpassed even those expectations with "Walk Through The Ashes". The song itself is an epic piece with a clash of gentle and highly aggressive tones, but the way it was performed live... completely outstanding. With the additional drums being played by the singer, they created such a monster sound, every note just stomping you to the ground and this was definitely the climax of the show. Each song just furiously pounded toward the audience and witnessing that was sensational, the sound engulfing everything in its path.
I guess that this amount of flattery on the band's account is quite enough for you to realize that this really is the BEST fucking show. It was my initial thought to provide a more technical, rather than emotional, review yet somehow I'm unable to do that due to me still not being able to believe that I witnessed something like this. I was so frantic after the show, that I had to approach the singer and tell him in person how much I was impressed. Even this amount of praise seems to little to express my feelings for "Nux Vomica", they completely sealed my liking for their work with this performance.
In the end, let this review be a reminder for all of you who follow "Natures With No Plagues", if you ever get a chance to see this band play live, just go. Don't think about it, just go. This will be a truly loved memory and I sincerely hope that I will get to see them again sometime in the future.
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