The AJZ in the small but sweet town Wermelskirchen is something like the Mecca of Death Metal maniacs in the central western part of Germany. There you usually get many concerts during the course of a year with bands you do not get to see that easy elsewhere and, what I consider to be very important, with a really good sound unlike those bigger halls where smaller bands often simply sound like shit. As a brutal start of the week the dedicated people of the AJZ offered this trinity of Death Metal violence and it did not disappoint at all… 
First up were EMBEDDED from Osnabrück, which I knew from their last album “Banished From The Light” as a promising brutal yet traditional oldschool Death Metal outfit. But, surprise surprise, since the vocalist must have inhaled a good dose of US brutality lately EMBEDDED sounded more like good ol’ SUFFOCATION and scrambled some contemporary elements into their oldschool-shaped songs. Although one can not attest those guys a high level of innovation (but who the fuck needs innovation?), their tight and heavy performance plus the diversified songwriting were definitely impressive and whoever digs older CANNIBAL CORPSE, older MALEVOLENT CREATION or the aforementioned SUFFOCATION should check this band out! Actually due to the excellent live sound I liked EMBEDDED onstage much more than on CD, maybe in terms of production their next release comes close to this vehement show and meets the requirements of one of Germany’s best Death Metal acts…excellent!
Then the Czech Death / Grinders SANATORIUM entered stage and from the reviews I had read on this act I was anxious to know if the vocalist really sounds like a pig – well, he did and he even looked a little bit like one, no…just kiddin’. SANATORIUM used to be more oldschool in their early days but now they jumped on the US style Death / Grind bandwagon (I suspect commercial reasons) and simply sucked with their chaotic thousand-breaks-in-a-minute sound. It’s all a matter of taste and a lot of the maybe 60 people at the AJZ seemed to enjoy SANATORIUM, who also had a heavy and powerful sound, I did not…
Then the evening’s highlight came on stage, Mexico’s DISGORGE were just fucking awesome!!!!! Three encores, murderous heaviness, an absolutely tight performance no matter how complex or fast the riff is, violent drumming, growls and screams straight from the pits of hell and the charm and spirit of Mexican Metal warriors. I had not expected them to be that good, the trio’s last album “Necrholocaust” was impressive, but this show ripped everything to shreds! My personal highlights were ‘Raise The Pestilence’, the crushing titletrack of the most recent release, the sick GRAVE cover ‘Inhuman’ and the “Chronic Corpora Infest” tracks, which I did not knew before but instantly enjoyed. Although DISGORGE went through various line up changes lately (I think some members are in IMPIETY now) it did not affect the band’s intensity and brutality. The sympathetic Mexicans delivered a rousing show and I can not wait to see them again on the Fuck The Commerce festival. In contrast to most brutal Death Metal or Death / Grind acts DISGORGE are capable of blending ultra brutal sounds with total oldschool spirit and despite their blast orgies never forget to add some small but effective melodies or slower, very sinister parts to the mix. That way they are not only a delight for the kids but also for us “older” traditionalists… The local village idiot turned out to be none lesser than Harry Potter who did something like a ridiculous dancing show onstage and almost urged DISGORGE to play one encore after another, you rule, haha!  As a whole it was a great concert in a nice location and if you haven’t been there before get your ass there next time, you won’t regret it! For infos check out the following websites: www.ajzbahndamm.de (concert dates, location), www.nrwdeathmetal.de (the gig organisers), www.embedded666.de, www.sanatorium.nfo.sk, www.disgorge-mex.com.

Live review: Stefan Franke

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