ROTTING CHRIST, BORKNAGAR, ABIGAIL WILLIAMS, GHOST BATH, VALE OF PNATH, STORMRULER – Haltom, Texas, U.S.A. 

ROTTING CHRIS, BORKNAGAR, ABIGAIL WILLIAMS, GHOST BATH, VALE OF PNATH, STORM RULER – Haltom Theater, Haltom, Texas, U.S.A., May 17, 2022

Originally slated for 2020, The Devastation on The Nation Tour originally featured the trio of ROTTING CHRIST, BORKNAGAR, and ABIGAIL WILLIAMS. However, WOLFHEART and IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT were on the original tour. Now, ROTTING CHRIST, BORKNAGAR and ABIGAIL WILLIAMS are still on the tour, but VALE OF PNATH and GHOST BATH were added. I’m not sure if they were part of the tour, but also STORM RULER, from the Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW) are appeared as the opener.

Unaware of the prowess of the opening act, I came into the venue at Haltom, Texas (minutes away from Fort Worth); I noticed Geoff Sawicky, ex-ABSU and current THE BLACK MORIAH member, was at the helm and on the axe. It pays to show up early and see all the bands. Sawicky’s fast picking was of note at first as were his demonic shrieks. I think STORMRULER are a new band, as I can’t find any info on them. I’m not even sure I got their name right. Either way, it was a black metal band featuring the dude from THE BLACK MORIAH and formerly of ABSU, and they ruled…

https://www.tiktok.com/@darrencowan386/video/7099258700350672170?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1

Next up were VALE OF PNATH. I’ve run into their name before but never gave them a lot of attention. They were decent, a good warm up for BORKNAGAR and ROTTING CHRIST. They were indicative of the diversity of this bill. VALE OF PNATH play technical death metal and there were some chunky grooves in there. The singer looked like Ken from ABIGAIL WILLIAMS, so I thought they were ABIGAIL WILLIAMS. I marveled at how much ABIGAIL WILLIAMS had changed their song. I thought VALE OF PNATH were chunky and groovy. I wasn’t blown away by their set, but I don’t really have anything negative to say about it, either.

https://www.tiktok.com/@darrencowan386/video/7099253200389246250?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1

Whenever there is a “post” anything in metal, I usually cringe. In the case of North Dakota’s (yep, there are bands in North Dakota) GHOST BATH, the group played depressive post-black metal. While not in the same league of depressive art as a DSBM band, GHOST BATH certainly contained some melancholy in their sound. Wearing corpse paint, the band definitely conveyed themes of depression and morbidity.

I thought of them as a depressing death metal band, like something out of Finland, but the group had their own sound and people dug it. I dug it. Of course, they must be doing something right as they are on Nuclear Blast Records.

https://www.tiktok.com/@darrencowan386/video/7099256187190857002?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1

It’s been quite a while since I saw ABIGAIL WILLIAMS. The U.S.B.M. band have been around for a couple of decades now and have made waves in the underground. They used to be on Candlelight Records, but according to one member, that was a mess, so they dropped that label. I assume they were on this tour to promote their last album, “Walk Beyond The Dark,” which would have totally made sense considering it was relapsed in 2019 and this tour was slated for 2020 (the dreaded year of plague!). I really didn’t recognize anything they played, especially since I hadn’t listened to them since 2010 when I interviewed the band. Like their member said, it’s hard to pin them down, since their style is all over the place. They were good, the keys were very atmospheric. These keys urged my opinion as similar to EMPEROR, but other albums sounded a bit like symphonic black/metalcore. Yeah, weird, I know, but I didn’t hear any of that tonight.

While all of the bands (excluding the locals, who I missed in my 3-hour drive) were good, but the sole reason I was there was to see BORKNAGAR and ROTTING CHRIST. The last time I saw BORKNAGAR was in Chicago in 2000 opening for EMPEROR. As far as I know, that was their only U.S. tour. Boy, how times have changed. Back then BORKNAGAR had only three albums. I.C.S. Vortex was the singer and they were touring with their first album with him The Archaic Course. He left the group after only two albums to be replaced by Vintersorg.

A few years ago, the group released “Winter Thrice,” a monumental album in the fact that the title track featured three singers, Garm, I.C.S Vortex and Vintersorg. That was a highlight of 2016, a song that I’m pretty sure they played. They definitely played “The Rhymes of the Mountain,” another awesome song from that album. Now, the group were fronted by Vortex with Lars Nedland (SOLEFALD) playing keys and providing backing vocals. Both artists sounded tremendous, and the Haltom theater had a tall ceiling to catch the acoustics. In fact, Vortex’s vocals blew me away. I first saw him sing for DIMMU BORGIR at Ozzfest 2004 and he sounded just as good, as if he hadn’t been singing for three decades.

I reviewed their last album “True North,” released three years ago. I was a bit disappointed as it didn’t have enough force, it seemed too progressive. At the show, however, “Up North,” their single, sounded great. I didn’t mind it at all. For some reason, the album release annoyed me. Not this time. Personal highlights, though, were when the band played “Oceans Rise” from “The Archaic Course” album and “Dawn of the End,” from “The Olden Domain” (my favorite album, which featured Garm). I remember them playing both these songs 22 years ago, so it was cool to hear them again. I actually closed my eyes and grounded myself when Vortex sang “I close my eyes” on “The Dawn of the End.”  This rare performance was inspiring, to say the lease, and for many this was their first time seeing the band. Oh, what a great time to see them!

BORKNAGAR

I consider ROTTING CHRIST the METALLICA of Greece. They have to be the biggest metal band in Greece; they are certainly the most influential. While I still say their old school brethren VARATHRON are better because their darker and they stuck with the original formula of Hellenic black metal, but I give high praise to ROTTING CHRIST. I last saw them in 2015 in Austin as part of Fun Fun Fun Fest Nites with MAYHEM and WATAIN and they were awesome then, and they were awesome now!

One thing about ROTTING CHRIST is they’ve continuously perused different sounds. Atmosphere provided by keys have always seemed to have been part of their repertoire and it was in full force this night. Another thing they incorporate is a martial sound with ancient chants that make me envision Sparta and the legendary 300 warriors. This was on display too. This tour definitely seemed like 2019-2020, as their last album, also came out in 2019, “The Heretics.” It was an album themed around that very topic. They played some songs off that album like their singles “In The Name of God” and “Fire, God and Fear.” I’m not sure the titles of some of their other songs, as they’ve put out a million albums and have many titles I just don’t know, but they definitely played some of the early, Hellenic-style songs complete with the traditional metal elements and melodies. Fucking awesome band, hail ROTTING CHRIST. Now if they would just bring VARATHRON with them, I would feel like I’m sitting on top of Mount Olympus!

Near the end of their set, after getting my pictures, I wondered outside and talked to Vortex and a member of ABIGAIL WILLIAMS. One of the topics was ARCTURUS, which Vortex also fronts. He said they have a lot of material for recording, but he isn’t happy. He said it just is just not up to par compared to their other material (a high standard, indeed).

What a way to wrap up a great evening of music and comradeship! The Haltom Theater was a welcomed changed from Come And Take It Live! in Austin. The club’s security were laid back, and the club was large. No more feeling like a sardine in a can at Come And Take It! No more being verbally and even physically assaulted for doing my job as a journalist. Great place can’t wait to go there again. I can’t wait to move to Ft. Worth!

https://www.rotting-christ.com/en

https://borknagar.com/

https://www.instagram.com/abigailwilliamsofficial/

https://twitter.com/ghostbath

https://twitter.com/valeofpnath