“vader”
Vader
Live In Japan
Pavement
My only exposure to this excellent Polish death metal band has been their studio albums and word of mouth, and frankly I’ve not really been to a genuine “death metal” show in years. All the “metal shows” seem either to be the tired rapcore mix or the “extreme metal” where most of the time I’m left wondering if the band really knows how to play their instruments or not.
So it was actually refreshing to hear this amazing live recording from Vader’s 1998 tour of Japan (Club Quattro in Tokyo). Vader’s commitment to metal is clear: excellent musicianship, shredding guitars, and lots of evil. That they’re speaking a heavily accented English to a Japanese home crowd that’s chanting “Vada! Vada!” adds to the fire! The show is introduced with the very evil theme music from Damien, and a few “Hello Tokyo’s” and even a couple of “Konichiwa’s” (with Polish accent, of course) and then it’s right away into “Sothis,” “Distant Dream,” “Black to the Blind,” “Silent Empier,” (sic) and “Blood of Kingu.” Need I say more? You want tops in death metal, this performance is awfully close to it…
They even throw in some bits and pieces of From Beyond and The Omen to keep the spooky atmosphere and, far out, they cover “Black Sabbath” and – unbelievable – “Reign In Blood.” amazing versions, too. This show must’ve been uncontrollable! Right before the Slayer cover, Peter (on vocals) shouts a tribute: “Slayer!” and wham! ‘der it is. For those about to slay, this album is mandatory.
Pavement Music, P.O. Box 50550, Phoenix, AZ 85076; http://www.pavementmusic.com
