Heavy Music night at John Dee with Creeping Death, Alluvial, Goatwhore and the mighty Revocation

Revocation at John Dee. Photo: Sadan Ekdemir.

It was Tuesday night in the winter wonderland of Oslo, and we were standing indoors for one hell of a heavy music night at John Dee. The lineup was Creeping Death, Alluvial, Goatwhore and the mighty Revocation, as part of their European tour, were playing.

Unfortunately I’ve missed the first band, Creeping Death, but could get in right when they were done.

Alluvial

Alluvial play technical and textural doom metal and hail from Atlanta. It was a very energetic band that made it hard to stand still. With only one guitar and bass, they sounded very heavy and melodic. One barely noticed there was only one guitar. The drummer was insanely tight.

Goatwhore

An extreme metal band from New Orleans, Louisiana. Their very strong frontman, Louis Benjamin Falgoust II (yes, this is the full name apparently) is a man who clearly knows how to interact with the audience. Regarding the music however, it sounded very nice at first, but got stale a bit too quickly after the second song. It was noticeable by the crowd’s reaction as well. It was a very good band with talented artists, but the songs were a bit repetitive. Also, the sound of the drums was a bit problematic, the kicks were so loud that it was nearly impossible to hear the snare.

Revocation

The mosh pit almost never stopped, the crowd was just craving for more songs all the time.

F-ing hell. Such a show for a Tuesday night. Wikipedia calls them ‘technical death metal’, but I think they are so diverse in their discography that it’s hard to define them by one genre. They have some metalcore elements, which is a booster for any live show. One can also identify some Meshuggah influences in their music. The mosh pit almost never stopped, the crowd was just craving for more songs all the time. The main frontman, Dave Davidson is so freaking talented, both growling and playing all those insanely complicated riffs. Both the connection with the audience and the tightness of the band altogether; it was an amazing show to witness.

Overall the whole night gave a bit of an Inferno festival feeling, with 4 bands in a row. There were not so many people in the audience, probably due to the fact that it was Tuesday. The superb sound quality in John Dee didn’t disappoint. It seems like Revocation is not very well known in Norway, but I do hope they’ll come back soon to a festival venue.

All photos: Sadan Ekdemir