Ne Obliviscaris
The Crocodile, Seattle, WA
07.18.16
The Crocodile seemed a fitting venue for Melbourne, Australia 6-piece band Ne Obliviscaris, who without a doubt would be as deadly as the club’s namesake.
Arriving in time to witness the brutality of supporting band, Black Crown Initiate, the progressive death metal was just pummeling to watch. The entire band crushed it, live, with a stark contrast of harsh vocals from front man James Dorton mixed with the clean vocals of bearded-wonder guitarist, Andy Thomas. It was impossible to take my eyes off of the insanely complex and fast footwork of drummer Jesse Beahler. The band was rounded out bassist Nick Shaw and to my surprise an old friend from The Faceless, guitarist Wes Hauch.
The Pennsylvania quintet have been touring pretty consistently and I have managed to only catch a song or so previously. Tonight I got an entire set and I will never miss them live again. B R U T A L!
The lights dimmed and Ne Obliviscaris took the stage. They delivered some deadly progressive black, thrash, death, and melodic metal. It is pretty rare to see one left-handed musician, but on stage right were two lefties: lead guitarist Benjamin Baret, and bassist Brendan “Cygnus” Brown. So wild to see the contrast of both musicians with shaved heads, head banging, when on stage left violinist/clean vocalist Tim Charles and guitarist Matt Klavins have their long hair flying constantly. Growling vocalist Xenoyr and drummer Dan Presland rounded out this impressive beast.
Often times, the intricate combination of growling and clean vocals with the violin and guitars wove together to create musical extremes. It is so hard to imagine how they sound without witnessing it live. The technical prowess of all the musicians was very apparent, as they sound exactly like the recordings, but heavier. As if that was even possible. They certainly don’t sound like any other metal band out there right now.
This was their first international headlining tour. They stopped to thank everyone that helped make this tour possible. They had a hugely successful Patreon Crowd Funding campaign earlier this year to make this tour a reality. The hour and a half long set flew by and when I saw the set list of only seven songs, realized the complexity and length of some songs breaking ten minutes, many off the 2014 release, Citadel.
All the bands were so down to earth and approachable. They all hung at their merch areas and were stoked to meet everyone! So if you get a chance to catch a show on this 28-date US/Canadian trek, do so. It is pretty rare that Ne Obliviscaris are able to tour North America.
Don’t miss out on this incredibly brutal tour package. You won’t be disappointed.
Ne Obliviscaris Set List
Devour Me, Colossus
Of Petrichor Weaves Black Noise
As Icicles Fall
Painters Of The Tempest
Forget Not
Pyrrhic
And Plague Flowers The Kaleidescope
Black Crown Initiate Set List
Great Mistake
Fractured One
For Red Cloud
Selves we cannot forgive
Purge
Stench of an Iron Age
Review and photos by Neil Lim Sang
Ne Obliviscaris
Black Crown Initiate
