Watain/Nexul/Destroyer 666
March 24, 2018
Atlanta, GA
The Masquerade (Heaven)
Review by: Eric Layton
The black metal militia of Watain rolled into Atlanta with their road warriors Nexul and Destroyer 666, and the carnage wasn’t far behind. This tour has been in the news as of late due to some Antifa threats of violence at shows due to some inflammatory actions and remarks ok Destroyer’s frontman KK Warslut. Watain stuck beside their fellow Wolfpack of Destroyer 666 and canceled shows entirely when they were asked to not play the venue. I was curious to see how the night would play out, with the current political climate in Atlanta.
Up first was Nexul from El Paso, Texas where the icy winds of death and despair roll across the plains. So, these guys had a few altars set up on stage with artifacts and trinkets that would be consecrated with pig’s blood. The grave priestess (who would later and up being the band’s photographer still in costume) would also give each member of the band an unholy blessing before they played. Did I mention how perfectly their shirts were cut up to resemble tattered rags?
The music was ok, nothing really special to me. Your typical black metal guitar sound for 4 minutes followed by stage banter from an old Dungeons and Dragons campaign module. “Blah blah, river of paradox, evil, blah blah, Satan,” cue guitar. Then they decided to complete the unoriginal performance by throwing a chalice of the pig’s blood on the audience a la Watain. To paraphrase Alec Baldwin, blood is for closers. This took me completely out of the performance and I was glad when they finally finished the onslaught of mediocrity.
Australia’s own Destroyer 666 was up next and did not disappoint. These guys had a no nonsense approach to their set with very little chit chat. Their brand of extreme metal sounded like it was being played from the original master tracks at the time of recording. I haven’t heard a band sound as good as they did at the Masquerade, and probably never will again. Their set was a great mix, spanning their entire career. Some of the highlights were “Hounds at ya Back”, “I am the Wargod”, and “Lone Wolf Winter”. Politics aside, these guys were amazing and I am so glad I finally was able to see them perform live.
During the set up for Watain, the road crew continued to adorn the stage with wrought (or should I say “rot”???) iron tridents and huge metal inverted crosses with rotting animal heads on them. I’ve seen Watain before so I was prepped for the blood and spectacle, but when the crew guy pried the mouth open of the (I’m guessing) sheep skull and pulled the tongue out to pose it, it was too much. The smell was horrific and I left the front. I have a strong constitution as I cut meat for over 20 years and am not averse to the smell, but man this was bad.
Erik and the crew took the stage, cranking out the classic “Devil’s blood” from Casus Lucerfi and proceeded to baptize the crowd with a skull of blood, as they always do. The set list was amazing, hitting great songs from every album. My personal highlights were “Malfetior”, “Outlaw”, and “Sworn to the Dark”. The band sounded great and there was a lot of energy during their set. The stage looked amazing with all of the tridents around the front of the stage and across the back. To be honest, Watain never disappoints. They continue to up their performances with every tour and I look forward to seeing (but maybe not smelling) what they have in store next time.
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