Temple of Doom: Obscura (d) + Spawn Of Possession (s) + Gorod (fr) + Exivious (hol)

15th of March, Templet, Lyngby, Denmark.

EXIVIOUS ( http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/exivious.aspx?ac=exivi" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/exivious.aspx?ac=exivi ):
The Dutch technical/progressive fusion metal act EXIVIOUS started the evening. The band self-released their self-titled debut full-length studio album in 2009. Guitarist Tymon Kruidenier is also known for playing on CYNIC�s comeback album "Traced in Air (2008)" and bassist Robin Zielhorst for playing live with CYNIC on the subsequent tour replacing Sean Malone.

The band entered the stage with a nice relaxed attitude and played their incredibly challenging progressive fusion metal with what seemed like ease. The songs were more energetic in a live setting that they are on the more calm album versions, which worked really well for the band. A great performance from what seemed to be a very sympathetic band.

GOROD ( http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/gorod.aspx?ac=gorod" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/gorod.aspx?ac=gorod ):
French technical death metal act GOROD entered the stage as the second act this night. GOROD were formed in 1997 under the GORGASM monicker, but to avoid confusion with the US act of the same name they changed their name to GOROD in 2005 and have currently released 4 full-length studio albums under this monicker. The latest being "A Perfect Absolution" from March 2012.

After a couple of minor sound rehearsals, which seemed a bit odd at that point, GOROD started their show. Great energy, tight musicianship and again a band that seemed to have a good time on stage (I swear the bassist was smiling throughout the whole concert). After the more nerdy fusion metal of EXIVIOUS, it was nice to have your head bashed in by some really brutal and technical death metal music.

SPAWN OF POSSESSION ( http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/spawn-of-possession.aspx?ac=spawn" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/spawn-of-possession.aspx?ac=spawn ):
After a short break Swedish technical death metal act SPAWN OF POSSESSION took the stage. The band have released 3 highly technical death metal albums in "Cabinet (2003)", the much praised "Noctambulant (2006)" and this years "Incurso" and are widely considered as one of the Swedish leaders of this particular death metal sub-genre.

SPAWN OF POSSESSION are sligthly more old school than GOROD and my initial assumption that the two acts would sound very similar in a live setting was put to shame. The live sound was a bit more muddy than had been the case with the clear and very good sound during EXIVIOUS and GOROD, but I was still able to hear what was going on. The band were well playing and their music worked well in a live setting. Great energy.

OBSCURA ( http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/obscura.aspx?ac=obscur" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/obscura.aspx?ac=obscur ):
Germam technical/progressive death metal act OBSCURA have been on quite a successful ride after they released their 2nd full-length studio album "Cosmogenesis" in 2009. An album that made quite an impact on the technical/progressive death metal scene. The release of "Omnivium" in 2011 have only further strengthened OBSCURA�s position as one of the most successful acts on the technical/progressive death metal scene.

It didn�t take long after SPAWN OF POSSESSION left the stage before OBSCURA, who was headliner this night, entered the stage to play their show. The band were obviously very well playing and delivered their songs with great conviction, but unfortunately the soundman fucked up the sound to a degree where the sound at times was downright painful to the ears. The sound was terribly distorted because he had turned up the volume way too much. Midways through the show he mananged to control the sound to a degree where it was actually pretty good, but towards the end he screwed up again and everything ended in a distorted mess. I don�t blame the band who did their best and seemed like nice guys with a great contact to the audience (and a really nice German accent that reminded me of Mille from KREATOR), but I�d fire that soundman (or at least give him a kick in the ass or a couple of new ears). I was standing right next to the mixing pult, so he must have heard exactly the same sound as I did, and he didn�t do enough to fix the problem IMO.

...all in all it was a pretty great evening, that unfortunately ended on somewhat of a low. EXIVIOUS was probably the most interesting act and GOROD and SPAWN OF POSSESSION also delivered great shows, so I guess it was one of those rare evenings where the support acts steal the show. I�m just sorry for OBSCURA because it wasn�t their fault.