EXCLUSIVE VIDEO PREMIERE: BEATEN TO DEATH’S “OBLITERATION OF NEKROMANTHEON”
Beaten to Death seemed to came out of nowhere earlier this year with their debut Xes and Strokes. Not that the five members of the Norwegian grind quintet are greenhorns by any stretch – they’ve spent years in Tsjuder, She Said Destroy and Insense, among others. Just that when a band’s first recorded output takes as many risks as Xes and Strokes did, and ends up knocking you on your ass, you’d expect you would’ve heard rumblings from somewhere. Granted, Norway was never a grindcore epicenter like England or Sweden. But to these ears, Xes and Strokes did more to expand grindcore’s possibilities in 18.5 minutes than their countrymen have mustered in ages.
Normally, I’d scoff at the idea of a band putting out a live DVD after only putting out one album. In the case of Beaten to Death, the forthcoming Beaten to Death at Rockefeller DVD is a welcome gift, as it confirms that these guys sound as savage and quirky on stage as they do on disc. This exclusive DVD clip is all flashing lights and tightly controlled energy. Vocalist Anders Bakke lunges and prowls the stage in a white wifebeater; drummer Christian Svendsen is the Charlie Watts to his Mick Jagger, sitting ramrod straight behind the kit in a black wifebeater.
The song they’re performing here is the as-of-yet unreleased track “Obliteration of Nekromantheon.” It’s less grindy than the material on Xes and Strokes, but equally odd – check the funk break at 1:42, which inexplicably fits in perfectly. Bakke told us the song’s shit-starting backstory:
“’Obliteration of Nekromantheon’ is about our friendly distaste of retro thrash metal, which currently is overflowing the international metal scene. Two band names put together from retro thrashers on the Oslo scene turned out to be the perfect title for this little diddle [sic]. To really get the point home we decided to use a retro thrash riff as the main theme. With this song we take up the bandslagging torch from Anal Cunt, but in a more amicably neighbourhood-like fashion. Hopefully we will get a response from the bands in question down the line. Maybe we can get our very own east coast/west coast style war of words on?”
Oh, and yes, Beaten to Death were opening for Killswitch Engage at this particular show in Oslo. Start listening to these guys before Killswitch is opening for them.
The Beaten to Death at Rockefeller DVD is out on October 26th. Pre-order it here.
-SR
