Tonight’s show is sold out, and with good reason; Blackbraid and Winterfylleth is a potent combination. Add in Noctem too, and it’s sure to be a draw. It’s going to be a busy one tonight.
Noctem
It’s instantly apparent even early on that this is a sold out show – the place is absolutely packed for Noctem.
Noctem’s blackened attack is dark and violent. The band look the part, all feral corpse paint and flanked by giant inverted crosses and occult backdrops. They have a good stage presence and the material hits the spot. In fact, Noctem come across more dynamic and engaging than on record, despite a few sound issues
The crowd lap it up. Noctem put on a good show and convincingly start the night off well.
Winterfylleth
Winterfylleth are headliners in their own right, and it’s somehow even busier in Rebellion now.
Riding high from the release of their top tier new album The Unyielding Season, Winterfylleth play for about an hour. They open with First Light from The Imperious Horizon, and they take to the stage like they own it. Their unadorned presence is subservient only to the aggressively epic music. Throughout their set the band are clearly enjoying themselves, especially the keyboardist. Of the keyboards, it’s worth noting that these come through clear and strong in the live mix tonight, which is not always the case for any band with keyboards.
For the song To the Edge of Tyranny Winterfylleth are joined on stage by their ex-bass player, who performs vocals with admirable passion. Echoes in the After and The Unyielding Season are both particularly powerful examples of the band’s latest material. The latter is a real highlight, in fact. Classic cut A Valley Thick with Oaks is a real crowd-pleaser, and it’s great to hear the singer’s less-used clean singing once more.
Finishing with Whisper of the Elements, it has been a commanding performance. Winterfylleth go down an absolute storm.
Blackbraid
Blackbraid are hot stuff, and people are poured into every available space, it seems. The band are on stage for over an hour; it’s a big set, pulled from all of the band’s releases so far. It also unexpectedly favours Blackbraid I and Blackbraid II over their latest, Blackbraid III, which is unexpected considering the strength of the latter.
Celestial Bloodlust starts us off, fast and raw. The band are focused and tight. They give it their all, and the crowd reciprocates. The songs blur by in a blaze of blackened fury, melodic hooks, fiery solos, and no small amount of atmospheric weight. The slow ending of The Wolf That Guides the Hunter’s Hand is a great example of the latter.
There is no talking, just music. There’s a light ambience between most songs instead, lending a relaxed tension to proceedings, which the songs deliberately break.
It’s a consistent set, making highlights difficult to pull out, although cuts like The River of Time Flows Through Me seems especially popular. Having said that, Twilight Hymn of Ancient Blood is a definite standout song of the evening. It’s a track that has a doomy crawl, with deep death growls, that switches it up eventually into jagged blackened thrash. It gets a robust audience response.
After this, the rest of the band disappear off stage, with only the singer playing some form of pipe/flute(?) to the backing track of As the Creek Flows Softly By. The rest of the band return in time to tear out Scandanga, which also sees the instrument reappear. The final song of the evening is Barefoot Ghost Dance on Blood Soaked Soil, which sees the singer take to the pit, adding to its intensity.
At the end of it all the crowd seem happy, and who can blame them? It’s been a solid, high energy set from Blackbraid.
Wonderbox Metal 