I’m no great fan of Metal, but I am a moth to the flame of ingenuity and Nekrogoblikon and For I Am King were on fire last night.
Rebellion Bar hosted Manchester leg of the Californian Symphonic Power Metal band’s UK and European tour where they were joined by an eclectic array of angsty talent including Footprints in the Custard, For I Am King and Harbinger.
I ambled in just as Party Metal trailblazers Footprints in the Custard started their set. The procession may as well have been started by Andrew WK himself. Footprints in the Custard may have warmed up the room, but the following act For I Am King absolutely dominated it. The Amsterdam-based Metal band fronted by the ferociously talented vocalist Alma Alizadeh not only has a larynx of pure metal. She’s also an artist who you immediately warm to. You’d have to have a soul made of steel not to be endeared by her on-stage wit. For I Am King’s melodic, atmospherically momentous take on Metal carries a vicious amount of distinction. If you get a chance to catch them live, take it.
After London-based Deathcore band Harbinger laid down embolism-inducing technical Metal, Nekrogoblikon took to the stage and kicked off their set with their jauntily carnivalesque track The Many Faces of Dr. Hubert Malbec. The symphonically-euphoric aural delight may just contain the catchiest chorus found in Death Metal.
Photo credit liamhellcat https://www.hellcatgraphics.com/
With the help of John Goblikon, the rest of the band made light work of feeding the crowd pure unrelenting insanity. Which proved too much for one person who found themselves on-stage and divebombed from side stage. After checking that they were okay to carry on after a crowd member had probably broken their leg, their one hour set contained their ingeniously frenetic hits such as Bears, We Need a Gimmick, Dressed as Goblins, Goblins and concluded with Powercore.
Nekrogoblikon prove that fantasy and comedy have just as much of a place in music as they do in fiction and film. Their gory goblin-inspired light-hearted escapism allows you to forget the more odious insanity which you’ll see if you’re masochistic enough to turn on the news in our apocalypse-obsessed decade. Each member of Nekrogoblikon’s talent is only matched by their charisma. I could attempt to put their virtuosity into words. But you’ve got ears, use them.
Admitting to liking a band such as Nekrogoblikon may deplete your stash of pretentious points, but you’ll find that they aren’t worth all that much anyway.
Artist links:
Nekrogoblikon: Facebook, Spotify,
For I Am King: Facebook, Spotify
Harbinger: Facebook, Spotify
Footprints in the Custard: Facebook, Spotify
Review by Amelia Vandergast