Gig report – Nasty Abyss; Diocletian, Sitis, Nefarious Vermin, Haxanking

Stop me if you heard this one; the club called in the English language The Swamp once again hosted a nefarious night of extreme metal. The medium size stage invaded by chainmails, upside down crosses, helmets, giant beer bellied Slovenian grinders, relentless blast beats and giant sized New Zealanders with giant sized knife tattoos. Oh my (read it in the George Takei voice).

Thanks to the Nasty Abyss organization The Swamp truly became a field of uncompromising bands that belong to the underground scene, but yet, they manage to fill up the venue in a respectable level.

Last Friday we had solid share of bands: Häxänking, Nefarious Vermin, Sitis and Diocletian.

Despite the doors opening in 19:00 the first band started in 21:00: Häxänking , a relatively young band coming from the city of Varaždin. Formed in 2022 and with their first album called Pogani Spjevi they had delivered quite a professional gig, especially having in mind that this is one of their first gigs. The stage was decorated with everything that you should expect from a black metal band: helms, skulls, chains, upside down crosses; the whole devils nine yards. Despite this cliché, the band on the musical side quite suprised me, although not the first half of the set list, which was pretty much like a thrashy version of Bathory, on the second half of the set list with their title track of their album Pogani Spjevi things really took off: more atmosphere and more cohesive songs. Acoustic parts can go a long way in between the aggression and these guys were a pure example of it. To be perfectly honest, spoiler alert, they were my favorite band of the night.

After Häxänking, the two tone grinders Nefarious Vermin got on the stage, being a last minute replacement for the band Snogg, they casually did a line check, put on the shades that even Stallones character Cobra would envy, the drummer took his shirt off and we are off to the races.

Although not much a crust/grinder fan myself, the band live is really a sight to see and to test the durability of your ear drums. The funniest thing is how the guys were so casual on stage and yet the music was dark and heavy as fuck. To my surprise quite atmospheric at times and really puts you in the mood for it. It really captures the essence of the genre and a real recommendation to see them live. Personally, I enjoyed them more that I thought I would.

Co-headliner of the night is the local black metal band Sitis, one the most active black metal acts in the recent years in Croatia. With their first album Ruina and the second album in the works, they had long passed the birthing pains of a young band and this night is a testament to that. Personally, this kind of black metal would not be first thing that I would put on to terrorize my stereo, but I see commitment when I see one. A fucking special kudos to their drummer Josip Vladić which is, in high probability, the best drummer in the country. With little pause and crowd interaction the guy just went all in on it with the rest of the band. The aggression he puts on those poor drums is a sight to see. Next time put a drumcam Vlad. 😉

Now, if you an average bloke like me and you never saw a guy from New Zealand, after seeing Diocletian you would be convinced that every guy from there is two meters tall at average, muscles to carry tiger tanks, stomachs to drink a gallon of beer and eat blast beats for breakfast. That is what we saw that night and I voluntary live in that delusion from now on.

That being said, this might the blandest live experiences I saw in while. Don’t get me wrong, their music is intense as fuck and this shit is not easy the play (especially for the drummer), but when all songs begin and end in a similar way and with a live sound that does not really captures the vibe of their music you would stand there for an hour and wonder if they were playing the same track with a few variations. Vocals also were barely distinct which also did not help the whole case. I remember a friend of mine commenting that it felted like the drummer was playing one track and the rest of the guys were doing something else entirely. I could not agree more. Their legacy, the work and their commitment could not be argued with 20 years of existence and six albums under their belt but that night was an hour long cacophonous noise similar to an endless panzer battle, which was probably the idea. For those who enjoyed, more kudos to you.