Festival: Athens Extreme Festival 2023 (Day 2)
Bands: Incineration AD, Sarcastic Obedience, The Psalm, Death Courier, Abyssus
Location: Temple Club, Athens, Greece
Date: December 16th, 2023
Live Correspondent: Kostas Boudoukos
Photos: Lic Dusepis
Videos: Alexandros Soultatos

I think there are no words to describe what happened on the second day of the Athens Extreme Festival at Temple club of Athens, a club that turned out to be too small for the needs of the festival, at least on Saturday. From very early on, people had flooded the venue (and the sidewalks outside) and as the time went on, more and more people came, resulting in a packed venue and an almost inaccessible, for cars, street.

The beginning was made with INCINERATION A.D., a completely fresh band that has released a single and an EP with the sweet and totally optimistic (not) title “Goatfuck Armageddon Blasphemy”. To tell you the truth, it was the band that, all things considered, made the biggest impression on me and I was thrilled with their excellent sound and the very strong Black, Thrash metal they played. They may have entered the line up through the window since they had to replace VILE SPECIES at the last minute, but they still responded fully and left promises for their first full length album that will probably follow sometime in the future (in the near future, I hope).

Next on stage are the Athenian Death Metallers SARCASTIC OBEDIENCE. Undoubtedly the one who won the attention was Kostas, the singer of the band who seemed to have lived the whole night on edge with a lot of (well-meaning) beating on and off stage. I was also impressed by the very high playing speeds that made them sound even more extreme. Even though they have been around since 2009, they still don’t have a full length album since they have faced various obstacles but I keep the promise that we will have more news on that soon.

The program was kept to the second and the next part belonged to THE PSALM from Thessaloniki. Different style, Death Metal with obvious doom influences drowned the Temple and our souls in darkness. THE PSALM are basically the continuation of NOCTURNAL VOMIT so the experience on stage was obvious. Hence I was very surprised to find out that they have not yet released their own full length album but only an EP entitled “I” which includes 4 songs. As expected, their songs are long in length with interesting alternations between the faster and slower parts. Certainly THE PSALM gave a special, mystical touch to the evening that was much needed.

I had never had the chance to see the legendary DEATH COURIER live and on Saturday I understood why they are considered one of the pillars of the death metal scene in Greece. It was clear from the reactions of the crowd and also from the unofficial t-shirt poll that a large part of the audience had come (also) for them. With ease and tremendous energy, they roused the Temple and forced everyone inside the venue to jump around. Not much needs to be said about the playing ability of the members. All of them are experienced musicians and tight as can be. Fortunately they have been quite active concert-wise in the last few years so I will definitely catch them again soon.

The headliners of the 2nd day were the awesome ABYSSUS who in 10-12 years have managed to become a top band of the genre. In fact, they were actually the organizers of Athens Extreme Festival since the people responsible for the demolition of Temple these 3 days were Kostas Analytis and Panos Gourbaliotis. The sound continued to be great, the fans continued to be on the rails and the band just lit the spark that set the venue on fire.

Their lavish set-list had it all. Songs from the past like “Into The Abyss” which they opened the show with, the fresh “Siege of Drogheda” from their new EP “Under Siege” which will be released next year and a top notch cover of “Black Metal” by VENOM.

To be honest I wasn’t expecting this atmosphere. This festival gave a boost to the extreme metal scene which is not the easiest one to lie about. However, it turned out to have a past (we knew it), a present (we see it happening) and a future. A big thumbs up to the organizers and those who were involved with the festival I imagine by dedicating a lot of personal time. But also to the bands who kept the level at the highest possible point and especially the mood of the audience in the red. It seems to be a one-way street to establish the festival as an institution in the extreme metal scene! Kostas, Panos…are you listening?

Design & Editing: Alexandros Soultatos
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