Mortiis + PIG “Swine & Punishment” UK tour: London show review

 

On 18 March we had the great opportunity to see the last show of the “Swine & Punishment”, a joint Mortiis and PIG UK tour. While we had already seen Mortiis twice live, this was the first time that we saw live performance of PIG. Although the show changed the venue and moved from The Garage to Electrowerkz in a short notice, the devoted fans had followed the updates and a few hundred people came to support the event.

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The whole evening started rather early. Mortiis and PIG were supported by Stereo Juggernaut and Seraph Sin. We were unfamiliar with the bands, but we arrived in time to see them play. Stereo Juggernaut members call themselves electrorockers, but their music is more than that. They have the industrial-rock sound with the punkish attitude and they put out quite an energetic performance. They piqued our interest and we would check their music online later. As we would find out, this promising band has a lot to offer and we hope to see them live again soon.

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The second band to appear on stage were Seraph Sin. This was our first encounter with this band as well. We had no idea what to expect, but we found out soon enough. They were all about metal, as far as we were concerned. The raw vocals, powerful guitar riffs and expressive physical performance showed no compromises. The sound they delivered was relentless and the message clear. These guys came to stir things up in a big way. Thumbs up for both bands!

 

IMG_2182webIt was already time for Mortiis. While the band was gathering on stage, Havard was waiting in the front raw saying he would watch his own show for a while. Just when it was time for him to sing, he climbed up the stage and showed us what the wild performance is all about. They opened with “Feed the Greed” from their The Great Deceiver album. The three band members on the stage produced so much energy that the hall turned into a boiling room. By that time the place was packed. It was almost impossible to catch Havard on camera. They decided not to give us any rest and the next song that they played was “The Great Leap”. One more song from The Great Deceiver followed, this time “The Ugly Truth”. However, they didn’t forget about the old hits and between “Bleed Like You”, “Too Little Too Late”, “Demons Are Back” and “Doppelganger”, they played their all-time hits “Decadent & Desperate”, “Gibber”, “Parasite God”, “Closer To The End”, “Way Too Wicked” and “Broken Skin”. They saved a personal favourite of ours, “Smell The Witch”, for their last song. This show was the perfect balance of their new and somewhat older material. Carefully selected songs maintained the show’s energetic course and kept the audience’s interest during the whole set. Harvard performed excellent as the vocalist and the frontman. The band sounded flawless and we wouldn’t expect anything less from these professionals.

After such a great warm-up, the audience was hungry for more. The stage preparations were carried out swiftly and the lights turned from blue to red. Everything was set for PIG. The band appeared with their pig rubber masks on and the first sounds of “Diamond Sinners” announced Raymond’s appearance on the stage. He walked in in style, wearing a fluffy false fur white coat and an officer’s hat. As soon as they appeared, we could hear how the crowd immediately got ecstatic, and that meant that the audience was already in love with The Gospel. We could hear people singing along and giving the band a IMG_2393webnice welcome and support. They played “Found In Filth” next, which felt like a logical choice. Those two songs were chosen to introduce both the album and the show. The next song, that was a great follow-up, was “Everything”. We didn’t have to wait long for one of our favourite The Gospel songs, “Missing The Mainline”. However, after this “slow dancer” the band went back to more industrial-rock sound with “The Only Good One’s A Dead One”. That one certainly got everyone shaking their bodies again. We remember hearing “Serial Killer Thriller” before some KMFDM Nihil album repertoire. They played “Brute”, “Flesh” and “Juke Joint Jezebel” to the utmost joy of many KMFDM and PIG fans. We don’t need to mention that these fine gentlemen gave an excellent physical and a bit theatrical performance, especially Raymond. However, En Esch was really a tough competition. Watts animated the crowd with his gestures, which were almost dramatic at certain points, and every now and then we could see a really genuine smile. It was clear that the band enjoyed the show as much as we did. There was a feeling of unity created between the band and the audience and you can’t wish for more on a live show. They tried to close the show with “Viva Evil”, another The Gospel song, but the audience was not ready to let them go yet. They soon returned to the stage for encore and they played another 3 songs. It seemed inevitable that we would hear “Find It, Fuck It, Forget It”, and so we did, and then they sent us home with the melody of “Secret Skin”. Should we have asked for one more encore? We should have. We can only hope to see PIG more often in Europe. Catching them in USA can be quite expensive for European residents like us.