LIVE: Baest, PIST, Beyond Salvation
Baest, PIST, Beyond Salvation
Rebellion, Manchester
07:02:2024
Live Review by Oli Gonzalez
It’s a cold frosty Wednesday night in Manchester, a city where live music never seems to take a day off. Rebellion is host for tonight’s festivities. A venue where unsigned bands just starting out have cut their teeth. In addition, where major international acts come to ply their polished and refined craft to a small substrata of their respective fanbases in an intimate up and close environment. Tonight, the evening is headlined by Danish death metal act Baest, courtesy of Tapestry Promotions, and a band who find themselves in a strange middle ground; a small big band but also a big small band, if you will. Neither a big fish in a small pond, nor a tiny fish in the vast ocean, more like a medium sized fish in a medium sized lake. Their name has appeared on the lower end of major festival main stages (such as Bloodstock) as well as headlining small venues on international tours, such as nearby Satan’s Hollow in the recent past.
I was particularly drawn to the band’s Death Metal aesthetic, with a sound steering towards the slow and groove laden end of the spectrum, slower than the genre generally dictates. In a similar vein to Septic Flesh, minus the orchestral and symphonic elements. Rather than blistering blast beats, Baest will bludgeon and overwhelm you with wave after wave of punishing grooves and walls of crushing sound. This was one I was excited to get down for and consider it my first ‘major’ gig of the year. Combine the relative star power of Baest and two quality local support acts, this was shaping up to be a quality evening. A quick stop at the merch stand and my patch collection grew by one. Some liquid refreshments from the bar, then time for the music. First up, Beyond Salvation.
Beyond Salvation are a band I’ve followed for years and have always enjoyed seeing, especially with their modern progressive style of Thrash Metal. I’ve always admired vocalist Jon Pedley’s energy as he leaves everything on stage every time he performs. Tonight was no exception, and the other members matched his energy too, filling the stage with a collectively towering and powerful presence. Both Arun and Luke also chipped in with vocals, which is fantastic to see that full band effort.
“NOTHING BUT DEAD TO ME!”.
How I loved hearing that line from ‘Dead To Me’, a classic from their back catalogue. As well as new hits such as ‘Ghost Machine’, what I believe is an unreleased track from their upcoming EP. From an auditory perspective, they seem to have everything going for them. So, what’s missing ? I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Then it hit me. There were occasional moments when the strobe lights hit and it enhanced the visual spectacle tenfold! If the scope and resources are available to improve this aspect, then I can see Beyond Salvation going even further as a band.
With a blend of crushing intensity and admirable melody, as well as seamlessly fusing classic thrash heaviness with their own unique stamp, Beyond Salvation’s set had everything tonight and would be a difficult act to follow.
PIST are a band who’s name I’ve seen crop up on local gigs and major festivals alike. Yet I still had never actually seen them perform or listened to their music. That all changed tonight though, and so I was going in a bit blind. I’ll be honest, this was a bit of a slow burner for me. I was starting to fear if their card placement was off, and it was slowing the momentum of the night down. It took until the third song for me to start becoming invested. There was plenty to become invested in after all. See, I’ve always been drawn to the slower Doom and Stoner side of Metal. PIST’s sound is the living embodiment of everything you could love about this genre; no nonsense, bells or whistles, just crushing wave after thunderous wave of sound that assaults your senses, while having the capacity to measure on the Richter scale with its intensity! Some of those guitar and bass tones were delicious too, appealing to seasoned musos and casuals alike. Their momentum was starting to gather like a runaway freight train. Even the guitarist snapping his string and needing an unexpected mid-set replacement did no harm, as the drummer quickly churned out an improv solo, swiftly joined by the bass and other guitarist. Almost as if this was the plan all along.
Overall, this may have been the first but certainly won’t be the last time I see PIST, and I’ll definitely be digging into their back catalogue.
“Those guys are f*ckin’ savage”, a friend of mine had warned me about Baest prior to the gig. Anxiety and curiosity peaked, the time had come for headline act Baest to take to the stage. I had binge listened to them prior to the gig, and was thrilled to hear the likes of ‘Necrosapien’ and ‘Colossus’ making their way into the setlist. It was everything I expected! If you want to experience this too, get over to any good streaming platform or buy their physical media to experience this. They sound just as smooth and polished live as they do on record, though exponentially more thunderous and savage live, as my friend had warned. However, I wasn’t expecting the stage antics and banter from the Danes, making for a thoroughly entertaining show all round.
“Now for a tradition. This obviously isn’t a Christmas tree,” referring to his mic and stand “but come and dance around me” as vocalist Simon immersed himself right in the crowd and summoned a circle pit to surround him, whilst just casually continuing his blistering vocal performance. That’s the thing. They know their talent and worth as a band, but don’t need to take themselves too seriously. That’s admirable.
“I SAID MAYBE!” Simon howls out during a gap between songs, in a deliberate poor man’s version of Wonderwall, given the song’s clear significance in the city. This was met with a healthy round of laughter, again summing up how Baest don’t need to take themselves seriously on stage and can show this side.
“CIRCLE PIT” Simon orders, with the crowd complying with frightening ease and haste. That just shows how invested the audience were. The band members themselves seemed to be enjoying it just as much, moving around the stage with swagger and ease, while ushering the most demonic of pulverising Death Metal.
Suddenly, 45 minutes had come and gone and the set was over. I felt hollow. I wanted more! I was invested. I’m sure I’ll get more eventually as the Danes have earned a reputation for being fiercely hard working and earning the respect of musicians and casual fans alike. I’m sure their reputation remained well intact and their fan base grew tonight. I’m sure they’ll be back, whether on another smaller venue headline tour or on another major festival. This time, higher up on the card though.
Rebellion:
Tapestry Promotions:
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Oli Gonzalez, Rabbie McLindesay and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of said party. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
