Extreme deathcore at 1am in a holiday camp
Following Opeth with Annotations Of An Autopsy is like trying to repair a delicate antique watch with a sledgehammer; clumsy and unnecessary. AoAA are simply the heaviest band of the weekend, and as such have a very select following, hence the ungodly hour of their appearance. A vast number of the audience have disappeared to bed, too tired or drunk to stay awake any longer. If they’d stayed, they would have been in for a wake-up call.
From the off it’s a brutal surge of death metal that’s bordering on white noise at times. The vocals sound like the singer’s vomiting into the microphone, and the only word anyone can make out is “fucking”. Which is probably a good thing, considering that AoAA lyrics are offensive even for extreme death metal. It’s all about the power, speed, and generic thud. It’s a struggle to understand the singer even when he’s addressing the crowd, bar from a threat to knock teeth out. Message received and understood.
It was the announcement of the next track that made me crack. How anyone can stand there and announce a song called ‘Fisted To The Point Of Regurgitation’ with a straight face is beyond me, and it’s time to turn away so I can laugh. This is coupled with the sight of the singer striding up and down the stage, waving his fist in the air and looking like a really rather angry panda. AoAA take themselves a bit too seriously at times. But when their singer suddenly gives a speech about co-operation and the great mix of bands this weekend, I find myself agreeing. And it’s heartening to see something a bit more… human. That is before they barge into ‘Empire of the Sun’ and ‘Human Dust’, with a yell of “I want violence!”
To their fans, it’s probably great. For everyone else, it’s mystifying.