Dav Waldron's Blog

As if seeing Electric Wizard wasn’t good enough, the gods of metal decided that there should be MOAR horror unleashed upon the very appreciative Irish Doom scene.  What we got was a day long treat that was without doubt one of the finest single day metal events I’ve ever been to.

Dublin Doom Day (Chapter One) had been on a slightly bumpy journey as the original venue of “The Scene” has now closed down. Eventually Fibber Magees was the new venue – I wasn’t awfully impressed at that news as it’s not the most amazing place in the world, but do you know what? It was perfect for the day that was in it!

So the running order was as follows:

• DWELL IN SUN
• ON PAIN OF DEATH
• COUNCIL OF TANITH
• WRECK OF THE HESPERUS
• GRAVEYARD DIRT
• ESOTERIC
• SATURNUS
• THE LAMP OF THOTH

Esoteric were the headlining act of the day, but I believe that scheduling meant they were to finish by 11.

As I’ve mentioned in other blog posts, On Pain Of Death and Wreck of the Hesperus are friends of mine, and I really love the stuff they produce.  More on that later…

I was delayed in arriving and missed out on Dwell In Sun.  I caught them before in the Lower Deck before and I’m sorry I missed them.  One of the OPoD lads said they were excellent and reviews I’ve seen from some of the folk on Metal Ireland seem to suggest the same.  This of course just means that I’ll have to seek out their next performance

My arrival perfectly coincided with On Pain Of Death’s start and whilst it was a hot and sunny day outside, the atmosphere in Fibbers soon turned dark, bleak and heavy as their set progressed.  A sense of dread took hold and the audience stood still fearing that movement might single them out for an extra helping of punishment.  An excellent set over all and everyone who stood up to watch it took something from it I’d say – even if that was just the impending sense of a week of nightmares…

Council of Tanith followed – they’re simply not my cuppa tea, so I went outside with the lads to watch the soccer.  They seemed very well received though as they tend to be.  I heard some fairly big blunders from the guitars and a solo that seemed to be completely out of tune which was, to be honest, dreadful.

On then to Wreck of the Hesperus.  I am very much a WOTH fanboy, and make no apologies for it!  Once again they delivered a filth spawned tide of sewer-rot.  They started with a really long sample and I remember turning around to Hick (OPoD) saying “it’d be fucking hilarious if the whole set was just this sample and they didn’t play a note!”  Didn’t take long for things to kick off though and the assault began.  Andy’s screaching lyrics and howling feedback makes for an uncomfortable experience.  Rodge’s Bass thumps along and keeps you standing – just.  Ray’s drums beat the very essence of humanity out of you though and turn you into little more than a shell waiting to be filled up with the afore mentioned screaming and heavy dread-riffs.  We were all left shadows of our former selves by the time the last note rang out.   Once again WOTH had abused us and we thanked them for it.

This was to be the end of this half of the day’s activities…

I wandered back outside in tatters to try and get back to normality.  There  was soccer on which certainly helped.  The outdoors part of Fibbers is rather good – it seems to me that this is a venue who had the ability to do well out of the smoking ban – it was jammed with us and with people from the hotel.  After some sport, I decided I was in need of something’s flesh.  Long story short, I went to Burger King and arrived back in to hear Graveyard Dirt.

Traditional Doom is very hit and miss for me.  It lacks the misery and weight that I find so appealing on the more extreme end of the Doom scale.  Graveyard Dirt made a bit of a dent on my psyche though and I liked some of what they had to offer.  I shall have to seek out some of their music I think to forumlate a better opinion.  They had good stage presence and the crowd seemed to be liking it, so fair play to them.

It was at this stage that I figured I might just indulge in something I hadn’t done in quite some time – I got a bottle of Buckfast  Esoteric were coming and it seemed criminal to tackle a performance of theirs with a completely clear head.  It turned out to be the right decision…

It began…

…it carried on…

…it ended.

I simply cannot put into words how amazing this set was.  It was one of the best live music experiences of my life.  Found myself in front of the stage for the majority of it and totally lost in the thick fog of noise that rolled off the stage.  When it all ended, I found myself talking to the front man, Mr Greg Chandler, about all the multi-effects he has for both his guitar and vocals – fair play to the man, he’d just finished a set and was trying to pack it all up, but was good enough to give me a basic idea of how his set-up worked.

And so it was, at 23:15, I figured nothing that remained on the line-up could have topped the experience I’d just had with Esoteric so I headed off  By all accounts Saturnus and Lamp of Toth were very good, but I got what I’d come for.  It was a day that showcased the power of music as a medium to deliver horror and misery straight into the brain.

I wanna say a big thank you to all the bands and the organisers, not to mention the staff at Fibbers (who for some reason had only one man on by himself during the day and he worked fierce hard to keep us all thirst free).