Burial, Blood Countess, Argesk, OmegaThrone

The Star and Garter, Manchester

30th August 2025

Now that festival season is over, we can get back into some proper gigs, and for me that started with this tasty little line up at The Star and Garter in Manchester. Perhaps better known to some for its cameo role in TV show, Brassic, the Star and Garter has a special place in the heart of the extreme music fans, having hosted some truly special shows over they years and tonight’s show promised to be another one to remember. The bar area downstairs, surrounded by merch stalls, soon filled up before the opening barrage of OmegaThrone rumbled down the stairs, heralding the start of the gig.

A decent crowd soon gathered in the upstairs room for the trio’s blackened death metal as they opened with ‘Today we are Going to Draw Death’. I say trio as unfortunately they had to play without a bassist tonight, but this did not diminish the impact as they ploughed through ‘Fear and Elegance’ and ‘Casus Belli’, which was introduced as “….a call to war”.

Vocalist JJ Moffat cut an imposing figure behind a lectern draped with the OmegaThrone logo as he lurched in and out of a spotlight. Their relentless racket carried on unabated as the crowd continued to grow and become more rowdy until the set was brought to a close with the groove laden, no frills battery of ‘Damn you Abraham’ and ‘Children of Hitler’ from their debut. You get the impression that this was the first time a lot of the crowd had encountered Omega Throne, but also that they had been impressed!

After a short turnaround, Argesk took us in a more melodic direction with their symphonic black metal. After a short intro, the band launched into new track ‘Servant of Fire’ from the forthcoming album, and by my reckoning four of the six tracks aired tonight were from there, all sounding magnificent.

As the set progressed the crowd became more lively, as epic melody permeated the maelstrom which swirled around the packed room. All too soon, things were brought to a close with ‘Drowned in Freezing Waters’ from the debut album. I have seen Argesk a few times over the years, and this was without doubt the most impressive. Definitely a band on the ascendancy.

Talking of bands on the ascendancy,Blood Countess seem to have exploded in terms of their profile and infamy over the last year or so, and rightly so given the band’s work ethic and incendiary live shows. Having played a triumphant set in Arnhem the night before, the band were either going to be exhausted, or battle ready, and thankfully it was the latter. Standing with their backs to the crowd while an ominous intro tape of rattling chains built an oppressive atmosphere in the room, the band soon launched headfirst into a vitriolic ‘Ad Altare Sanguinem’ and ‘Sadistic Misandry’.

The crowd were tentative at first but a decent pit soon opened up as the band unleashed a confrontational and downright aggressive performance showing exactly why they are one of the biggest up and coming names in black metal right now. The set absolutely flew by and seemingly in the blink of an eye things were brought to a close with the magnificent ‘Orgasm Leading to Death’ and ‘In Virgins Blood’. Blood Countess are on the cusp of something special and before too long, they will be gracing stages much bigger than this.

There was then a mass exodus to the bar to grab more beer in readiness for tonight’s headliner,Burial, who were celebrating their 20th anniversary with this hometown show. Bringing a more direct, no nonsense approach towards their black metal, the trio opened with ‘Encircled by Wolves’ and ‘Rejoice in Sin’, and the crowd responded with a lively pit.

Dez gave shout out to all of the other bands who had played tonight, including “the sexy Blood Countess”, to which someone shouted “not as sexy as you”. A rollicking version of ‘Sadism for God’ kept things going, sounding as much black n’ roll as black metal before a good humoured Dez gave another shout out, this time to the sound guy for making the band sound like “proper musicians”. The band and crowd remained in high spirits as the set flew past, mostly drawn from the last couple of albums, serving as a fitting party, celebrating twenty years of this indomitable musical institution. Here’s to the next twenty!