Retribution Alive has successfully run gigs and festivals in London since 2013. Promoter Alan Hicks has put on many different types of metal acts over the years, in a variety of venues in London. To celebrate the ninth birthday he organised two nights at Camden’s iconic venue, The Dev. The Friday night went ahead despite losing two of the bands at short notice.
Saturday started with Godking, opening with their corpse-painted Black Metal attack. Draca has grown into the role of vocalist since the change in line up earlier in the year. New guitarist Slaugh and Bassist Choronzon have become more comfortable in their positions in the band since their debut at Fell Foot Wood. Next up were death metal band, Dying Vision who played well.
Third up were midlanders Lunar Mercia, bringing us back to Black Metal, albeit with a large amount of clean vocals. They were one person down but still managed to put on a good show. Theirs was a more atmospheric set than the more brutal Godking.
Changing things again were doomsters Denali, from Hertfordshire. Their set was another solid one, going down well with old and new fans.
Arriving onstage next were another corpsepainted band, Mørktår. Their take on Black Metal is more traditional, having been around much longer than the other bands on the bill.
I had to leave to catch a train, which in the end ran very late.