After the demise of the original location, cult metal bar De Verlichte Geest was reborn in Kortrijk as DVG Club and has been hosting high quality club (small) shows for a while now. Very recently, a second, bigger room opened up to the venue. Our first visit coincided with the second stop on Septicflesh‘s “Modern Primitive” tour and turned into an epic Friday night. The raw industrial architecture meshed perfectly with the gothic undertones in the symphonic death metal of Septicflesh, amplifying the vampyric and underground cult feel present in many of their songs.

Opening up the night were the guys from Scar of the Sun, countrymen of the headliner that bring a catchy style of modern metal with melodic guitars and harsh vocals. Next up was the German/Austrian band Oceans, who describe themselves as a “nu death metal band from Berlin”, though there are some bits that almost remind of black metal in their mix too…offset with quite catchy parts.

The crowd all warmed up, Equilibrium, took to the stage. Personally, it had been years since seeing the band perform. Since way back when they played Paganfest shows. But they’ve evolved over the years to the point where you wouldn’t think that’s how they rose to fame. The band was clearly having fun on stage and the crowd was definitely there for it and the energy kept rising.

Septicflesh already graced us with a visit over the summer at Alcatraz Festival (in the same region!) where they played the Swamp stage. This was a slightly smaller, but even better show. The setlist was a blend of tracks from the latest album and many fan favourites. “Modern Primitive” continues the bombastic, symphonic sound the band has built their reputation on and grows it out even more (check our review of the album). The show felt like a death metal behemoth picking up ever more momentum as it went, even with ‘Communion’ being an early peak in the set, building up to an epic closing with ‘Anubis’ and ‘Dark Art’.