Situated a stone’s throw from the Birmingham NIA, The Flapper might be dwarfed by it’s rather more impressive looking neighbour but that doesn’t stop it from being one of the noisiest venues in the city. A warm and friendly pub by all appearances, but venture downstairs and because of the ven, you’ll usually find yourself in the midst of something far less wholesome. And I’m not just talking about the toilets.
Tonight’s triple bill of old school death metal begins with local act Violated Flesh who warm up the crowd nicely before fellow Brummies Absolution kick things up a chainsaw or five. Slashing their way through a blood-spattered set focusing on British murderers and serial killers, the band treats the increasingly raucous crowd to songs based on miscreants such as The Moors Murderers (‘Shallow Grave’), and Sawney Bean (‘Cannibal Clan’), the Scottish inspiration for horror film The Hills Have Eyes. With brutal riffs, savage vocals, and lyrics drenched in gore, Absolution are the perfect support for tonight’s headliners.
More than happy to acknowledge to the now packed out Flapper that they serve as merely a tribute act to the legendary Death, US act Gruesome can do no wrong this evening. Even if they wanted to. An already an established and polished live act, the four-piece decimate the venue with the likes of ‘Inhumane’, ‘A Waste of Life’, ‘Savage Land’, ‘Trapped in Hell’, ‘Dimensions of Horror’, and the eponymous ‘Gruesome’, not to mention an absolutely monstrous cover of Death’s ‘Born Dead’ which sends the already seething pit into a chaotic maelstrom of arms, legs, hair, and spilled beer.
From the first song to the last, Gruesome are unstoppable. Energized, electric, and determined to deliver their very best. Sweaty faces and sore necks are compulsory by the end of the evenings’ murderous festivities, and as the grinning crowd slip and squelch their way back out of the venue through puddles of alcohol, most are already looking forward to the band’s next blood-soaked visit.
WORDS AND PHOTOS BY GARY ALCOCK