Baest - Plymouth Review

Plymouth has never really been a great city for live music - particularly in recent times. With the lack of a reputable mid-sized venue and its geographical location off the beaten path it is often ignored by touring bands big and small - so it is always great when a band makes the effort to travel down to Devon. I tend to get to around 35-40 gigs a year and a small percentage of them are in Plymouth. Given that I live around a 5 minute walk from two of the city's main small venues and around a 40 minute walk from the sole larger venue - this lack of live action is frustrating. It is something that I have grown used to, though, and I am resigned to travelling to see my favourite bands. As such, then, any sort of 'named' band making their way down to Plymouth, particularly in the rock and metal scene, should be celebrated and this is why, last night, I stepped somewhat out of my comfort zone to see the Danish death metal band Baest bring their relatively lengthy UK tour to The Underground on Mutley Plain. The Junction is generally the area's venue of choice, but occasionally the gloomier Underground is preferred. It was my first visit to the venue for a couple of years and, perhaps unsurprisingly, Baest attracted a pretty healthy crowd. Whilst certainly not a household name, the five-piece are signed to a major label (Century Media) and have been make a name for themselves in the extreme metal scene recently. I came across the band at the 2022 iteration of Bloodstock Open Air and I enjoyed their Main Stage-opening set. As regular readers of this blog will know, I am not generally a big extreme metal fan - but I have been making more effort with it recently, particularly with death metal. Baest's sound certainly ticks a lot of the boxes I like when it comes to death metal. They are not as chaotic as some, with a thick, meaty sound which recalls traditional heavy metal - just heavier and with harsh vocals. Their riff-driven and occasionally anthemic sound is a welcome one, then, even if they are likely not all that original in the grand scheme of things. I hear a lot of the classic late 1980s/early 1990s death metal scene in their sound - but this is not a bad thing in my opinion and Baest certainly do that old-fashion sort of death metal very well. This is likely why quite a few people made the effort to check them out last night. Most of the times I have been to The Underground before the turnout has been poor, but the venue was pretty full for Baest - and the atmosphere throughout the evening was pretty good. It was a very economical night, too. With the doors opening at 8pm, three bands on the bill, and everything finishing up by 11pm, there was little time for messing around - so there was very little hanging around between each act.

Up first were Human Mycosis, a death metal band from Cornwall who certainly exhibited quite a few grind influences. Grind is a bit of a step too far for me, so I have to say that I struggled with Human Mycosis quite a bit. There were some moments throughout their set which impressed, such as the occasional guitar solo and the band's overall tightness, but the material did not do all that much for me. They are also one of those death metal bands who seem to pride themselves on being grimy and unpleasant. The singer kept going on about how much he stank in between songs and, whilst I was not focusing on the lyrics, the song titles were all very much in that porn-influenced vein which some death metal bands seem to enjoy. I have always found those sort of bands somewhat distasteful so I was probably never going to warm to Human Mycosis. It took the crowd a few songs to wake up, too, but the band did go down quite well - although compared to the reception afforded to the two bands which followed I think that it is fair to say that Human Mycosis were the weakest of the night.

The Bristol-based technical death metal act Embodiment were up next and they impressed more. Despite being without their drummer due to illness, which meant that they were playing along to pre-recorded drums which was rather strange, the band powered through half an hour or so of knotty music which impressed from a guitar perspective. Finn Maxwell (guitar) certainly kept each song interesting with his riffing and shredded solos, whilst frontman Harry Smithson was certainly a very likeable Westcountry chap - even if at times his screams did not quite hit. From my exploration of the genre so far, I have quite a lot of time for the more technical/progressive end of death metal. This likely stems from my general love of prog, but I find bands like Embodiment much more interesting than the grimy and gore-obsessed bands. The riffing and song structures are just a lot more interesting - and there is usually a clinical nature to such bands which I enjoy. It is a shame, though, that the band were playing without their drummer. The pre-recorded drums gave the set perhaps a too much of a clinical sound - and live drums would have certainly spiced things up further given how technical some of the drumming would have been to witness. I would not mind seeing Embodiment live again, though, I just hope that if I do that they have their drummer up there with them.

By the time Baest took to the stage the crowd were ready for the headliners - and the Danish five-piece brought the brutality for the next hour or so with choice cuts from their catalogue. I am certainly not an expert on the band, so I was not familiar with every song played, but they impressed throughout. The band were extremely tight from the off and they sounded huge. The guitar tones used sounded thick and heavy, whilst frontman Simon Olsen's voice cut through the mix perfectly. The band were clearly having some on-stage sound issues early on, but it sounded great from the floor and they powered through these issues with ease. Tracks like the relentless Meathook Massacre had everyone in the venue banging their heads - and a couple of numbers into the set Olsen encouraged a small wall of death, which then prompted a few down at the very front to mosh for the rest of the show. The atmosphere was great from the off and it was clear that Baest's material was going down well. The mid-paced and groovy new single Colossus seemed to particularly hit the spot. I am not sure if a new album is in the offing or not but it was certainly promising of what is to come in the future for the band, whilst the much older Wormlord was faster and uncompromising. Given the size and general vibe of the venue, I got the impression that the band were perhaps not expecting too much from the show - but they seemed to be enjoying themselves, and were surprised by the size of the crowd and the overall reaction they received. They were certainly giving it their all on stage and towards the end of the set the show felt like something of a death metal party. Some of the best material was reserved until the end, too, with the lengthy and more progressive Ecclesia being something of a highlight. It was very riffy and varied, with Olsen's excellent vocals driving everything, but it also featured a great solo-based mid-section with plenty of melodic trade-offs between guitarists Lasse Revsbech and Svend Karlsson. The set then came to a close with the anthemic and simpler Necro Sapiens, the title track from the band's most recent album. Towards the end Olsen even whipped up a bit of a sing-a-long, not something too common for death metal, and the shout-along piece was a good end to what had been a fun set and a strong showing from the Danish band.

Having not been to a gig since the beginning of December, it was great to get back to going out again - and a few busy months are now about to follow with lots of good bands in my sights. Baest, and death metal in general, will never be a favourite - but they are great at what they do and they impressed quite a bit last night. They are certainly a band whom I will be keeping up with going forward and I would go and see them again if the opportunity arises.