Live Review : Baest + Pist + Beyond Salvation @ Rebellion, Manchester on February 7th 2024

Most musical sub-genres have the lifespan of a Mayfly. They bloom and wither before the ink is even dry on the requisite hyperbole. Death metal has had a counterintuitive evolution. Born 40 years ago it completely bucks the trend by managing to go around in infinite circles of regeneration. Currently, it feels more vital and fuller of life (pun very much intended) than it ever has. Baest are one of those new generation of death metal acts who are deftly managing to remain steadfastly authentic but also bring a dimension of light and shade to the music. Basically death metal long ago stopped being an underground phenomenon and has now become one of the primary movers that are shaping modern metal.

Beyond Salvation may pertain to be a thrash metal band but to these ears, they sound like a dirty fries version of metalcore. Bullet for my Valentine with extra spicy sauce and a side order of barbed wire. This is all meant as distinctly positive strokes, as this evening they are utterly excellent and command an impressively exuberant crowd. Their performance has real weight to it. The riffs are crushing, the drums are relentless, and the delivery is assured and commanding. They come across as a band comfortable in their own skins and also in the quality of the material.

‘Dead to Me’ skips along fuelled by fearless abandonment. It consists of several distinct but adjacent passages that meld together to create a complex but catchy beast of a track. It is that intricate nature that makes Beyond Salvation stand out from the pack. ‘Reborn’ and ‘Dead Behind the Eyes’ are full of squealing guitar solos but they never overshadow the elaborate labyrinth of musical layers. There is a forensic technicality at play here that effectively offsets the raw brutality of the performance. In other words, they were bloody good and so were their songs.

Bury’s bastard sons Pist are a veritable Mancunian institution. Their version of sludge is much more refined and cleaner than the norm. It's slow and penetrative, but there is an enhanced musicality about it that stops it from becoming an unassailable dirge. You don't haunt the basement venues of this fair city for as long as Pist has without becoming bloody good at playing your instruments.

The juxtaposition with Pist is the way that Dave Rowlands's coarse, almost freestyle, vocals intersect with the astonishingly musical dexterity of John Nicholson and Jack Trelawny. He comes across like a metal Mark E. Smith, only half sticking to the script with the rest of it improvised as he goes along. Rather than jar, these counter styles beautifully mash to create a sonic identity that feels immaculately contoured but also unpredictable.

Live music is about volatility, it is about improvisation and there is such a raw untamed energy to the new track thrown out tonight that you would swear that they are making it up there and then on the spot. Pist produce metal that has a scuffed, lived-in beauty to it. We all know that imperfection is far more edifying and enjoyable than perfection and Pist are very much a case in point.

Baest, when all is said and done, are astonishing. There is an untamed intensity to their performance that is both energising and startling. They bound around the stage pulling shapes as if their life depended on it. Their take on death metal is direct and emphatic. It brims with kinetic energy, a whirlwind of gesticulating limbs and firebrand riffs. For the entire hour, they never take their foot off the gas, it is a case of monumentally heavy track after monumentally heavy track. Using the same pun twice in a review, I have never seen death metal feel so alive and life affirming.

It is obvious that the band also feel there is something special happening this evening. Vocalist Simon Olsen keeps whipping out his phone to film the audience. There is a rare outing of ‘Sodomize’ especially for us and Simon recounts with tender recognition their previous visit at Satan's Hollow. I have also never had my hands shook or fist-bumped as much as it is during this 60-minute masterclass in audience participation. Lasse Revsbech, Mattias Melchiorsen and Svend Karlsson take it in turns to sweep by the front rows pressing flesh with all and sundry.

Simon speaks with hushed reverence about how much it means to them that people have traveled to see them on a Wednesday night. He points out punters who have journeyed from Newcastle and Ireland and there is a real twinkle in his eye when he points out that especially selected support acts of choice, Pist. It's that honesty, exuberance and enthusiasm that makes Baest so intoxicating the good. There is no going through the motions here and this is not simply another notch on their never-ending cycle of gigs. This is five people acutely enjoying every minute on the stage and every iota of energy and adoration that transmits from the audience.

When Simon finally intones that there are only two songs to go you can feel the surprise and disappointment amongst the gathered hordes. The swirling masses may well be tiring but they simply do not want to stop. Putting aside the astonishing level of musicality, the keyword here tonight is fun. Baest are taking death metal and shoving dollop full of fun back into it. 

For the final hurrah of ‘Necro Sapiens’ Simon clambers off the stage and places his microphone stand slap bang in the middle of the pit. He tries to explain the Scandinavian custom of dancing around the Christmas tree but in the end, simply commands people to swirl around him and his mic. It is an astonishing scene to witness, as at least 50 souls career around him as he belts out the number.

Bands telling us that this is the best show of the tour is not new and in the main, they are not fibbing. But when Simon exclaims that this is the greatest gig they played for a long time we believe him because there is such fragile honesty in his voice. Baest played this show because they love the music and love the exhilaration. It is that naïve enthusiasm that makes them such an exquisite live proposition and I hope they never ever lose that wide-eyed wonder.

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Baest, Pist, Beyond Salvation