Show Review: Undergang Bring the Sewer to Brooklyn
Brooklyn has seen an explosion of venues in the years following COVID lockdown, many of them on the ironically-named Meadows Street. It’s a quiet corner of East Williamsburg where the closest thing to greenery is a mural of flowers on the concrete walls of one such venue, eponymously named: The Meadows. The street is exemplary of the commercial envy this corner of East Williamsburg once boasted and was the perfect setting for Undergang’s most recent vomitous visit to New York on Saturday, March 29th. We’ve been so lucky to have these Danes visit two years in a row, and they have yet to disappoint fans eager to bathe in the gurgling filth the band is known for. This show brought the sewer ever closer to the surface of a city that already boasts some impressive fatbergs.
Undergang has had an outsized influence on the current state of death metal. They’ve been making waves of increasing magnitude since their cavernous, guttural, caveman-sounding first EP, Indhentet Af Døden hit the internet in 2010. Reminiscent of brethren regurgitation enthusiasts of Finland, Demilich, Undergang come from the other southern end of Scandinavia, singing and writing entirely in their native Danish. Lead singer and originator of Undergang, David Mikkelsen explains that he never expected the band to make any noise outside of Denmark and therefore never thought to write in anything but his native tongue. 15 years and 6 full-lengths later, Mikkelsen continues to sing entirely in Danish, emanating the hygge that only a septic tank can provide.
If you’ve read Choosing Death then you know that death metal’s history is dotted with shepherds of the scene; player/promoters/label-runners who know how to highlight talent just as well as they can bend the genre toward new amalgams themselves. Undergang, and by extension the greater universe of Mikkelsen’s Extremely Rotten Productions, exemplify this community which plays such a central role to the death metal scene. It’s a highly curated roster, disparate in their home bases across the globe. Featuring artists from Mexico to Australia, some are better known than others, but each showcases a unique take on the genre. It’s clear that this is a labor of absolute love where bands are signed out of contribution to the craft over same-same market potential.
And if you want to see some true dedication to time signature-defying OSDM look no further than Extremely Rotten Production labelmates Torture Rack, who are along for the ride on this latest tour. Following in the great tradition of making disgusting groovy noise with the power of only three people, Torture Rack are a feat to witness live. Two-thirds of the band is composed of dual citizens to Witch Vomit—Jason on Bass / lead vocals, and Tony Thomas on guitar. Completing the trio is Seth Traver on drums, and my god are these guys tightly-knit. The highly variable production of their three LPs wanders between big-production buzzsaw and the bass-forward, low fidelity sound of 1990s OSDM. Live they translate into something so much more massive. Every member of the band donned stank faces at different moments of their set proving that no one is immune to the groove inherent in a good death metal track. “Mace Face” is a particularly impressive song from the group, twisting and turning back on itself multiple times in a way that took the pit by surprise, begging it to churn anew without warning. Sweeps were just as present in this set as triplets ensuring that metalheads of all stripes were well-fed by the time their set was over. There’s some great stuff coming out of the Pacific Northwest, and between Torture Rack and Mortiferum, Extremely Rotten Productions clearly has their finger on the pulse. Here’s hoping for more.
Undergang wasted no time getting to work for their set, and watching the Danes collaborate with the masters of sound at the back of the room is always a fun scene of intimacy to witness. Asking for his vocals to be “as loud as possible,” David made sure to quickly follow up with “and if they can’t go any louder, that’s okay.” Assertive, but not demanding, I love seeing the talent recognize the many hands that make a show work as best as possible. With Mads Harløv on guitar and Martin Leth Andersen on Bass, the band was impressively quick to set up. Ending ten minutes early the guys denied an early start, only building anticipation from a crowd that barely budged between sets. That could only mean one thing: pit’s a’comin’.
Coming back on stage in a Pissgrave shirt, who Undergang toured with this time last year, David was now hatless, showcasing his signature skullet. Opening with my favorite song from their shared EP with Spectral Voice, “I dit stiveste puds,” the band made it clear that they were going to dig deep into their discography. Following the opener with “Ufrivillig donation af vitale organer” from a 2019 EP of the same name, Undergang didn’t even play anything from their latest full-length until the third song. There’s no hyperbole when I say that it’s amazing these guys have so many riffs of such varying rhythm and sound, yet they’re all immediately recognizable ear-worms in their own right. I once read that Mikkelsen writes most of his licks on an acoustic guitar in standard tuning, stating “if it sounds good there, it’s going to sound good downtuned.” Amen.
The crowd was voracious throughout this set and the pit was a diverse murder of metalheads. I think that’s one thing about Undergang that makes them so special: from the spike-wielding goth to the athleisure-donning hardcore crew, the band’s bile has indoctrinated many different types via their filth. The heaviest track of the night was of course “Efter obduktionen” from their 2017 album Misanthropologi. The opening riff lives rent-free in many metalheads’ brains, mine included, and to see the guys on stage absolutely losing themselves in the groove just as much as the crowd proves the power of replayability. Check out the shot below for bassist Martin hamming it up with the crowd. What a mug. A special shout out is also due to their drummer for the night, Jullian Rhea, an absolute beast whose talents can be heard behind the kit of the aforementioned Mortiferum and Fetid (also on Extremely Rotten Productions).
Whether you want Mikkelsen to douse you in the gunk of his vocals or not, you just can’t help but move your body to it. No one is immune to the sewage and just one listen could drag you into the annals of the Danish underground. Luckily Extremely Rotten Productions is here to help guide you through the twists and turns of the subterranean filth.
