Our dark mother, Queen of the night Through Death's door, guide us to the light... In love, in sorrow, and in hope for the next life, this page is dedicated to the memory of Merry, beloved companion. Born just shy of Beltaine, 1988, died peacefully 4 weeks past Lammas, 2002. Farewell puss, may your next life be blessed!

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Welcome To The Underworld! 10th AUgust 2002 The Camden Underworld, London, Resurrection Records' 10th aniversary bash (a.k.a. Candia's Giggle)

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Welcome to The Underworld Here thou shall be weighed for truth Down in subterrania Far from the heat of Ra The Utchat has secured thy path Thy place within the Boat of Ra Descend thou with a willing heart Down to the Otherworld.

London. Once the greatest capital on earth, and still a place of legend, mystery, and wonder. In all our travels, in all the gigs we'd attended and towns and cities we'd visited, we'd never yet seen Inkubus Sukkubus play London. Until now.

The occasion was Resurrection Records' 10th aniversary bash, held in the form of a gig at The Camden Underworld, followed by free entry for all who attended to Slimelight, the long-running gothic event in Islington.

The Underworld itself, in common with all good goth venues, was both packed to capacity and dark as sin - but unlike some of the other venues we've been to, it also had a decent bar! All hands to the pumps! And mine's a Newcastle...

By the time we arrived the party was well and truly under way, we soon encountered Hazel the Sex Goddess at the sales stand, where a copy of the newly re-released 'Wytches' was duly purchased. A few minutes later we found ourselves chatting to some Inkies fans from South Wales, they were also into power metal and we were soon deep in conversation about Iced Earth, HammerFall and Alice Cooper! Hi guys, if you're reading!

Here are a couple of random pictures of the bar area and the IS merchandise stand.

Soon after that we spotted Candia propping up the bar, seemingly with half the audience trying to talk to her! Nevertheless she managed to make time to introduce us to Kalruth from Ametyst's IS Yahoo group, attending his first gig, before disapearing back-stage again.

The gig itself featured three bands, The Faces of Sarah, Manuskript, with Inkubus Sukkubus headlining. For reasons of personal sorrow, we arrived late, just as Manuskript took the stage. After chatting to various people for a bit, we headed down to the heart of the venue half way through Manuskript's set. The sound, mixed by Manuskript's own engineer, was absolutely superb, and the band were really getting into it - in our opinion, they played even better here than they did at Whitby back in April. Sadly, due to the stygian gloom of the venue, our digital pictures of them came out rather, shall we say, interestingly! - but we hope they still manage to convey something of the band's character that night.

After an absolutely storming rendition of 'Amadeus', Manuskript made a triumphant exit, and it was time for the hardcore Sukkubi to weave our collective way to the front of the stage and await the magic... ...While passing across the subterranean river of souls that was the dance floor, we met a Mr Faust, sporting an extremly nice vehicle on his shirt, and with an intersting take on death on the back...

There was the very enigmatic 'Girl by the pillar'...

And finally, right at the front of the crowd, we bumped into Invisibabe and Ametyst, owner/creator of the Inkubus Sukkubus Yahoo! group, fresh from a back-stage meeting with the band! As Ametyst commented, it was a pretty good place to meet up at last!

Soon enough it was time, however before the band could start to play, some bizarre rituals had to be enacted round the sacred altar of Music...

Then, at last, as the tempreture in the crowd climbed steadily into the upper reaches of the implausibly hot, Tony, Candia, Adam and Mick once again took the stage, fired up their instruments, and got down and rocked!

'Wytches', made for a blistering start, swiftly followed by 'Smile Of Torment' before dipping back into the classic album for 'The Rape Of Maude Bowen and 'I Am The One'. These songs sound fantastic on CD, they sounded even better live! The sound quality was absolutely incredible, every note, every nuance pouring rich and full from the speakers, with no trace of distortion.

Next up was a varied mix from different periods of the band's history, starting with 'Take My Hunder' from Heartbeat Of The Earth, closely followed by 'Vampyres' from the original 'Belladonna and Aconite' album, keeping up the phychotropic energy levels in spite of the steadily rising heat was 'Away With The Faeries', before slamming the power right back up to maximum for a pile-driving performance of 'Heart Of Lillith'. By now it was more than obvious that we were witnessing one hell of a performance, even by the standards of a band that prides itself on entertining the fans above all else. Candia sang like a scarlet angel, while Tony and Adam just got down to some serious 'get aboard, or get out of the way' attitude. They rocked!

From discussions on Ametyst's Inkubus Sukkubus Yahoo! group, we knew that we were in for something special tonight - a live rendition of the exqusite 'We Belong With The Dead', from 'Supernature' - and that's what came next. Tony and Adam withdrew to the back of the stage, leaving Candia to weave her magic alone beneath a single spotlight. And weave magic she did, with a truly spellbinding performance of what has got to be one of the finest Gothic ballads ever written. We forgot the heat. We forgot the time. We forgot even each other, lost, summoned to the gates of the otherworld by a siren song of the alure, the love, the inner peace, the unshakable resolve of the suicide. Lady Death has a voice, and her name is Candia...

The song faded, the lights dimmed, and amid a storm of applause we drifted back to the London reality just as Tony and Adam leapt back into action for a no-holds-barred all out thrash through 'Catherine', followed by Lucifer Rising.

Moving swiftly back to classic territory, next up was the wonderful 'Belladonna and Aconite', giving Tony a chance to show off his solos, with both hands and tounge!

The last three tracks of the main set were Vampyre Erotica, Song to Pan and finally Paint it Black, with the band obviously having a great time on stage and the audience likewise enjoying what really was a great show.

Finally, the main set ended, and the audience roared for more. I took the opportunity of the break to nip over to Adam's side of the stage, where i met up again with Hazel, and finally met the lovely Avaritia in the flesh.

Avaritia's Avarice!

Once we'd all yelled ourselves hoarse, and raised the tempreture even further jumping up and down, the band came back on stage for a stunning tripple-track encore, begining with the excellent, and long-lost "Vampyre Kiss" from the long-ago "Beltaine" album, and then following it with the superb "Leveller" from "Wytches".

As the dying notes of Leveller faded from the speakers, Andy and Katrina of Ressurection Records, who's aniversary bash this was, were brought onto the stage, while Tony solemnly announced that afterwards they were to be sacrificed...

The Priestess Awaits	The Sacrifice Begins

The deed duly done, and with friendly subterranean vampyres dealing with the bodies, Candia launched into an entirely appropriate "Corn King", from "Heartbeat Of The Earth". Wonderful lyrics, and wonderful playing from Tony and Adam, and at last we came to the end. The King, the Corn are born to fall, And all must die in sacrifice, Underneath the Harvest Moon, Hide your pride, let time decide, Who must live and who must die, Underneath the Harvest Moon

Now, it is a strange tradition at The Underworld that the instant the last band finishes, the audience gets promptly evicted so as to clear the room for use as a club, and tradition was maintained this night. However, the event wasn't over yet, as Ressurection had arranged for our tickets to also grant us free entry to Slimelight, the long running (and through the night!) Gothic event over in Islington.

First, we had to gather our scattered clan outside the venue...

Not actually one of us, but very photogenic - this is Mattrik from u.p.g.	Kalruth and Avaritia outside The Underworld. Note evil eyes...

Then we had to get to Slimelight. All Aboard!

You know, when the gig was described as featuring an 'underground band', I didn't quite realise this is what they meant...

And so we made our collective way through the subterranean darkness to the legendary Slimelight, a gothic club of epic proportions held in an old warehouse just behind Angel tube station. I'm afraid it does have to be said that their idea of a bar was definetly not the same as ours, and the decor left a lot to be desired (it wasn't even black, for darkness' sake!), but it is open to 7:30am, and does play a great deal of gothic music.

And of course, it was the place to be if you wanted to chat to the bands!

Candia, signing my copy of the newly released Wytches digipack, with Invisibabe being, well, Invisibabe in the background.	Tony talking with Katrina, who somehow survived being sacrificed, while Ametyst contemplates the truly fearsome alcohol consumption of English rock bands...

Candia and Pyromancer, as photographed by Adam. A very big thanks for this one!

Candia and a friend fail to escape the photographer.	Tony and friend plotting the downfall of western civilisation (or something)...

Adam, plus ladyfriends...

And so, at last, what has to have been one of the best Inkubus Sukkubus gigs ever, was over. We emerged from Slimelight and caught a night bus back to Camden, grabbed some kebab meat and chips, and staggered back to the car to sleep till morning. London is such a fantastic place for giging and clubbing - we will most definetly be back for more!

Welcome To The Underworld, by Pyromancer, September 2002

Blessed Be!

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