Metal Storm

Pure Fucking Armageddon

Despite the tensions that had arisen within the band, Eric was still able to get us our first gig in the city.
It was at a seedy club where bands like Venom  had played at in their very early days and where now we would be playing.
To us, it was an honour, probably even beyond that, to be playing on the same stage and hanging out in the same area that the bands that we looked up to and practically worshipped had once played.
It was like walking in the footsteps of our heroes. And maybe eventually our rivals, too...?
We were in the midst of loading our equipment into Eric and Svenn's cars when Sebastian confronted Eric on the porch.
I sighed, knowing full well what was about to happen and Svenn instantly began to head towards them, probably already expecting a broken jaw or two.
"Is fake blood seriously the only thing that we're going to do?" Sebasian asked Eric coldly.
The guitarist put his hands on his hips.
"For the last fucking time, we are not putting up burning crosses."
"I never even mentioned that. All I asked is if that's the only thing that we're going to be doing for our show," Sebastian growled, stepping closer to his bandmate.
"Calm yourselves," Svenn snapped, quickly stepping in between them, "we're not using burning crosses or whatever you wanted to use and that's the end of it. Either we come to an agreement or we stick to our original plan."
Honestly, I wasn't certain as to why Sebastian was so insistent on doing crazy things onstage. It was true that shock value was a big part of metal shows but a lot of the ideas that he put forth seemed like they were crossing a line. A concert to me was supposed to be something that you'd want to have a good time at, not worry about getting seriously injured.
Sebastian seemed to see it completely differently though.
"We can throw animal guts at the audience. No other band has done that, right?"
Eric scowled.
"That's fucking disgusting and I sure as hell wouldn't want that shit smacking me right in the face if I was at a gig."
"It doesn't matter what you like or don't. It will get people talking about us and that's all that matters considering our rather ambitious plans for the future," Sebastian said, narrowing his eyes at Eric.
He did have a point but the whole idea was still quite absurd. Like all his other ideas. I mean, even if it did get people talking about our band, it seemed as if it would scare more people away than gain us fans.
The only band I knew of that had done something similar was WASP with their notorious habit of throwing raw meat into the crowd but raw meat was different from animal entrails...raw meat was an everyday item that everyone was used to.
After a fair bit of arguing between the three of us, Eric gave in to Sebastian's idea of using animal entrails from the butchers shop for our show. I could tell that he had probably only given in because he was just sick and tired of arguing with Sebastian.
Not that I blamed him. At all. Ever since he had come into the band, he seemed to have caused nothing but arguments and tension within our once closely knit group of friends.
Sometimes I couldn't believe that a compassionate girl like Kristina was related to this asshole.
He was friendly to me and he got along fine with Ace but the way that he treated other people and the way that he talked about the world in general made me feel rather sick to the stomach.
Shaking my head, I got into the backseat of Eric's car beside Ace and we drove off, Svenn following closely behind with Sebastian in the front seat.
It was a beautiful June day, the sun shining down onto the city. Everywhere, life seemed to flourish. Birds singing in the trees, mothers pushing strollers, cats sunning themselves on fences, smiling couples walking hand in hand down the streets...
A complete contrast from the now tense atmosphere that surrounded us.
"This whole idea is so dumb," Ace grumped, "throwing pigs guts at people? Come on, how is that gonna help us get more out there? People are probably gonna think that we're a bunch of psychopaths or something! I get metal is supposed to be dark but this is too far."
Eric gripped the steering wheel tighter, his eyes on the road.
"It's better than the burning crosses idea," he said.
"But it's still a weird-ass thing to do!"
"Look, I agree with you. It's a weird fucking idea. I just want that dickface to shut the fuck up and stop accusing me of being a spineless pussy who's too scared of taking any sort of risks!" he almost shouted out, not taking his eyes off the road.
We got to our cheap motel in relatively awkward silence, quietly unloading our few belongings into our tiny rooms before getting back into the car and driving towards the venue.
Sebastian and Svenn were supposed to have stopped by the butchers shop to pick up our macabre little decorations.
After driving through dirty backstreets littered with trash and crawling with junkies that eyed us with hostility in their dull eyes, we arrived at the old building in which our venue was located, Sebastian was already waiting for us by the car with Svenn. He smiled smugly at Eric who was struggling with pulling his guitar out from under the backseat.
"Do you have the shit?" he growled.
"Of course we do," Sebastian said, patting a large bag that rested on the ground beside him, "it's fresh from this morning, the butcher told me. It smells just ravishing."
I shivered, not sure if it was from the unsettling tone of his voice or the cool summer breeze that gently blew at the back of my neck.
"Alright, let's get this show on the road," Eric said, finally getting his guitar out and motioning towards the graffitied building.
We walked towards the back door of the building, Sebastian holding the bags of animal organs and Eric with his guitar slung over his shoulder, an expression of uncertainty and discomfort written on his face. The confidence that he usually had before a show seemed to have vanished.
As exciting as playing in our first show in Sweden's biggest capital was, we didn't talk much, putting on our spiked cuffs and crosses in silence before getting up and walking onto the stage. Our minds were all on the little show that Sebastian had convinced us to do and I would be lying if I said that I wasn't nervous as hell about this.
Svenn did his usual introduction, welcoming the audience of excited metalheads into a realm of hell, death, and torture with none other than Ystad's very own  metal band.
As soon we began playing our set, starting off with a cover of Bathory's "Armageddon," the show already somehow seemed so different.
When we played with Kristina, we always had fun. We were carefree and confident with our biggest worry usually being Ace accidentally starting the drum intro to a song too early or one of our amplifiers not working.
Serendipitous, as Sebastian would say
But now, the tension seemed to have leaked into the atmosphere, creating a sinister, heavy air and one which Sebastian seemed to indulge in.
It was the same with the rehearsals. It was like Sebastian's presence had brought in some unseen black magic that now surrounded us, squeezing out all our former joy and enthusiasm and turning it into this abyssal bleakness.
I watched with unease as he
shot a sideways glare at Svenn, angry at the frontman's reluctance in tossing animal entrails into the crowd.
Eric bit his lip and I tensed a little, nearly missing a note, watching Sebastian suddenly stop playing the basslines and march over to the stained cardboard box which had been placed near the microphone stand.
Slowly as if cherishing the moment, Sebastian pulled out a bloody chunk of God knows what and chucked it right into the faces of a small crowd of young men who swore in confusion and horror, frantically swiping at the blood which had splattered onto their clothes.
"What the fuck?!"
"Are you all crazy!?"
Sebastian only grinned and threw a few more pieces including a whole goats head into the crowd, sending a few younger kids sprinting straight for the door.
Many though, however, screamed for more, enjoying the bloodshed. Several threw up, gagging and stumbling towards the bathrooms.
The security cast us horrified glances, all likely thinking that a group of mental asylum escapees had been released onto the stage.
"Get those bootlicking cowards the hell out of here!" Sebastian screamed into the microphone and slowly pointed his finger at the security guards who had begun to make their way into the crowd towards the stage.
And that's when the crowd went totally insane.
Some rushed towards the guards tackling and shoving them to the ground in a bloodied frenzy while others stormed into the bar area, sending the frightened bartender scrambling for safety.
For the first time in my life, I think I genuinely felt terrified. The devil knows I wanted more than anything to get off that stage, tuck myself into my warm bed and forget about that goddamn nightmare.
Despite the chaos that ensued, we were somehow able to get through the whole set. That night, we lay in our motel rooms half asleep and expecting the police to throw down the doors and accuse us all of inciting a riot.
But no police calls came. Not one.