Fuzz Live Club, Athens, Greece 02.12.2016

Another Friday night, finding us walking towards Fuzz club. After the Tuesday night TESTAMENT massacre, we had to regroup after two days. For that night, we had the double Stockholm attack awaiting: the epic metallers GRAND MAGUS and none other than the mighty melodic death metal Vikings AMON AMARTH. Let’s see what happened that night.

At 20:00 sharp, GRAND MAGUS hit the stage. With a perfect sound as their ally, they kicked in with “I, The Jury” off the record “Hammer Of The North” and the fully packed Fuzz club was whipped into a heavy metal frenzy. One of the bands I witnessed live for the first time, and I was won over by their three-piece energy and killer riffing. We heard songs off the record “Hammer Of The North” (title track, “Ravens Guide Our Way”), “Iron Will” (the title track and “Like The Oar Strikes The Water”), “Sword Songs” (“Varangian”), “The Hunt” (“Sword Of The Ocean”), “Triumph And Power” (“Steel Versus Steel”), “Wolf’s Return” (“Kingslayer”). So glad to see that GRAND MAGUS got the moshing and chanting they deserved, instead of being faced as the “support while waiting for the headliners”. They definitely won many fans after this killer performance.

Now, time for the most popular headliners, AMON AMARTH. It was the third time I attended a gig of theirs, I knew what to expect in terms of performance. Crushing performance and value-for-money setlist. This time around, one thing was different: the setting of the stage, adjusted to the song that was being played, bringing actors on stage (warriors on “The Way Of Vikings”, archers on “One Thousand Burning Arrows”, Loki on “Father Of The Wolf”, Norsemen on “Guardians Of Aasgard”) which made the gig even better and blended with the respective songs brilliantly. A true pleasure to watch.

As for the setlist itself, they came in at 21:20 with “The Pursuit Of Vikings” off “Fate Of Norns”, and total chaos ruled among the crowd, even at the balcony, screaming loud and proud “ODIN, GUIDE OUR SHIPS!”. We heard songs off their last decade for the most part: “Versus The World” (“Death In Fire”), “With Oden On Our Side” (“Cry Of The Black Birds”, “Runes To My Memory”), “Twilight Of The Thunder God” (the title track and “Guardians Of Aasgard”), “Surtur Rising” (“War Of The Gods”, “Destroyer Of The Universe”), “Deceiver Of The Gods” (“As Loke Falls”, the title track, “Father Of The Wolf”), “Jomsviking” (“First Kill”, “At Dawn’s First Light”, “On A Sea Of Blood”, “One Thousand Burning Arrows”, “Raise Your Horns”, “The Way Of Vikings”). When the lights went on at the venue, only ashes remained from the 90-minute Viking massacre that is an AMON AMARTH gig (and to my opinion the best all-around gig of theirs in Greece).

Exceptional organization, with the sound being really good (which is always a topic of dispute among the crowd). Well done to the event staff for helping everything work out so smoothly, helping everyone get safely back home. Till next time, thank you AMON AMARTH and GRAND MAGUS and SKOL!!