When I heard a few months ago that Arcturus would visit Athens, I couldn’t hold my enthusiasm. From the beginning of their formation, they have been one of the most distinctive Norwegian black metal bands, incorporating to their music avant-garde elements and making their concerts an amazing theatrical show. I never had the chance to see them live, then to my misfortune they split up for five years, so Saturday was the time for me.
I arrived at the venue at 20:00 and the people gathered at that time were so very few. That had me a bit worried, because there wouldn’t be an opening act, but my worries were unnecessary. By 21:30 Gagarin was almost full, and fifteen minutes later the lights went out. The crowd cheered and Arcturus came on stage, all dressed up in their costumes, starting their set with “Evacuation Code Deciphered”. The band gave the best impression right from the start. All of them were very energetic, roaming on the stage, but ICS Vortex was the one who drew everybody’s attention. He proved to be a amazing frontman, talking to the fans, doing weird dances, and of course his voice was in great shape, reaching unbelievable heights. Behind the drum kit, Hellhammer was giving his own performance, and his solid drumming was keeping the rhythm. The sound wasn’t good enough and clear enough at first, but the problem was solved quickly. The lights were very impressive, and, as for the video-wall on the back of the stage, I believe that very few noticed it. “Ad Absurdum” came next, along with the first headbanging of the fans, which continued with “Nightmare Heaven” and “Deception Genesis”. Between each song, Vortex did a small prologue and Sverd accompanied him with a mellow keyboard melody, and it seemed as if we were listening to a fairytale. And a fairytale it was, because then Arcturus granted us with two songs from the exceptional “La Masquerade Infernale”. “Alone” and “The Chaos Path” drove the fans literally crazy. Arcturus didn’t allow us to take a breath and they continued with “Deamonpainter”, “Painting My Horror” and “Hufsa”. After that the band left the stage, and I thought it was a bit early after only 45 minutes, but yes, it was time for the encore. The encore was more than satisfactory. Arcturus played for another 45 minutes, starting with the majestic “Master Of Disguise”. After “Shipwrecked Frontier Pioneer”, Vortex threw away his mask and took us back in time, to “Aspera Hiems Symfonia”. The avant-garde elements gave space to the black. With “To Thou Who Dwellest In The Night” and “Raudt Og Svart” our necks protested strongly but there wouldn’t be much more. The live was drawing to a close, and that came with “Radical Cut”. All that I can say is that I was left wanting much more. Arcturus offered us a great show, quite different from what you usually see at a metal concert. Their music can create beautiful, bizarre and mystical images in the mind, and my guess is that if they did their usual theatrics on stage, this concert would be unparalleled. I can only hope for the next time.

Report: Stella Papaspyropoulou.
Photos: Spanos Manos.

There are a few bands in metal that can guarantee you that you will have a great time at their concerts, if you like their music that is. Whether their albums are masterpieces or something less it is irrelevant. I believe that Arch Enemy is one of these bands. Whenever they announce a live, it ’s a sure thing that they will be great performance-wise and that the fans will have fun. Their last release, “Khaos Legions”, may have received mixed reviews, but the fact that the band will take a long break after their tour is finished, made many metalheads run to Gagarin last Friday.

The time was about 20:15 when Insidead came on stage. Having only one full-length album on their back-catalog, but having performed live many times, Insidead appeared to be very comfortable on stage, full of energy and in good communication with the audience, which wasn’t very big at the time. Their setlist was based on their album, “Chaos Elecdead”, but we also heard two songs that will probably be in their next album, coming out some time around April, and of course the traditional covers. Around the middle of the set, it was time for Metallica’s “Blackened” and for the first mosh pits of the night. I have to say that I was quite surprised by the response of the fans. The majority was headbanging right from the start, some even knew the lyrics of Insidead’s songs, and when the band played “In My World”, they formed a wall of death. After 45 minutes, Insidead closed their set with another cover, “Blood And Thunder” by Mastodon, and a small part of Pantera’s “Domination” as the cherry on top. So, Insidead did their job really well. Not only they warmed us up, they almost burned us. And we would have enjoyed the songs even more if the sound wasn’t that average.

Gagarin was now almost full, and everybody was waiting for tonight’s headliners. At 21:30, “Khaos Overture” started playing and we knew it was time. Arch Enemy hit the stage and the first thing I heard was some guys shouting “Marry me, Angela!”, or “Strip!” (or something less polite) and the answer they got was “I hear you guys shouting and I don’t understand what you’re saying, but if you’re asking me to strip, you’re a bit unlucky tonight”!! So, after that the set started powerfully with “Yesterday Is Dead And Gone” and “Revolution Begins”. It was clear that we would listen to many songs from the last release, but we also heard many songs from “Wages Of Sin”. After the third song, the sound was top notch, and I was amazed by how good Angela’s growling was live (maybe Michaels Amott’s guitar should be heard a bit more clearly). The band was in a very good mood, and Angela didn’t stop headbanging and running up and down the stage, not for a minute. And she spent quite some time talking to the fans about the crisis and other stuff, prologuing this way every song. “Ravenous”, “Enemy Within” and “My Apocalypse” were next and the crowd responded with crazy headbanging and mosh pits. When the band left the stage, it was time for Daniel Erlandsson to demonstrate his skills in a crazy drum solo, a nice break for everybody’s necks. The headbanging started again with “Under Black Flags We March”, and there was Angela waving a big black flag, and continued with “Dead Eyes See No Future”. This time, the band left the stage once again and the two remaining were the Amott brothers on guitars. Christopher Amott’s guitar solo turned into “Intermezzo Libertè” by Michael Amott. It was a truly beautiful moment. “Burning Angel”, “No Gods, No Masters” and “We Will Rise” followed. The third time the band left the stage was for the encore. Yes, the crowd wanted more, and Arch Enemy granted them with “Snow Bound”. During “Nemesis” the fans went totally wild, and the set closed with “Fields Of Desolation”.

All in all, Friday night was great. I had fun and so did the majority of the people that was there. Some might have wanted to hear something from the Liiva era, but that didn’t happen. Arch Enemy gave us exactly what we expected. There were no surprises, but the good performance along with energy between the band and the fans made sure that no one would regret his being there.

Report: Stella Papaspyropoulou.
Photos: Stella Papaspyropoulou.

I have to say that 2012 entered the best possible way. On Friday, we enjoyed a really good performance by Entombed. And on Saturday, it was time for the highly anticipated live of Septicflesh. This band is one of the very few Greek metal bands that has managed to make itself known outside the borders of Greece. Not to mention that in 2011 they presented us with a magnificent album that received great reviews. These two things, plus the fact that they would be playing in their hometown, made me think that this concert would be, without a doubt, sold out. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case, but the number of people gathered was pretty high nonetheless.

It was about 20:15 when the first band hit the stage. I must say that I hadn’t heard Heavier Than God before, and they were a pleasant surprise. They play a mix of heavy metal with some stoner and thrash elements and with vocals a little bit more extreme than what you would expect for their music. Their set was based on their own songs but we had the chance to listen to an interesting cover of Black Sabbath’s “Children Of The Grave”. One might say that this band wasn’t the right one to open this concert, but in the end they warmed up the audience pretty well for what would follow.

Next in line were the Swedish Dark Funeral. One by one, the members appeared on stage, and the traditional corpsepaint covered their faces to match their pure black metal music. The set started powerfully with “Stigmata”, “666 Voices Inside” and “Enriched By Evil” and there were two things to be noticed. First, the sound wasn’t the best, and second, the new singer, Nachtgarm, has really great pipes and proved to be a good replacement. The band appeared in good shape, though at times the drums weren’t heard clearly due to the average sound, but that got fixed later on. The guitarists and bassist were headbanging to their music, while the singer kept a different stance and didn’t address to the crowd much. “Goddess Of Sodomy”, “The Arrival Of Satan’s Empire” and “The Birth Of The Vampiir” were some of the songs that followed, and even though the communication between band and audience was minimum, the response of the fans wasn’t the same. Crazy headbanging and mosh pits accompanied a setlist that satisfied almost everyone, as no album was left outside, but it was during “Vobiscum Satanas” and “Shadows Over Transylvania” that Fuzz became hell on earth. “Heart Of Ice” was next and the band left the stage for the usual encore. A rather unfortunate moment followed, as some people in the audience started shouting “Septicflesh” instead of “Dark Funeral”, showing no respect for the band. When Dark Funeral returned, they didn’t seem bothered (I found out later that they certainly were bothered, a lot to say the truth), and closed their set with “The Secrets Of The Black Arts”, “Hail Murder” and “My Funeral”. A great performance by a great band!

It was time for the usual break, for the technicians to change the décor and the instruments, and it was certainly a relief for our necks. After a while, the artwork of “The Great Mass” covered the back and sides of the stage. When the lights went out, Fotis Benardo took his place behind the drum kit and the fans started yelling his name rhythmically. Christos Antoniou and Dinos (session guitarist) appeared next and last came Seth behind the microphone. When the first notes of “The Vampire From Nazareth” were played the crowd went crazy, headbanging and forming mosh pits right from the start. At some point, Sotiris Vayenas came out to sing the clean vocals, as he would do for all the songs that have clean vocals. Simple and grand, he performed his part and added a great deal to the mystery of the music. The setlist continued with “Communion” and I can’t describe the reaction of the fans. It was insane. From the second song the sound was really good and massive, and it allowed us to enjoy fully the orchestral parts. Great lighting, lots of smoke and videos on the side walls only added to the atmosphere created by the music. During “Chaostar” the fans relaxed a bit, as most of them seemed to be more familiar with the last three albums of SepticFlesh. “A Great Mass Of Death”, “Virtues Of The Beast” and “Unbeliever” were next. The guitarists, even though they were quite stationary, they were constantly headbanging, just like the crowd below them. More songs from the last three albums followed, “Pyramid God”, “Lovecraft’s Death”, “Oceans Of Grey”, “We, The Gods”, which Seth dedicated to the fans, and “Sumerian Daemons”. Of course “Persepolis” couldn’t be left out, along with a wall of death. After that Septicflesh had a surprise in store for us, as we traveled back in time with “DNA” and “Esoptron” and this time we enjoyed Sotiris Vayenas not only on clean vocals, but on the guitar too! I have to say that it was a truly beautiful moment to see the whole band on stage, as it’s supposed to be. It was time for the encore, and when the band came back up on stage, Seth got the audience to sing along the melody of “Anubis”, and then it was chaos! The live was coming to an end, and Septicflesh said goodbye with “Five-Pointed Star”.

This concert was undoubtedly a success, and the fans left satisfied. I think very few will say the opposite. Great setlist, great performance, great atmosphere. The only somewhat negative thing was that Seth was over-trying to communicate with the fans, and all the “let’s go Athens” and “are you ready?” got a bit tiring. But that was a small thing after all. All I have to say is that I would love to see them with a live orchestra and soon enough!

Report: Stella Papaspyropoulou.
Photos: Spanos Manos.

It’s been fifteen years since the mighty Coroner from Switzerland decided to disband, considering themselves done with what they had to give. It’s also been nineteen long years since their first and only performance in Greece, when they came as a support band to Germany’s Rage. Thankfully things were turned that way, so they decided to be reformed and a series of gigs started this year, with a result to finally see them here too, in both the big cities of our country. Words are very poor to describe what our eyes saw and what our eyes heard, because mainly we lived these two gigs with all our senses and the final outcome were people unable to say anything to the one close to them, as the omnipotence of the Swiss force was undeniable and even the ones who weren’t familiar with their material and came to honour a great band of the past, managed to already become fans of them for the rest of their lives.

Rex Mundi opened the show in Gagarin a little after half past seven, and for the next 35 minutes they presented material complex in playing but flexable in listening, as long as one has open mind and trained ears. This time I saw them with their original singer Nikos which lives in the island of Crete and is not available for all gigs the band does. Heavy riffs, great rhythm section and progressive tuned vocal melodies, accompanied by great solos where needed, with the band giving all they had. The sound engineer truly fucked them up, as the guitar sound was very thick and their compositions couldn’t be forwarded to the crowd the way they should. Despite the fact that the fans didn’t understand the cover of ”Beyond Within” by Nevermore because of the aforementioned sound, the band showed that on stage, the songs sound much better, especially tracks like ”Demise Machine”. Hopefully the next time they will have a much better sound, but still they’ve done their piece and they can claim rightfully that they were a part of that big night.

Released Anger is what we simply call old school thrash metal. There can be no further explanation or definition about that, right? Starting enragingly, they left the stage almost 40 minutes after they entered it, around a quarter to eight. The recipe in the genre is as pointful as it can get: relentless riffs, insane solos, speedy bass lines and double-bass frenzy, with a singer so close to Mille Petrozza of Kreator sounding-wise, that it makes things even better. They were giving the idea that they could be playing for about two hours without getting tired and the fact that they caused people to mosh and move around throughout their performance, showed that the mission was accomplished. Highlight of their presence was surely the new track ”Selfish Bastard” where the place was set on fire and was the first time for me to see it live. Though they have played with many great bands, I think that was their peak and most important moment in their history. It’s different to play with Coroner after all. Until the next time, they should keep this gig as a guide for the future.

Acid Death was always a legendary and contradictory band for the Greek fans. Just like Coroner, they had always been different and challenging to their sound, and their three official releases, the EP ”Balance Of Power” (back in ‘92) and their two godly albums ”Random’s Manifest” and ”Pieces Of Mankind” in 1998 and 2000 are stuff that everyone loving the word progress, must own. Their sound was unbelievable, and the band couldn’t sound tighter than this. I have seen both Savvas on bass and vocals and Kostas on drums with their other band Kinetic, three times. But this time, they were so enraged that it was like seeing them perform for the first time. Among other stuff, they played ”Flattening Of Emotions” by Death as a homage to the great Chuck Schuldiner and the fans just couldn’t keep than headbanging. Their two new songs show that their upcoming album ”Eidolon” might easily be the best in their career. Savvas apologized for a wound in his back. If you play like that as a wounded man, what would you do in pure shape? I’m very happy I finally saw them and I really wish to see them again as soon as their new album is released. The ones getting their 2011 promo, free distributed, already smile eagerly.

Coroner are aliens. Period. I can’t explain what I saw otherwise. You are missing for a decade and a half. You come to a country that awaits you from when you were still active. And you start with an unreleased song from the ”Coroner” compilation back in ‘95, ”Golden Cashmere Sleeper, part 1”. We should have known… We should have been prepared properly for that. We shouldn’t take for granted that we would just see or hear you but FEEL you in the true sense of the word. From the first second the sound has filled the place. Tommy Vetterli’s guitar sounds like three guitarists play together, Marky Edelmann’s beatings could devastate the whole club and Ron Broder’s basslines fill perfectly the parts when he’s not singing (or should i say spitting better) some of the best lyrics written in life. Songs like ”Internal Conflicts” prove that in the best way and the once astonished fans -especially the ones unfamiliar with the first song- suddenly wake up and move around the place. But we never will touch you Coroner, because you are unreachable.

Trying to get our bearings seems useless when straightly and mercilessly, ”Serpent Moves” can show us how a great song in a cd turns into colossal in a gig. The best solo of all times belongs to mr. Vetterli and is included in this song, and I don’t know if I have to be happy or if I have to realize I’m barely awake, because everything seems like a dream. And it’s only the third song. They’re moving, they’re changing. And just on time, the diehards enjoy one of their trademark tracks, ”Masked Jackal” from ”Punishment For Decadence”, their first video clip ever. With a heavy sound on the guitar that leads to the ”Grin” era, even the old stuff sounds challenging and a large mosh pit is created. The band members already show happy and they thank the people for their support. The joy in their faces is clear and they have become one with the fans. So, what follows flows like clear water, with the accuracy of a Swiss clock. Which means that the band doesn’t lose a simple second and the fans don’t lose a single headbanging from that point and on.

A journey to ”No More Color”, the first Coroner album I once encountered, brings back great memories and ”D.O.A” shows how insane and progressive a thrash song can be. On the other hand, ”Status: Still Thinking” shows how simple and majestic a song can be, without need to be under categories and genres. Why do you hate us? Why are you so perfect that we can’t believe it? As soon as it’s about to end, the gigantic riff of ”Metamorphosis” turns the place into a room of epileptic headbanging and the highlight of Tommy’s skills is the games he does with his guitar on that track. We won’t be alive, that’s certain… Fortunately, ”The Lethargic Age” brings us back to reality as long as that’s possible. Because when ”Semtex Revolution” is presented, once again heads go along with the complex riff by Tommy and we’re back to the situation where we don’t know how to act. Coroner definitely serve the musical revolution in a different way, hopefully this time the people will get the message and not leave it pass by.

The great interlude ”Gliding Above While Being Below” (also on the self-titled compilation, officialy unreleased on a studio album) brings us back to Earth for a while and it’s great to see Coroner without words, they seem the same fantastic. But there is not much room for thought as ”Divine Step (Conspectu Mortis)” blows the place up for certain. Songs we grew up with and listening to them with ease, sound like we still didn’t get their status, so many years after their release. How can we explain that they sound new to us and that Coroner drive us back to ‘96 in their last tour like not even a day passed since then? What is sin? And who is God? Another trip to ”No More Color” with ”No Need To Be Human” where Coroner prove their alien origin as we said before. As for the fans… Identity’s lost, no need for expression. Just hollow gazes and jaws dropped as an hour has passed by.

Describing all these, it’s needless to even think of stating what happened when they played ”Grin (Nails Hurt)”. A red light covering the place, the band, the fans, and incomprehensive screams follow eight minutes of power exhibition by Coroner. Nails invade our brains, they make them unable to do anything. We don’t understand when Coroner leave the place and return back to play ”Purple Haze” by the greatest guitarist ever, Jimi Hendrix. He would surely be proud to see them playing like that. But they show us without hesitation that business is always business and ”Reborn Through Hate” is the last nail in the coffin of our sanity. Crowd surfings, mosh pits, embraces to close persons and even running with people on shoulders is what the menu includes on the last song of the night. Coroner dominated Athens and promised they would do anything to live this again. My neck is on fire and all I have to do is try and realize what happened because the next day I would see this in Thessaloniki too.

Report: Aggelos “Redneck” Katsouras.
Photos: Manos Spanos.

First of all let’s talk about the Greek supports. The first band to appear was “The Dive” an Athens based band introducing their debut album! A very strong performance with colorful compositions and a tight connexion of the band as performers! Very promising band. Next in line came Planet of Zeus the second Greek supporting act. With the success of their latest album “Macho Libre” they made an excellent job warming-up the crowd. Excellent sound, heavy riffs, everything in their advantage for a perfect show. As usual! After the “introductions” Karma to Burn quickly came in with the fresh song “Forty Seven” and the fire spread out! William Mecum and Rich Mullins were giving their best and it was clear enough they enjoyed it! Rob Oswald on the other hand looked more severe and focused with an outstanding drum performance! The truly amazing fact with this band is that despite the absence of lyrics the desert sounds of their songs give the crowd all it needs to blow minds! I don’t thing there are many words to describe the feelings of this show… K2B is like an individual concert for each one! So amazing when I played their setlist at the lottery the next morning, I won!! Greetings from the Bahamas…

The Dive setlist:
Pets
Billie
Lock Jaw
Floating
Hollow
Papi Jojef
Palliria
Desden
Repler
Iguana
Fabio Fabio

Planet of Zeus:
Leftovers
Supernothing
Dawn of The Dead
Woke up Dead
Macho Libre
Something’s Wrong
Vanity Suit
Eat Me Alive

Karma to Burn setlist:
47
8
39
41
14
34
42
50
1
19
32
28
20

Logan Chevet

Sodom are one of the favorite bands of the Greek crowd. They have played many shows here and most of them were killer. I don’t think that I need to write anything about the glory of this band, the legendary albums that they have released and how many bands they have influenced; all the thrash metal fans (and not only) know these things. So, one year after their last performance in Athens, those thrash legends came again to make us have some good friendly violent fun! The support bands were Exarsis, Blynd and Antidrasi.

Unfortunately I arrived late at the venue so I only managed to see Exarsis for only one song which was a cover of “Kill On Command” from Vio-lence, that the band performed very good and with a very good stage performance. What I heard is that Exarsis played a very good and passionable show, but the sound was not very good. They played a couple of songs from their upcoming album, “Under Destruction”, and they had a lot of fans in the crowd.

Blynd from Cyprus was the second support group. They played very good and they had a good stage performance. To be honest I haven’t heard the band before but I liked their music. They were very groovy and their biggest influences are probably bands like Machine Head, Lamb Of God (they covered “Laid To Rest”) and so on. The crowd seemed to like them a lot and the band seemed to enjoy the show. They played 7 or 8 songs and they left the stage with almost everyone clapping for them. Overall, a very good performance from a very promising band.

The legendary Antidrasi was the last band playing before Sodom. I am a fan of the band from a very young age but it was my first time seeing them live. They played very well and they played a very good set. Songs like “Hoirino Kreas”, “El.as”, “Egxromi TV – Aspromauri Zoi”, “Ego Tin Kano”, the legendary title track of the band and so on, created a very big excitement to the crowd that was singing every lyric and was participating in the performance of the band by singing, moshing and stagediving. I was very happy to hear these great songs live for the first time, and to see Antidrasi perform so good. They left the stage after playing about 13 songs.

The venue was full of people once again. Although Sodom have played in Athens many times, the venue is always full of people because everyone knows that Sodom concerts are always killer. That proves how great Sodom are.

Everything was ready for the performance of one of the greatest thrash bands of all time. At around 23:30 Sodom hit the stage with the title track of their new album, “In War And Pieces”. From the first note that Sodom played, there was a great atmosphere created. Moshpits, stagedivings, crowd surfings, singing, everyone was enjoying themselves. Second song? “Sodomy And Lust”! You can imagine what happened! Sodom were in a great mood, they were performing all the songs very energetic and passionable and they seemed to have a hell of a time. Older songs like “Outbreak Of Evil”, “Burst Command ‘Till War”, “Proselytism Real”, “Blasphemer”, “Agent Orange” and so on created panic in the crowd, but the same thing happened with songs from their latest records like “M16”, “I Am The War”, “City Of God” etc. Everyone was having a great time and the adrenaline was at red during the whole concert. The sound was good. The new drummer, “Makka”, performed very well, and he proved that he is a very good drummer that deserves to play in such a big band. Angelripper and Bernemann were in a very good mood and they performed very well. The band played many other classic songs like “Fuck The Police”, “Ausgebombt”, “Remember The Fallen”, “The Saw Is The Law” where the whole venue was headbanging and moshing. Sodom had a very good stage performance once again. The last song of their set, “Bombenhagel” of course, where Tom wore an oxygen mask that a fan gave him for a while (great moment), was the end of another legendary Sodom concert in Athens. They left the stage after 1 hour and 50 minutes and they left everyone very happy once again.

It was the 3rd time that I saw Sodom. I would see them another 1003 times if I could. Once again they played a show that made us leave the venue with a huge smile in our faces. The support groups were also very good and once again it is proved that the Greek scene has countless great bands that play very good music. THRASH TILL DEATH!

Panos “Butcher” Bantzis

Amorphis are considered to be one of these bands that the Greeks adore, along with Blind Guardian, Nevermore, Opeth, Anathema and some more. The Finnish visited us again, two years after one very successful performance in 2009. The bunch of us who found ourselves at Gagarin that Sunday had high expectations, as Amorphis are known for their great shows. But the night didn’t start well.

The show was supposed to start at 20:00, with Nahemah, Spanish progressive death metallers, being the first on stage. Due to personal reasons I wasn’t able to be at the venue right from the start. So I was very bewildered, when at 20:30 I found Leprous on stage, and not only that, but they were already halfway through their set. For the record though, and from what I heard from others who managed to see Nahemah, the band didn’t do that well. The bad sound, along with the indifferent, very small in numbers, audience, didn’t provide for a good warm up.

Back to Leprous now, and I was in for another unpleasant surprise. As I was informed, the photographers weren’t allowed in the photo pit, even though we had photo passes. Orders of the manager. Apart from that detail, I really enjoyed Leprous. The band was full of energy. Einar Solberg, the singer, got easily most of our attention, as he was constantly headbanging, while playing keyboards. Another thing that drew our attention was the fact that they were all dressed up, wearing suits, ties and bow-ties. Not a usual dress code for a metal band. The sound had improved greatly, allowing us to enjoy the varied and weird vocals of Solberg, and of course the compositions themselves. Their setlist was based on their latest release, “Bilateral”, which won very good reviews, but we also heard “Passing” and “Dare You” from “Tall Poppy Syndrome”. All in all, a very satisfying performance, which gave great promises for the future of Leprous. I’m only sorry that I didn’t see the first thirty minutes…

At approximately 21:30, the background was decorated with the cover of “The Beginning Of Times” and the stage was ready for the headliners of the night. Amorphis entered and they started with “My Enemy” and “Mermaid” from their latest album, but with average sound, as the keyboards, an essential part of Amorphis’ music, weren’t heard clearly at times. Thankfully, as we went on the sound got a lot better. Tomi Joutsen was amazing, his voice in excellent shape, as he was altering from harsh to clean vocals with great ease. And he was the most energetic on stage, monopolizing the audience. The rest of the members, even though they played very professionally, they seemed a little distant. On the other hand, the attitude of the audience didn’t help, as the majority was just standing there without participating. In the meantime, we are going back and forth in time, with “The Smoke”, followed by “Crack In A Stone” from the new album, and back again with “Greed”. And with that song, Joutsen proved to us that he can handle the older stuff pretty well. It was time for “You I Need”, the hit single of “The Beginning Of Times” and there came a radical change. The fans started to sing along! And back again. “Karelia”, “Vulgar Necrolatry”, “Into Hiding”, and “Magic And Mayhem” for those who love the first albums. “Sky Is Mine” and “Alone” for the ones who prefer the more recent stuff. With that, the first part of the show was over. It was time for the encore, but I didn’t hear the classic “we want more”. The crowd was once again silent. After a few minutes, Amorphis returned on stage and they offered the audience their most popular song, “Silver Bride”. Cue for headbanging and sing-along! Next came the beautiful “My Kantele” and the set closed with another hit, “House Of Sleep” and the cheering of the crowd.

So, what do we make of this? With this being my first time seeing Amorphis live, I can’t say it was what I expected. The performance was undeniably good, the setlist covered every period, and I had a nice time, but the distance between the band and the fans could not go unnoticed. And the feeling that I’m left with, is that this could be such a great live…

Report: Stella Papaspyropoulou.
Photos: Spanos Manos.

On the day that the Greeks celebrate their revolutionary answer against the Italian threat, back in 1940, we had the chance to witness live one of the bands that was and still is deeply influenced by the Greek culture and mythology. The prog metal masters Symphony X managed to come to our country for the first time in history (and after what they saw, it will definitely not be the last). The attendance though, could be much better and it really bears questions the fact that especially the prog metal fans, keep nagging about bands they like not coming, and once they come, they are not there to enjoy them, the situation was much better than in Shadow Gallery for example but still not satisfactory. The Americans and the two native bands were able to wipe out such complaints, and the show started at eight o’clock sharp, finishing a little before midnight.

Need is simply one of my three favourite bands from our country, especially concerning the ones from Athens, each time I see them I enjoy it more,however, once I am starting to get obsessed they finish their shows. This time they played only six songs for about half an hour in total, and it was also the first time to see them as a quintet, including their recent entry, their keyboard player, who fills in perfectly with the nominal rhythm section, the guitarist throwing constant riffs non stop and the vocalist who seemed to be more confident than ever (also his hair have grown since the last time I saw them, go on mate). Among others, I had the chance to listen to ”Lifeknot”, one of the new songs they write for their upcoming album, hopefully released on 2012. A great performance and the only thing I can complain about is the lack of t-shirts, but as I learnt, it was not their fault.

Fragile Vastness is really an experience you must weigh carefully before speaking about. It’s been about eight and a half years since the last time I saw them, supporting Pain Of Salvation and Rage in March 2003, and remembering them as a quintet back then, made the fact that this time they were eight people on stage (!) quite challenging. To be honest, I never heard the two keyboard players, I could barely listen to the guitarists, and for sure I didn’t hear the lady in the backing vocals at all. The singer has a very good voice and the rhythm section won the impressions again, with bassist and mastermind of the band Vaggelis Gialamas also playing a strange kind of contrabass among the songs. A satisfactory performance, though I am in heavier prog metal in general compared to them. Total respect to them as a band, it just feels that I can’t like them as much as I should. Still, professionals enough and won the applause of the crowd.

Symphony X come on stage at ten o’clock sharp and once the title track of their latest double album ”Iconoclast” tears the speakers, there is no turning back. Captive of the aura, the comfort and the tremendous shape of Russel Allen’s voice, for the next 110 minutes everything in the world around us looks, sounds and are better than we imagined. Followed by phenomenal tracks such as ”The End Of Innocence”, ”Dehumanized”, ”Bastards Of The Machine”, ”Electric Messiah”, ”When All Is Lost” (what a voice on that one…) and ”Children Of A Faceless God”, the new album dominates the first hour of the concert totally. Then it was time for ”Paradise Lost” to be represented with ”Eve Of Seduction” (maybe the most unexpected track of the whole night, it sounds twice great live though).

It is the first riff of ”Of Sins And Shadows” that brings back the memories of 1997, when I first got to know them, reminding us of their masterful album ”The Divine Wings Of Tragedy” (also could be known as ”The Divine Album Of Symphony X”). The first encore is a fact and they come out with ”The Serpent’s Kiss” and ”Set The World On Fire (The Lie Of Lies)”, both tracks from ”Paradise Lost”, responsible for bringing new fans to the band. It is so great to see such a band in such a shape, with Michael Pinella accompanying with his keyboards every great melody or riff Michael Romeo has composed, and the duo of Michael Lepond on bass and Jason Rullo (foot technique master) on drums making the sound of the band colossal. Once again they leave and the second encore comes from the deepest dreams of every fan.

The whole nearly half an hour opus ”The Odyssey” is played in its entirety, because of the love of the band for Greece, with Allen stating they couldn’t leave us without it. For the next 25-30 minutes there’s not much we can say, but just looking the band drawing some of the best pictures ever created in front of our eyes. It was the right time for them to come, now they are on their peak. 600-700 people were the lucky ones to be there, no tears for the ones not attending, choices must be made carefully and I lost Candlemass performing the whole ”Epicus Doomicus Metallicus” to be able to see this. There can be no complaints, even for the setlist or the fact they could play four or five more songs instead of ”The Odyssey”. That Friday, melody and art took over against extremity and brutality. We shall remember this for decades with a great smile on our faces, unless they play better the next time they come. Something that might happen sooner than we expect.

Report: Aggelos “Redneck” Katsouras.
Photos: Manos Spanos.

The weather forecast said it. Black clouds and heavy rain were expected on Saturday. The rain might not have come, but the clouds gathered to match the Doom day. At first Candlemass were announced as headliners, followed by Trouble, Hell and Lord Vicar. Then Ghost joined the billing. And to top it all, Johan Langqvist would appear to perform “Epicus Doomicus Metallicus” in its entirety. Needless to say that all the doom fans out there had put their flags out!

This mini-festival was supposed to start at 17:00, but of course there was the expected delay, so the first band of the day, Lord Vicar, took the stage an hour later. Unfortunately I missed them, so I can’t form a decent opinion about them, and the things I heard were quite mixed. Many appreciated their heavy doom sound, and many found it a bit boring. Whichever the case, though, they do deserve a check.

And it was time for Hell. I was really excited to see this band live. You don’t often come across bands that put out their debut album after 29 years of existence. And we are talking about an amazing debut album. Even though their sound is far from doom (it’s more like NWOBHM with a lot of Mercyful Fate) they surely kept the crowd warm. Their set was naturally based on “Human Remains”, starting with “Let Battle Commence”. Their sound could have been better, as they had some problems with the guitars, but Hell did their best. Cool riffs, weird personae, especially Kev Bower on guitar and Tony Speakman on bass, and of course great vocals. David Bower is a truly charismatic singer. The audience became more lively when “On Earth As It Is In Hell” came up, and there were a few headbangers here and there. We continued with “The Oppressors”, “The Quest”, and “Blasphemy And The Master”, during which Bower came out with a cat o’ nine tails and flogged himself. After one hour on stage, Hell completed their set and I’m sure that their show didn’t go unnoticed, even though some would claim that their stage antics were too much.

Next in line were Ghost. That’s another band that doesn’t play doom metal, but made it to the billing maybe because of their image, their lyrics and the fuzz that’s been going around their name. But they were undoubtedly interesting and their opening was perfect. When the lights went out, we started listening to “Backwards Priests”, which is best known from the masked ball scene in Eyes Wide Shut, five black robed men took their places and last came out Papa Emeritus holding a censer. I can say that this was one of the most fitting openings I’ve ever seen. Their set was based on “Opus Eponymous”, another debut album. “Con Clavi Con Dio”, “Death Knell”, “Satan Prayer” and “Genesis” were some of the songs we heard. There was also a cover of “Here Comes The Sun” of the Beatles. The sound was the best and the show was very impressive. Ghost kept their stance throughout the set and didn’t communicate at all with the fans, apart from a “Thank you Athen” in the end. The last song was “Ritual”, the hit-song of the album, and the fans reacted with a sing-along. All in all, they surely are something different, but I still don’t think that their music is worth all this fuzz.

And we were back to doom. Trouble followed. A classic doom metal group. I had high expectations. Having in mind Trouble with Eric Wagner on the vocals didn’t help when I heard Kory Clark. The man has an amazing voice, but he should be in a glam rock band maybe. Doom metal doesn’t really suit him. Generally, though, the band was in a good mood and it showed, but it didn’t quite reach the audience, that stood without participating. The sound was very good, and the songs were representing their whole discography, some of them being “Wickedness Of Man”, “At The End Of My Daze”, “Assassin”. They also played a song from their upcoming release. But the highlights of the show were “Come Touch The Sky” and “The Tempter”. Another thing I should mention is that on bass was K.K. of our own Need. After only 40 minutes Trouble left the stage, and I can say that this show didn’t meet my expectations, and I think that many share my opinion.

Last chapter of the live, Candlemass. At approximately 23:00 “Marche Funebre” started playing and we all knew that the waiting was finally over. One by one appeared on stage Lars Johansson, Mats Bjorkman, Jan Lindh and Leif Edling. Last entrance, Robert Lowe. The crowd was now wide awake to prove why the Greek fans are known for, as Candlemass opened their set with “Mirror Mirror” and “If I Ever Die”. The sound remained great, and that’s something that doesn’t happen often during lives. “At The Gallows End” and “Samarithan” followed, and it became clear that Lowe had a bit of a problem remembering the lyrics and he had to look at his cheat note on the floor. But this detail faded as Lowe invited Johan Langqvist on stage. Three magic words follow. “Epicus Doomicus Metallicus”. I don’t think that words can describe what happened when Candlemass played the first notes of “Solitude”. The venue was on fire, and everybody was singing along. And the same with “Demon’s Gate”. Then Langqvist said “I think you know the next one, it is a good song”, and the crowd started singing “Crystal Ball” even before the band did! “Black Stone Wielder”, “Under The Oak”, “A Sorcerer’s Pledge”, they all had the same impact on the fans, who were headbanging as crazy and singing their hearts out. Langqvist’s performance was top notch and Edling was in such a good mood, smiling all the time and singing his songs with the audience. After almost an hour, Lowe came back up for two more songs, “Well Of Souls” and “Emperor Of The Void”. The comparison was unavoidable, and it seemed that Langqvist won the fans over easily. But that didn’t prevent anyone from enjoying the songs to the fullest. And the live was reaching its end. One more song. Lowe asked the fans which one they wanted to hear, and he granted them with “Darkness In Paradise” as a duet with Langqvist. What a great way to end the show!

After almost 8 hours, everybody started leaving the venue with a huge smile on their faces. There were ups and downs, there always are. Some liked the bands, some didn’t. Some knew what to expect, some didn’t. But in the end, most of the people came for Candlemass, Langqvist and “Epicus…”. It was a dream come true for most doom metal fans. Listening to this historic album in its entirety and with its original singer really payed up. I don’t think that we’ll get another chance to see something like that live, in the near future that is. Those who were there will remember it for a long, long time. Those who weren’t, well, their loss…

Stella Papaspyropoulou

From February 2011, we knew that Cathedral would say their last goodbye to their fans with the Farewell Tour, after serving loyally the metal scene for almost 20 years. When you hear that such a great band is retiring from the music business, and that you are given a chance to see them live for the last time, there should be no second thoughts. And for me, as well as for many others, there were no second thoughts.

Athens, Saturday, October 1^st 2011. At 21:00 the doors of Gagarin were ready to open and welcome the Greek audience who came to enjoy the last show of the British doomsters. Half an hour later, the first act went on stage. Infidel started their set with a song from their debut album “I, Oathbreaker”, but they informed us that the rest of the set would be based on their upcoming release, “King of Cynical Control”. Nice, heavy, slow doom metal and vocals that remind strongly of Candlemass. The sound was good enough for an opening band and I can say that I really enjoyed them. For half an hour, Infidel warmed the audience up well and they received a big applause.

Next in line were Violet Vortex, and it’s not hard to guess that these guys are heavily influenced by the headliners (Violet Vortex being the opening track of “The Ethereal Mirror”). They took the stage at 22:30 and with a set based on “Lure Elegant”, they prepared the fans  in the best way. We heard some nice guitar work, groovier sound than the first band, a bit more stoner elements. The band was full of energy and in good communication with the audience, even though they forgot to introduce themselves. After completing the set, the frontman and singer of the group thanked Cathedral and said “we miss you already”, speaking on behalf of all the attendants.

It was 23:30 when the lights went out and an intro started playing from the keyboards. Gaz Jennings, Scott Carlson and Brian Dixon took their places on guitar, bass and drums respectively. The last one to enter the stage was of course Lee Dorrian. They started off with “Vampire Sun” and the crowd went wild, followed by “Enter The Worms” and “Soul Sacrifice”.  Their whole set was a best of, though the first three albums held a special place, and the period 1996-2002 was completely left out. The sound was a bit off, with the guitar covering everything at times, but I’m sure only a few noticed it. Dorrian was an amazing and weird frontman as always, tying the microphone cable around his head, swallowing the microphone itself, lying down in front of the drum kit, or acting all zombie-like. The doom anthems followed one another, as we went from the uplifting “Midnight Mountain”, to the slower “Carnival Bizarre” and to the mournful “Ebony Tears”. There was no doubt that you couldn’t  get easily bored. The fans followed Dorrian’s lead, singing with him, forming mosh-pits during the groovier songs, and even crowd-surfing. “The Casket Chasers”, “Upon Azrael’s Wings” and “Corpsecycle” came up, being the representatives of the more recent Cathedral releases. Unfortunately the concert was slowly reaching its end. The band left the stage for a few minutes. It was time for the first encore, with “Ride” and “Utopian Blaster”. More craziness, more mosh-pits, more crowd-surfing. And the band was out again, only to return for one last song. “I am Matthew Hopkins, the Witchfinder” yelled Dorrian and chaos prevailed, and as a final act, Dorrian hanged himself with the microphone cable.

The British doomsters have left a great legacy for the new generation of doom and beyond, and we have yet to wait for their last words, “The Last Spire”. I don’t know if this was truly the last we saw of Cathedral, but if it is so, then the band left us with the best memory possible. A show to remember. Farewell.

Track list:

Vampire Sun
Enter The Worms
Soul Sacrifice
Midnight Mountain
Funeral Of Dreams
Cosmic Funeral
Carnival Bizarre
Night Of The Seagulls
Ebony Tears
The Casket Chasers
Upon Azreal’s Wings
Corpsecycle
Ride
Utopian Blaster
Hopkins (Witchfinder General)

Stella Papaspuropoulou