Negura Bunget, Diablery, Grimegod // KooKoo Bar, Athens, Greece // 08.03.2015

Sunday night is leading us to another great live show for the extreme metal fans: Romanian Blacksters Negura Bunget are coming to Greece for a series of shows, one of the most unique pagan Black metal bands. Support acts were the Symphonic Blacksters Diablery and also Romanian Grimegod.

GRIMEGOD were the first ones to hit the stage and were really brought down by the absence of an actual drummer. Their atmospheric , doom sound definitely lost some of its energy as they put a playback drum machine. For some bands, this thing works, but for such bands, it costs the jam feeling of their music (no matter how melancholic it might be). That mixed response came from the audiences’ reactions, which were none other than a pale applause at the end of their set.

Things got better with DIABLERY. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t really paying attention to these guys up until now. What I remembered back in 2009-2010 was an average Black metal band with more stage show than actual music played. This time around they reversed my whole view on their music, new members and insane energy. I gotta say I was completely blown away! Their style is in the vein of Emperor and Dissection and they did a great job of warming us up with material of “Architect” their first full-length. The highlight of the show was the finale with “The Somberlain” (writer went insane on that one) and “Blackness Enshrouds This Congregation” (the albums’ video-clip). Wish these guys all the best, great progress!

And it was finally time for a trip to the mountains of Romania. Yes, NEGURA BUNGET didn’t just play a gig that day, they took us all by the hand and took us on a journey in the musical tradition of Romania and how their culture could be easily blended with more atmospheric/folk Black metal music. Even though there were some problems on the first song (closed mic and guitars), things fell into place when the second song came in. Each song had at least one different traditional instrument blending so beautifully with the music, that you could easily create pictures in your head of the Romanian mountains and Transylvanian tales told in the bands’ native language. Some of the most skilled and diverse musicians I’ve ever seen, these guys could easily play at least 3 or 4 instruments each. Clean vocals blended with classic Black metal vocals creating the right atmosphere so fresh, yet so familiar for a Hellenic Black metal fans!

After the passing of the show, we were all grateful we witnessed such a unique band in the way they present their diverse sound. Wish them all well, and also the promoters that brought them here. Cheers!