Kataklysm, Graveworm, Eminence, Endstille, Dry Rot, Koroded
Munich/ Germany, June 26th 2005
Okay,
actually I was very tired that Sunday (as we had
inventory at work the day before and I was totally exhaused)… but of course I
just HAVE to go there, when Kataklysm play
so close to my place and I´m on the guestlist! So exactly half an hour
before the gig started, I started moving to the concert venue (the
“Metropolis” club in Munich).
So I arrived exactly at the moment when the German Black Metal band “ENDSTILLE”
started their gig. I was really surprised, as they are quite well-known in
Germany and it´s very unusual for them to open for any other bands. But later I
heared why. The vocalist of the band had to leave as soon as
possible as he had a tough job to do the next morning and had to be in good
shape for that. So Endstille were the first ones to enter the stage.
As (like I told you) they have quite a certain status here in Germany, it was
cool to see the crown freaking out right from the start (you know, normally the
fans need a little time during the support acts to “warm up” before they
really come right in front of the stage to torture their neck muscles)… so
here everybody skipped that reserved behaviour and there was the best of mood in
the “Metropolis” right from the first moment.
Endstille convincend the crowd with their strongest tracks, as there were:
“Dominanz”, “Biblist burner”, “Frühlingserwachen”, “Hetzer”,
“Conquest”, “Navigator” (which is my personal favourite), “World”
and as an encore “R.A.F.”.
There`s nothing more to say than the band really succeeded (which they normally
do when the audience is German… the German BM fans just adore Endstille as a
matter of fact) and after the guitarist and the drummer had made some fans happy
with 3 plectrums and 2 drumsticks it was over again.
“DRY
ROT” from the German city Erlangen was the next band being scheduled to
play. Now you could watch the effect that you usually have during the support
acts at the beginning of any gig: the fans were reserved again, only some few
stayed right in front of the stage (but I have to admit that it was a terrible
hot day, it was just natural that many people went outside to have a bit fresh
air).
Anyway, “Dry Rot” made a lot of effort on stage with their crossover-like
thrashy and independent Rock. And even though this is absolutely not my kind of
music I at least have to grant them their physical power. The bassist really
jumped around the stage like a wild ox, being able to compete with circus
artists at any time. And maybe they brought their own fanclub, because in the
first row were some few fans who really went crazy during Dry Rot`s gig. The
rest of the crowd rather went to have a beer… oh well… here
is a photo for you:
Most difficult it was for the
third band of this evening > "KORODED", because they are
totally unknown even in Germany and I wasn´t even able to find a website of
them. Thus it didn´t surprise me that the crowd wasn´t very enthusiastic
during their gig. And maybe their style isn´t very popular in Germany nowadays.
At least not in Bavaria I´d guess. So their kind of Thrash- Grind- Crossover
couldn´t cause the expected reactions. The singer of the band REALLY gave his
best, that fact is beyond doubt, he even fuzzled through some of the
first-row-fans’ hair and tried to have a very good relation with the crowd,
but anyway the fire didn´t start to burn. But hey… every band has to start
that way, I guess. It´s okay that you have to give a lot of gigs and work hard
to make your name known… that`s business and that`s the way it has to be.
Anyway, here`s the setlist of Koroded: “Blowback”, “Unbreakable”,
“Epigone”, “Modern d. crusade”, “Taboba”, “Scaretrade” and “Crisis”.
And here are some photos as well, of course:
Now it
was time for the first act touring through the country with Kataklysm > “EMINENCE”
from Brasil!
Some people from the German audience might have been confused at their
appearance, as there also excists a well-known German band from
Annaberg-Buchholz called “Eminenz”, but those 2 bands have nothing in common
in any way.
So here were talk about “EMINENCE” from Brasil. Unfortunately I cannot tell
you much about about their gig, as I saw only 2 of their songs. But what I can
tell you is, that they were really really wild on stage. Jumping around and
running around, never being still for a moment. Here are some photos for you:
After their gig I used the opportunity to do a short interview with Kataklysm (see “interviews” section!)
But then
it was “GRAVEWORM”s turn again. Personally I have seen Graveworm very
often on stage. Actually I don´t have a single album of them and never go to
see them play live, but automatically they are just everywhere it seems (they
were there touring with Vintersorg, when I went to see Vintersorg live for the
first time in my life, they play at almost every festival around… almost every
year…they support lots of other bands during their tours etc., so even though
I never cared about their music, I automatically see and hear them live
constantly and meanwhile know some of their songs). So, thinking of their amount
of live gigs it really doesn´t surprise me that they are quite famous in
Germany, absolutely everybody knows them. Thus the response of the fans was
really fantastic. They headbanged their asses off.
Here are the first photos for you (more to come soon in the photos section of
Sheol Magazine):
The
vocalist of the band (who speaks perfectly German, by the way, even though the
band is said to be from Italy) had a very good relation with the crowd. He often
asked them what they wanna hear, if they rather like to hear Britney Spears or
maybe Graveworm instead…and some other humorous comments…
The ultimate highlight of their gig was the coverversion of “Fear of the dark”,
which made the fans totally go wild. There was one fan climbing the stage during
this song and he just got the microphone into his hands and was told to continue
singing the song… and so he did. So for a while it was a fan singing for the
fans… quite a nice and relaxed situation. I think that fan was the most happy
guy on earth after that! ;-) And there´ve been a lot of crowdsurfers througout
their whole gig anyway… climbing the stage and then diving… you know it, of
course… just a good mood.
Here´s another photo of when the fan continued singing on stage while the band
was playing:
Finally
it was time for Canadian Death Metal and "KATAKLYSM". They kept
us in suspense for a while because during their soundcheck the curtains beside
the stage were being closed, so we couldn´t see anything.
After the intro they started their gig heavy as hell with “Where the enemy
sleeps” and right from the start they kept the masses going. Their appearance
was wild and the emotions ran free. The set continued with “As I slither”
and Maurizio from time to time threw himself onto his knees whilst singing,
which gave me the feeling this band really lives their music on stage. As you
might imagine “Illuminati” was the first highlight of the show and there was
nothing but a massive heavy sound and rough vocals and a crazy crowd.
For some reason the sound during Kataklysm’s gig was much better than the
sound at the other bands’ gigs. Especially the drum sound of Kataklysm sounded
fantastic in the corner where I stood.
During “Astral empire” there was the first visual highlight happening:
Maurizio just acted like he wanted to strange his guitarist, while he had to
play his solo on his knees. Here`s an impression for you:
The
setlist continued as follows: „Beyond salvation“, „The ambassador of pain“,
the new song „Crippled and broken“, „Bound in chains“, „Serenity in
fire“ and „Shadows and dust“. At
latest at that song the typical Kataklysm effect stroke again. You don´t know
what it is? I experienced the typical Kataklysm effect for the first time at
last year’s “Up from the ground”-festival … now here in Munich I noticed
it again: at one certain outrageous point during the gig absolutely EVERYBODY in
the venue is headbanging … everybody from the crew, the fans, all in the band,
everyone from the merchandise and just everybody around. Maybe it´s a
coincidence… I think I´ll know it after the next of their gigs! ;-)
Maurizio had a great contact with the crowd anyway. He was talking with them
about beer, about Germany being like his home, about Munich having a great
audience etc. … and of course several fans were climbing the stage to have a
handshake with the band before stagediving (such as one certain member of the
German band “VornicoR” loves to do… being in the Munich crowd at every gig,
loving to stagedive….). Some fans even could sing 1 or 2 lines into the
microphone. All in all it was a good time for everyone.
As an encore the band performed “Manipulator of Souls” and “Face the face of war”, before unfortunately it was all over again. Even though I don´t listen to my Kataklysm albums very often… but as a LIVE band Kataklysm really are an enrichment! And here are some more memories for those who attended the gig:
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