It was a déjà-vu experience for me to see Melechesh and Embryo on tour together, since not even a year ago, the Sumerian metal titans took a wild journey through Europe to promote their critically acclaimed album ‘Enki’ and included Italy’s Embryo in their luggage. This time however, it was Nile who headlined the raging line-up and united a small but furious community of headbangers in Osnabrück’s Bastard Club.
Many fans were irritated with the early beginning of the show, and therefore the cold basement with the tiny stage was still quite empty, as the four Italians of Embryo entered the stage. Keyboardist Simone had to cancel his presence on tour due to job-related reasons, but everything is possible with a little sampler help, so that the dominant synth atmosphere of the band could still be present on stage. With their special mix of death metal and metalcore, Embryo burned through their way too short set, causing broken necks with songs like “The Scarecrow” and “No God Slave” and making their time in the scene for the past 15 years all too obvious. Those sharp vocals, wild guitars and slightly melodic song parts left many visitors wondering why Embryo are not playing bigger stages after three unique albums, and it’s definitely not out of quality deficits that these Italians were (yet) unable to climb out of the metal underground.
Since many headbangers had traveled Northern Germany only to see Melechesh again, the venue was not only packed, but also reached a nice Israeli heat level, as front-screamer and songwriter Ashmedi and his Nomadic Souls started their inferno with “Tempest Temper Enlil Enraged”. The smell of incense swelled up in the Bastard Club, and although the band had in the past gone once again through massive line-up changes, nothing could stop their Sumerian thunder. After invoking the rhythmic choirs of the audience to “Grand Gathas Of Baal Sin”, Ashmedi took the opportunity to speak about his recent arrest in Jerusalem that almost messed up his entire tour plans, but “lots of time and money” apparently solved the house arrest problem for at least a few weeks and allowed Melechesh to once again prove the mighty forces of ‘Enki’.
While Melechesh focused primarily on the sounds and legends of the near East, Nile as usual specialized in Egyptian mythology and buried their audience under the weight of the pyramids – not literally, but almost, since Karl Sander‘s songs are brutal, crushing, and unleash the deepest demons of death metal. Stomping through their set, the Americans caused a major moshpit and an energetic front row full of flying hair, while they mostly concentrated on their new masterpiece ‘What Should Not Be Unearthed’, while of course going through their old classics like “Black Seeds Of Vengence”. And as Dallas Toler-Wade once again growled his heart out with the deepest of sounds, he almost invoked an Egyptian pharaoh with the haunting tunes and earthshaking bass lines. If you looked closely, you might have seen Tutankhamen gently levitating over the drumset; just a little bit.
Nile and Melechesh might hail from totally different countries and may offer differing sounds, but they perfectly complemented each others’ styles that night with their roots in ancient cultures. As the metal style varied drastically from high-speed black metal to groovy technical death metal though, some fans either left after Melechesh or didn’t show up until Nile started, which was definitely a shame. Nevertheless, as always, all the three bands stood their ground and delivered great performances, with the only disappointment being the short duration of Melechesh’s set.
Check out our Photo Gallery of the gig here!