Mantar released their album ‘Ode to the Flame’ a while ago and went on tour to stop in Hannover on 21st April at the venue Bei Chez Heinz. They were supported by Death Metal bands Deserted Fear and Deathrite. This is a quite nice combination of bands. The concert was sold out a week before and many people were left out in the cold because they did not get a ticket for that crazy event. Nevertheless, the venue was filled with people from the beginning, and it seemed that they were very motivated to celebrate and headbang.
Deathrite started that evening and delighted the audience with just their first song. The old-school Death Metal made the people nod and headbang – it was fun to see the band and the audience having much fun so early that evening. The announcements were short but nice, and let the audience yell some encouragements. The guys on stage did a very fine job and the people enjoyed it. I did not know many of their songs, but I was convinced that I must listen to their records over the next days!
The next Death Metal stunner Deserted Fear entered the stage after a short while. They started with the track “The Fall of Leaden Skies”, if I am not mistaken, from their newest record ‘Dead Shores Rising’. Powerful beginning! Basically, here was their show in a nutshell: hair flew, heads moved, and it seemed the venue was full of motivated headbangers in an amazing mood! Deserted Fear’s set was a nice mixture of their whole discography and their different grooves. The combination of their riffs, vocals, lighting and funny announcements impressed the people in the venue. If they play near my place again, I will join the show. I highly recommend seeing that great performance live on stage!
Last but not least, the stage was rebuilt for the headliner Mantar. Lights darkened, candles were lit, and fog appeared on stage. The two guys entered the stage and spread their powerful riffs and drum patterns. The audience began to headbang, dance, toast with beer and savour the whole moment simultaneously. The atmosphere in the venue was awesome! There is always one special thing about the stage: the guys play face-to-face every time. That is a rare stage arrangement, but in a way, quite cool. Nevertheless, singer and guitarist Hanno Klänhardt moved around and knew how to perform on stage in general. He is crazy and cool in many ways: he screamed into the mic which was nearly on the ground, bobbed with his whole body like a drunken snake, stood on the drums of colleague Erinç Sakaryaf, and lay on the ground sometimes while playing his guitar riffs. It was fun to see that passion on stage! The setlist contained a nice selection of songs from the two albums ‘Ode to the Flame’ and ‘Death by Burning’ as well as tracks off the new EP ‘The Spell’. The show was perfect in every sense, and I am glad that I witnessed it!
All in all, this was an awesome evening in Hannover. The live performance of the bands was outstanding, the sound was well-mixed – even if a bit loud – and the people in the venue were crazy. In my opinion, the latter showed that this event was a really good one. It was fun in every single way to see all of the bands, who I will visit again if they come back to Hannover!
