After the blackened-death metal giants Behemoth released their latest record ‘I loved you at your darkest’, they went on an European tour called “Ecclesia Diabolica Evropa” and stopped in Hamburg on the 1st of February. They brought top-class support: The legends from Goteborg At The Gates and the atmospheric black metal band Wolves In The Throne Room from the USA. A very unusual but cool mix, I think. A big criticism point already before the concert: The beginning was announced 2 hours earlier than “usual”. That made it a bit difficult for people outside of hamburg, but i made it more than punctually!
The initial euphoria sobered up very quickly. I was at the venue 10 minutes before the announced start, a huge queue was waiting in front of the entrance, and the openers Wolves In The Throne Room were already playing. There was no announcement on all media, which was very, very annoying for the fans of Wolves In The Throne Room (including me). So, unfortunately I can only say that the last song, the 10-minute masterpiece “Born From the Serpent’s Eye” from their outstanding album ‘Thrice Woven’, was really stunning awesome. It was a drop in the ocean of annoyance and the bass frequencies were too dominantly present, what was a bit disturbing due to the atmosphere. Nevertheless, the performance of the band was as usual very good and delighting.
Next band on stage was At The Gates. I personally have never seen them on stage before, but I have been listening to them for ages. So, I was happy to see the guys finally live. Starting with the songs “To Drink From the Night Itself” and “Slaughter of the Soul” is an impressive and really powerful beginning. The audience went crazy from the first second of the gig and you could see a lot of nodding heads and after a while even a moshpit. The sound was well-mixed and it was a great gig in general with a mixture of older classics, but also newer songs. The old classic “Blinded By Fear” and the groovy track “The Night Eternal” drew the last energy out of the audience for moshing and headbanging. Overall, a quite awesome experience to see them (finally) live!
Finally, the headliners of the evening: Behemoth. As already mentioned at the beginning, they released the record “I Loved You at Your Darkest” not so long ago. This record will of course be the focus of the gig, i thought before the gig. I must admit that the new record didn’t flashed me at all, but I wanted to hear how the songs of the album sound live… and I realized very quickly: The songs are really awesome live! Right at the beginning Behemoth impressed me with “Wolves ov Siberia” on stage. In general, the setlist was an excellent mix from the spectrum of album “Satanica” over “Evangelion” up to the new. Also the performance as well as the lights and fire effects were always appropriate to the performed songs. All in all, the atmosphere was very awesome and quite nice amplified by the band, their performance , and the sound as a whole. An excellent performance, thanks for that!
Wolves In The Throne Room, At The Gates and especially Behemoth made the evening in all aspects of a concert very awesome. I would like to have such concerts more often. Nevertheless, it was an impressive evening in Hamburg!
