Original Post Date: 14 mar 2011
Devin Townsend Project+Aeon Zen, Stockholm 13/3-2011

Aeon Zen
One-man project from England going live! This was actually a really nice support for Devin, with quite proggy stuff and skilled musicians. They had a bit rough start, where I think it kind of showed that they usually don't play live (I think this was their first tour) and the singer managed to knock over a mic so it stopped working and what not, but eventually it turned out to be really nice. A very good singer (and entertainer, good job on being a frontman!) and an excellent guitar player on that as well. Wouldn't have minded if their set was slightly longer than the half hour they go, but a nice warm-up nevertheless!

Devin Townsend Project
Second time seeing this crazy Canadian for me! I was pretty curious to see Devin in a small venue, a bit more personal than up on a festival stage and well, I guess it was pretty much what I expected. :P
Madness and excellent performance combined in a way few others can manage! Despite being ill Devin sounded as good as always. That man's voice is quite amazing. And then there's his crowd interaction of course. That's where he really shines I think. Lots of funny comments and faces!
It's easy to just go on about Devin himself, but one shouldn't forget his band really! Very talented musicians who play every song just spot on. It was easy to just close my eyes for a bit and enjoy the music. Everything sounded just perfect!
I would've loved to see Vampira in the setlist, that'd been amazing... but alas, one can't have everything I guess! I am glad we did get the second encore at least. :)

I think the setlist was something like this:
Addicted!
Supercrush!
Kingdom
Deadhead
Truth/OM
By Your Command
Life
Earth Day
Bad Devil

Encore:
Color Your World
The Greys
Deep Peace

Encore 2:
Bend It Like Bender!


Original Post Date: Mar 3, 2011
Scarpoint+Decadence+Septic Remains+Frantic Amber, Stockholm 2/3-2011

Frantic Amber
I've seen the girls play a couple of times now, and I guess they've started to get into the routine of gigging by now - because it seemed like they weren't that excited to play tonight. At least not to begin with, it got a bit more lively about halfway in or so!
They did play a new song though, that I quite liked - really nice drive in the intro. Other than that it was just a solid gig. Maybe they're saving their energy for their upcoming tour in Russia? :)

Septic Remains
Hm. I don't know what to say about this band. It felt like they tried to do everything, and as is common when you do that nothing of it sounds good. They had some folk/black thing going on with some weird stage clothes and some horrible clean vocals here and there... the only part of the band that I thought was good was one of the guitarists, but he was plagued by technical problems so... yeah.

Decadence
Was a long time since I saw these guys! And apparently they've lost one man along the way, which is a shame as I feel like their sound really benefits from two guitars. But alas, they manage just fine on four members! Fast Thrash like it should be, and Kitty on vocals sounded good as ever.
Actually I think that they had the biggest crowd of the night, despite the whole event being Scarpoints release party! But they totally deserve it. :)
Oh, and ending with a Slayer cover is always welcome. :]

Scarpoint
Second time I see these guys, and I don't really like their style of Hardcore/Death/Thrash but they do what they do really well, no doubt about that. So despite not liking the style I still enjoy seeing them live, so that's the way to go!
Also they did get the crowd moving (all though surprisingly many had left all ready) which resulted in me getting a shattered glass in my shoe... Which just goes to show the venue wasn't really suited for Metal... (who puts a table in the middle of the moshpit?!).
All in all a nice night, and quite many people showed up despite being an Wednesday. I guess we can agree that at least sometimes "Little Saturday" is true for its name!


Original Post Date: Feb 21, 2011
NILE + Melechech + bibleblack + Pressure Points + Goat the Head, Stockholm 20/2-2011

Goat the Head
"What the FUCK was that?" That was how I felt 5 minutes after they got off the stage. Let me try to describe it for you. 4 guys in orange overalls with patches (very similar to overalls that Swedish students at technical universities use for partying in actually...) with the singer having his overall folded down and tied around his (rather large) belly and wearing a fur west. And from the speakers comes a wall of sound which is described by the band as Contemporary Primal Caveman Death Metal. Well, I'm left rather speechless after these Norwegians left the stage, but at least it was rather amusing!

http://www.myspace.com/goatthehead

Pressure Points
And after that we go to the opposite of the Metal spectrum... here are some Finnish Prog/Death Metallers alá Opeth/Amorphis. They were extremely talented, and the guitarists were so damn tight so it was a great joy to hear once the initial sound problems were fixed! Personally I think they have a little too much keyboards (or maybe it was just the keyboards that were really load in this venue) but never the less they played three really nice songs with awesome guitars!

http://www.myspace.com/pressurepointsband

bibleblack
Does the name Mike Wead tell you something? Well, it fucking should. This is his latest project, and it's some evil Thrash this time! I had actually forgot that they were on this tour so it came as a pleasant surprise to see them go up on stage! And what more, they were extremely good live!
Worth mentioning is that they came out on stage wearing black suits. Must be damn sweaty playing a show in one of those... and Kacper Rozanski, the singer, was also wearing a priest collar and white lenses - and he is a really good frontman that goes into the role of being a priest... Great connection with the crowd! And also awesome support! They might almost have been the mainband if you judge by the support only!
They ended the set with a Merciful Fate cover (obviously), and all though Kacper claimed it was a special bonus for playing on the homefield I don't believe him! :P And I thought priests weren't supposed to lie! ;P
Anyhow, this was the highlight of the eve for me at least!

http://www.myspace.com/bibleblackofficial

Melechech
Melechech is a damn cool Black Metal band that finds it influences from Mesopotania and middle-East etc which creates a really unique sound actually. I was very curious to see how their music would work live, and I must say I'm pleasantly surprised! It was very good actually. I guess they really spent some time thinking about which songs would work live, and now towards the end of the tour they had it fine-tuned and all!
It was also great to see that again the crowd was up for it and gave them great support as well - despite it being the first time they played here in Stockholm. Very nice!

Setlist

Illumination : The Face of Shamash
Sacred Geometry
Deluge of Delusional Dreams
Ladders to Sumeria
Grand Gathas of Baal Sin
Triangular Tattvic Fire
Ghouls of Nineveh
Rebirth of the Nemesis

http://www.myspace.com/melechesh

NILE
Ah, Nile. What to say? They're really skilled musicians and entertainers - great interaction with the crowd, talking and responding and all that. For me the set consisted of a bit too many songs from the new album - as I've not actually heard it yet... And also a bit too many slow songs. And were was Annihilation of the Wicked? But a bit funny when Karl Sanders dedicate Permitting the Noble Dead to Descend to the Underworld to Lord Ahirman (Dark Funeral), LG Petrov (Entombed) and Ola Lindgren (Grave) who had come out to the show (I see Ola and LG on almost every show I go to so that's no surprise... :D ). At least the later two came out on stage and sung the chorus for Black Seeds of Vengeance as well. Lord Ahirman might've been the third guy - but I've never seen him without corpsepaint so I'm not sure who it was really... :P

All in all a really nice show anyhow, and I'm glad Nile actually come to Stockholm this time and not stopping in some random backwater town (Örebro...) like last tour...

Setlist:

Kafir!
Sacrifice unto sebek
Hittite Dung Incantation
Serpent Headed Mask
Ithyphallic
Those Whom the Gods Detest
The 4th Arra of Dagon
Permitting the Noble Dead to Descend to the Underworld
Sarcophagus
Lashed to the Slave Stick
Black Seeds of Vengeance (with LG Petrov, Ola Lindgren and someone else I didn't recognize)

http://www.myspace.com/nilecatacombs