With their 12th full-length Faith Divides Us, Death Unites Us British finest dark metallers PARADISE LOST have released a surprisingly strong and great album, doing another step back and touching the highlights of the past. It seems like the guys have regained the pleasure of playing heavier stuff and so I hope it will also reflect on their upcoming live appearances. If not, one can enjoy two really awesome support bands! First there is to name my favorite Swiss metal band SAMAEL I never ever saw a lame or even bad show so far, no matter in what circumstances they have to play and second there are Finnish hopefuls GHOST BRIGADE, who have just released a hauntingly beautiful album called Isolation Songs. Anyway, this show is supposed to be a highlight already!

:: pics ::

As it was known that :: GHOST BRIGADE :: had to kick off the shows, me I and myself (next to Dani and Niggels from RoD as well as Wiebke from Hotel666 magazine) appeared overly punctual at Ringlokschuppen in Bielefeld. Thank goodness! Because the show started a half hour earlier than announced, while we were still gabbing outside. Ever seen headless chicken running? No, there you got the chance, straight into the photopit ;)
Anyway, tonight show took place in the smaller location, but this one was almost crowded right from the beginning much to the delight of the band. GHOST BRIGADE set in with an old song from the band’s debut Guided By Fire, followed by the highlights of the sophomore Isolation Songs. Caused gooseflesh allover the body. Thrilling! It was also great to see that fronter Manne Ikonen sung with the same power and intensity as on CD, while the rest of the band was playing their soul off the body, despite of some cold. Sadly, sadly they only played 30 minutes, which was of course way too short. Barely started to let it go with closed eyes and it was over again :( *sighs* Bring them back on stage with a longer playing time, please!
Setlist: Hold On Thin Line, My Heart Is A Tomb, Into The Black Light, Lost In A Loop, 22:22 Nihil, A Storm Inside

Short break and it was time for :: SAMAEL :: to enter the stage. They also started with an old song and then went through their entire history. Sound was quite undifferentiated in the beginning but the sound engineer got it quickly handled. As for the “old” fans SAMAEL offered some delicious with Into The Pentagram (bathed in blood-red lights) and Ceremony Of Opposites from the early records as well as Rain from the famous Passage album. But also newer songs went down pretty well, since they were played much more powerful than heard on CD. Except for the current album Above maybe, which generally goes back to the band’s roots. SAMAEL played and performed as lively as usual, seeing Mas and Makro jumping, even Xy did behind his keys and drums. I just wonder how they survive that for around 4 weeks, every single night… Oh, and this time Masmiseim did not shredder his bass guitar ;) Once again an amazing show!
Setlist: Intro, Rain, Solar Soul, Reign Of Light, Infra Galaxia, Year Zero, Western Ground, Black Hole, Slavocracy, Into The Pentagram, Ceremony Of Opposites

Well, the headliner needed some more time for changeover, so we had time to express our wish that Nick Holmes might be in good spirits; otherwise we would get another deadly boring show. :: PARADISE LOST :: tour without Greg Mackintosh, who sit out the tour for family-related issues. Milton “Milly” Evans (of Terrorvision, Everneed) fills in, though a couple of shows had to be cancelled.
PARADISE LOST got in with a new song and hey, yes... they seemed to enjoy playing live ;) They rocked the stage! Only Nick Holmes had some troubles and was always twiddling with his micro. After three songs I had to leave for an interview with Ghost Brigade, which lasted the entire PARADISE LOST show. But I was told afterwards that the Brits delivered a really good show and that Nick turned out to be chatterbox, talking more then all previous shows in all. Well then ;)
Setlist: The Rise Of Denial, Pity The Sadness, Erased, I Remain, As I Die, The Enemy, First Light, Enchantment, Frailty, One Second, Forever Failure, Requiem // Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us, The Last Time, Say Just Words

As for me – a great concert evening! I got blown away by GHOST BRIGADE and SAMAEL pleases always ;) I got myself the last girlie tee from GHOST BRIGADE, a limited and unique one, designed for this tour only :)
Bands started and finished early and so we started back for home before midnight.