Things firstly turn out differently than secondly one thirdly thinks... These days should actually see NEMHAIN being on tour as part of the Rock Invasion, but the tour got cancelled. Good for NEMHAIN since Adrian Erlandsson is still on the road with PARADISE LOST, dropping by in Cologne, when NEMHAIN was supposed to stop in Bochum. That gave chance to proceed planned interviews to Cologne, where Adrian and his wife and NEMHAIN singer Amber Erlandsson answered all questions. As a bonus I was invited to see the show afterwards and also got photo permission ;)
So here we go with the very last rescheduled show of the December tour, with Greg Mackintosh on lead guitar again.

:: pics ::

Without a local support, on time and without circumstance :: SAMAEL :: entered the stage and suffered from a really bad sound. It was unbearably loud, with all basses booming and the PA totally overdriven. Samples and keyboard parts went completely down. No, that for sure wasn’t any pleasure. Seems like the monitor sound was much better, than Vorph and Co. rocked the stage as usual, keeping a straight face but a bit too polished. Vorph most time talked in German what went down pretty well and was excited to be back in Cologne. Musically not much has changed; set was a bit shorter than in Bielefeld but with the same mix of new songs and classics :)
Setlist: Intro, Rain, Solar Soul, Reign Of Light, Infra Galaxia, Year Zero, Black Hole, Into The Pentagram, Slavocracy, Western Ground

A half hour later it was up to :: PARADISE LOST :: to please the crowd. The Live Music Hall was passably filled for a Monday, I would have expected less fans. Though, Nick Holmes felt to apologize with: „It’s a Monday, sorry for that“ ;) Sound was better but still not anything good. Nothing new here too. Nick Holmes appeared unusually talkative and somewhat of honest or humorous when announcing As I Die as old Death Metal classic but without the old growls. Generally I found his singing again less convincing. I don’t know what technical stuff they use in studio, but I’m sure it’s also available for live shows, if he can’t do it anymore by himself. Much worse was the fact that he still uses a text book next to his micro, after a 2 months running tour. Let’s face it: if Rob Halford is doing so, it’s comprehensible, but Nick Holmes is, by comparison, a whippersnapper. Hmmm…
Anyway, nice show, most of all because Greg is back again. Only lights sucked badly… again… *sighs*
Setlist: The Rise Of The Denial, Pity The Sadness, Erased, I Remain, As I Die, The Enemy, First Light, Enchantment, Frailty, One Second, No Celebration, Eternal, Requiem // Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us, The Last Time, Say Just Words

story & pics © Dajana