Saturday
is the best day for a concert in Salzburg’s Rockhouse.
After a convenient trip in the holiday’s traffic chaos we
have a few hours time to visit the sights of Mozart’s hometown.
Among hundreds of tourists we linger along the famous Getreidegasse,
the temperature is about ten degrees. We pass the well known house
number 9 as we get a glimpse at some darksome shapes in the semi-darkness
posing before the camera…as we take a closer look the journeymen
emerge as the main band of the DOMINATION TOUR:
Sakis and his combatants of ROTTING CHRIST capture
some impressions on film for their family albums! That funny meeting
follows a visit in Salzburg’s best known record shop Heavy
Rotation. Towards early afternoon at 6.30 p.m. the show starts
as usual punctually.
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pics
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INACTIVE
MESSIAH ~
Attention! Addiction!
Not many visitors know the band INACTIVE MESSIAH,
I am lucky to have a short listen of their album Be
My Drug and I am looking forward to the show with
some suspense. Unfortunately it lasts for only 30 minutes. It
offers dynamic Dark Metal – also optically the group something
for the ladies (only 10 % of the audience today, hehe). Anybody
who likes Moonspell or the symphonic side of Therion is in good
hands with INACTIVE MESSIAH. Consequently one
can take the album’s title literally, because the dark rocking
sounds fascinate from the beginning. Unfortunately only a few
fans are present, but these ones enjoy the diverting performance
and the band itself has some fun on stage. Eminently the simple
entitled Sing puts the fans in good humor rooted in the memorable
refrain everyone can sing along after the first listening. Therefore
the crowd supports the singer with the lyrics like “I am
waiting for your requiem”. I am quite surprised that the
group does not perform the cool cover version of Michael Jackson’s
hit Beat It; maybe it would have been a good idea for this unknown
band to incorporate this song in the set list. So INACTIVE
MESSIAH rely on own material and enter a succès
d’estime in the books. Apart from this, I would advise for
more explosive action on stage next time.
:.
HARM
~ Thrash Til Helvete
HARM coming from far North play a completely
other style: Thrash Metal is the winning bid for the next half
of an hour. The first impression is ambivalent: on the one hand
the guys’ likeable joy in playing attracts attention, but
this brownie point is clouded by lacking self-reliance in the
beginning. During the concert HARM reduce the
speed from time to time and now the one or other fan bangs his
head to the mid tempo rhythms. Following deduction can be drawn:
the slower the band plays, the more intense the performance gets.
Consequently the mid tempo crushers Devil or Rolling
The Dice hit the target and are jointly responsible for atrocious
pain in the neck the day after. Some visitors scrape up their
poor knowledge of Norwegian language and cheer for the musicians
with interjections like “Helvete thrash Metal” or
“Skol HARM!” vociferously.
:.
NEURAXIS
~ Neck-Aching-Muscles-Guarantee
Concerning the action on stage, Canada’s NEURAXIS
do their job far better. Agile and complicated Metal with lots
of melodies and a high energy level deliver the basis for a really
fierce performance. The band’s power has a direct effect
on the fans from the first second on. The tracks function a little
bit too complicated and nearly inscrutable on CD, but on stage
they develop their full finery. The lion’s share during
the 40 minutes lasting concert is taken by songs of the latest
album Trilateral Progression, all based
on a high quality level. The most outstanding song is an old one
from 2001, with a stunning melody and one of these rhythms no
one can elude. NEURAXIS play Metal wholeheartedly,
regardless how small or big the crowd may be!
:.
MYSTIC
CIRCLE ~ One Good Song Is Not Enough
The German horde fills in for Carpathian Forest. I have visited
a few concerts in the past and also this show does not change
my opinion about the band’s poor qualities. Over and above
the guys seem to play the same set list over all unholy years
and as a consequence the program gets boring. Even the idea to
quote blessedly Slayer while performing Medina – Whore
Of Satan seems to be no longer inventive after having heard
that for the fourth time. Solely Open The Gates Of Hell is
a little bit outstanding because of its slower catchiness, otherwise
the speed is enormous, Satan gets his homage unswervingly and
every lyrical line is repeated over and over again…nothing
essential!
:.
INCANTATION
~ Brutal And Slightly Disappointed
Err, what an evil introduction the Americans have brought along
telling us about the Book Of The Dead
manufactured of human skin and written in human blood…I
nearly want to leave the hall because I am in a funk…but
actually the music itself is way more brutal than the introducing
horror story. For the first time the sound is really near the
threshold of noise pain; secondly the nasty compositions consist
of lumbering, groovy Heavy Metal and fanatic speed attacks, which
do not miss the mark at all. I am impressed by the two-way penetrating
power. The trio infernal performs like in intoxication –
only the audience does not partake in their possession. Consequently
the crowd’s reactions correspond in no way with the band’s
expectations and the missing enthusiasm provokes the group threatening
of a shorter set. In the end INCANTATION complete
their full program in professional manner.
:.
MALEVOLENT
CREATION ~ First Symptoms Of Fatigue
The oversupply concerning bands takes its toll - some visitors
give their necks a break to have some reserve assets for the main
act. I don’t know, for sure the musical effort is not the
cause for this partly downtime. In the first instance Dave Culross
makes me staggered, I wonder how a human being is able to play
that fast! Ironically this continuous and enormous speed is MALEVOLENT
CREATION’s problem. During the first two numbers
one light bulb moment is followed by another but the minute these
brownie points pass by, the whole thing gets monotonously. Accordingly
the 45 minutes of playing time are measured accurately, for more
intensity a normal human can’t take, hehe! Equally to the
performance of Harm one thing comes to my mind again: the songs
gain more penetrating power by reducing speed.
:.
ROTTING
CHRIST ~ Ambience Raised To Higher Power
What band is able to create such a sinister sentiment? I have
to admit that not many are blessed with this gift. In the afternoon
the Greeks have come across friendly and reluctantly while sightseeing,
but now on stage the quartet unleashes hell shortly before midnight.
May it be the sympathetic accent, the perfect mixture of stamping
mid tempo Dark Metal and aggressive parts or simply the magic
ambience – I like ROTTING CHRIST since
the beginnings. Oh well, in the meantime they’ve released
some faint and marbled albums, but the last four works are perfect
odes to the darkness. The latest coup Theogonia
continues the husky tradition of Sanctus Diavolos
and the predecessors seamlessly. ROTTING CHRIST
amaze their addicts with impressive precision and dislocate the
crowd to higher dimensions. I see agility and banging heads all-around,
both on and before stage. ROTTING CHRIST do not
only play their compositions, they celebrate and conjure! The
partly Latin and Greek lyrics add additional suspense to get fascinated
and addicted. At the latest the song Athanati Este lets break
all causeys without respect for health. After a three-quarter
of an hour the official set ends, but the fans cheer for an encore
– 20 minutes past midnight a formidable concert turns out
definitely.
Some
additional conspicuities:
- I really
can’t understand the price policy in the Rockhouse! 0,25
l Cola is MORE EXPENSIVE than 0,5 l beer? What the hell…???
- The photo
pit is too narrow - I think the consisting barrier is only 30
cm away from the stage leaving little space for photographers.
- Do the securities
the sign of smoking ban? It is grotesque if lots of people light
a cigarette directly in front of a disposer without a comment.
