SAMAEL at Helvete club??? I couldn’t believe when heard about it the first time. Don’t get me wrong: I love the Helvete club. But it’s a small club and I saw SAMAEL playing at Inferno Festival in front of a sold out Rockefeller club. So I expected blood and thunder when it came to the ticket sale. Especially since that was the only club show in Germany in 2009.
But… it worked out fine. No run, no sold out club, Helvete not even was crowded so far. Much more I was afraid that SAMAEL might play in a front of handful people. That was really weird! I mean, if so, it would have been a shame. Tickets were on sale for 13/15 Euros, which is a fair prize for a band like SAMAEL.

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Ok, it was a hot and sticky day with thunderstorms coming up. Me lucky one had them breaking out on the interstate turning the road into a whitewater rafting experience. No probs with my new car btw. ;) Arrived, weather showed itself from the best side, warm, dry and sunny, but with the thunderstorm following me. Never mind! Now I had a roof over my had ;)
Seems like it became kinda ritual, the show was again pushed back for an hour or so, giving me some time to get my car out of the non-parking-zone and the one and the other beer… ;)

The evening got kicked off by Essen-based Black metallers :: ROST :: who delivered really a great show of intense and frantic Black Metal. Just the visual aspects didn’t want to match with the musical one ;) On the other hand ROST have a decent Death Metal touch and are far away from being true old school Black metallers. There show anyway had a slight holiday touch ;) But atmosphere was great, sound too and I really enjoyed their show. Now it’s time for the dudes to get their stuff out on CD. They have asskicking high quality material, what are they waiting for? Get off the grid!
Oh, and as I got told by hindsight... it was the very first live show for ROST, who just exist for around a year now. Respect! That was really a great show!
Setlist: Sturmzeit, Kalter Stahl, Schelten, Das alte Bluten, Vanitas, Auf den Sonnen, Es brennt die Welt, Faustschlag

Next chapter got opened by “Novesian” Black metallers :: ABSTINENZ :: It might be, that their music is pretty cool, at least what I heard so far. But these guys from Düsseldorf… erm… shouldn’t they be from Neuss? – either picked a bad day or really live this elitist attitude. However, it took some time till ABSTINENZ got their equipment on stage, tinkered eternally with the sound and then went backstage for another beer instead of getting their asses on stage. Crowd became angry and finally ABSTINENZ got onto stage. Sound was still bad with the keys and drums canned it didn’t get any better. And the show was really short ;) Beginning late doesn’t mean to play longer ;) Having a tight time schedule ABSTINENZ had to stop after the fourth song, sseing the band leaving stage pissed off and with discussions, while fans took it the amused way. They got taught a lesson I’d say.
Setlist: Prophets Of Darkness, Dominus Ac Deus, Leyd, Schlachtenblut (Surviving The March Of Legions, Danieden, Altes Blut)

Some more waiting, giving us time for another cold beer and talks, and then it was finally upon time for :: SAMAEL :: to enter the stage. It was fucking hot and humid but the Helvete well-filled and the Swiss guys welcomed frenetically. Already with the intro an awesome atmosphere was built up, which raises hackles and causes gooseflesh. Under One Flag from the latest record Above thunders through club, followed by a best-of setlist through all full-length albums from Worship Him up to Above, whereas most tracks came from my fave record Passage ;) Crowd downright freaked out, sang along or was headbanging, while SAMAEL rocked the stage :) Although the stage is small, the guys used all place possible for their extremely lively stageacting. Sweat flowed like water, on stage as well as in front of and Mas again killed his bass guitar ;) What a fucking amazing show! Fans are blown away and can’t get enough. They scream for encores like there is no tomorrow and SAMAEL actually could have started their set right from the beginning again ;) And they already played a 2 hrs show! SAMAEL itself are enthused by the response and thank the fans from the bottoms of their hearts. For nothing in this world I wanted to have missed tonight’s show! Awesome! To kneel down! ;)
Setlist: Under One Flag, Solar Soul, Into The Pentagram, Jupiterian Vibes, The One Who Cames Before, Baphomet's Throne, Chosen Race, The Black Hole // My Savior, Telepath

Woohoo… nothing more to say actually. It was a tremendous show! Thanks to Predi and the Helvete crew for having gotten SAMAEL to the Helvete club! :)

story & pics © Dajana