Rockfreaks.net

support Abbath + Tribulation + Bølzer
author AP date 05/10/22 venue Amager Bio, Copenhagen, DEN

It’s an early start to this Wednesday night concert — my fifth in seven days — and as a result, the initial turnout seems to be quite scant, even as dark, ’80s style synth music fills the venue ten minutes before the opening act, Switzerland’s Bølzer. Fortunately a decent bunch of people show up just in time for the 7 p.m. start of their show, which will be their first Danish appearance in over five years. And, of course, the first purveyor of darkness on this extreme, yet diverse bill. Clutching my first beer of the evening, I’m expecting (at least some of) this to be a spectacle, having previously been swept off my feet by both Watain and Tribulation.

Bølzer

Although this Swiss outfit consists exclusively of a guitarist & vocalist, Okoi Thierry Jones (aka. ‘KzR’), and a drummer, Fabian ‘HzR’ Wyrsch, they have no trouble creating the illusion of a much bigger band. Perhaps not least because KzR is wielding a ten-string guitar, their opening track and very first demo from 2012, “Roman Acupuncture”, sounds utterly massive, crushing us like a steamroller and earning a rabid response from the growing audience. The style of this song is not quite death metal, nor fully black metal — it feels more like an extreme version of Mantar’s brand of sludge metal, and I’m loving it. In the second song, “The Archer” off the duo’s first and only full-length outing “Hero”, KzR employs a mixture of strained, almost Gregorian clean singing and acerbic growls that are the perfect match for its alternating between more muted and glum, droning segments, and eruptions of tremolo guitar and intense blastbeats by HzR. It is not too dissimilar to music of the Danish duo Angstskríg, albeit it sounds fuller and has a more dynamic composition. But while the music is impressive in its own right, what really leaves a mark is KzR’s riveting stage presence; he is always flying from one side of the stage to the other, headbanging, and brandishing his instrument like a flagstaff for an invisible army.

Indeed, just like the music, his showmanship ensures that Bølzer manages to dominate the venue in spite of their meagre ranks. The standout moment, for me, arrives with “Æstivation” off last year’s “Lese Majesty” EP — a dramatic, messianic speech that seems to pay tribute to the Night itself, which KzR hopes might welcome a child of his, “a star-spawned, earth-sworn, wolven man, a prince amongst the shadows of herded men" — and the subsequent “Zeus / Seducer of Hearts” into which it flows. There is a bit of an old-school, punky black metal touch to this chaotic track, providing the perfect lead-up to the eerie and devastating finale, “C.M.E.” off the band’s 2013 EP “Aura”. What an introduction this has been to a band that has been garnering some serious hype over the years, yet somehow always managed to evade my gaze. But no longer!

Tribulation

I have been quite pessimistic about the fate of Tribulation ever since their lead guitarist Jonathan Hultén exited the band in 2020 in order to focus on other endeavours. His showmanship was the primus motor of the Swedish band’s live performances, so inevitably his replacement, Joseph Tholl, had the work cut out for him when he joined that same year. As “In Remembrance”, taken from the quartet’s 2021 offering “Where the Gloom Becomes Sound”, erupts from the speakers, however, I instantly feel more reassured. Tholl, dressed in the band’s vampiric uniform of course, may not be quite as wraithlike in his presence, but he is not short on energy either, striking myriad poses and taking every opportunity to tower over the audience from his pedestal. Indeed, Tribulation’s show remains as theatrical as ever, and once the distinctive pinch harmonic refrain in that song pops up the first time, most of the audience seems to be sold on the band’s gothic style of death metal. But having seen this group live multiple times in the past, it is impossible not to notice that the chemistry that used to exist between the bass-wielding frontman Johannes Anderson, guitarist Adam Zaars, and Hultén, has evaporated and left in its wake a performance that is a bit low nerve and soul. It feels like much more streamlined and professionalised than before — something that I feel is also reflected by the newer songs like “Leviathans” and especially their latest single “Hamartia”.

2018’s “Down Below” was, in my book, the last great Tribulation album, and unsurprisingly, it is when tracks such as “Nightbound” from that effort, and especially the spellbinding “Melancholia” off 2015’s “The Children of the Night”, that the crowd looks and sounds most satisfied. Indeed, the latter song delivers one of the few moments in which one feels that there is a real connection between the four musicians, with Tholl and Zaars rubbing backs as they pluck out its iconic dual guitar lead. It and the faster piece “Funeral Pyre” later on are sadly the only times I feel any kind of exhilaration about this show, which feels as grey and sullen as the mood of the band’s music. The magic has gone away.

Abbath

Bombastic. That is the best and only way to describe the sound of Abbath tonight, with bass and drums that rattle the insides and guitars that slice through the mix like surgical steel. The concert kicks off with “To War!” from the Norwegian black metal horde’s self-titled début album of 2016, and almost immediately, we are given a taste of the eponymous frontman’s signature antics in the live setting. It is not exaggeration to call him the Gene Simmons of black metal, thanks to his long and oft extended tongue, wicked grin, and overall comedic stage presence. It stands in stark contrast to Abbath’s music, which, as fans of his former band Immortal will know, sounds like a continuation of their later output. “Winterbane” and “The Artifex”, the latter of which is taken from 2019’s “Outstrider”, join in on the powerful beginning — but it is not too long until cracks start to appear in the initially promising concert. It dawns on me that watching Abbath is exactly like watching a discount and at times parodic version of Immortal; it is entertaining at times, with not only the frontman, but also bassist Mia Wallace and lead guitarist Ole André Farstad exuding zeal and ardour. Yet it also grows extremely generic faster than I would like — especially when material from the band’s latest album “Dread Reaver” is aired. It simply is not very inspired, let alone inspiring.

It seems like Abbath is forever destined to be eclipsed by the work of his legendary former band, which is accentuated by the fact that a fourth of the setlist is built from covers of classic Immortal songs like “Beyond the North Waves” off 2012’s “Sons of Northern Darkness”. Without exception, these are also the most warmly received by the audience, which enthusiastically roars “Push! Push! Push! Push!”, horned fists pumping, during the instrumental segments. New songs like “Acid Haze” and “Dream Cull”, on the other hand, are treated by many people in the crowd as opportune bathroom and bar breaks — and it is perhaps for this reason that Abbath has opted to conclude the set in strong fashion with a trident of Immortal classics, culminating in a thunderous rendition of “All Shall Fall”, which has the entire venue headbanging in sync. I’m not going to say I’m left disappointed, because from a visual perspective — not to mention from an Immortal fan’s perspective — the show leaves little to be desired. It does, however, beg the question of just how relevant Abbath can remain by capitalising on past glories rather than establishing a sound and style of their own, and conjuring the same level of imposition and majesty as their forebears. It all feels a bit… pointless, as things currently stand. Like an Immortal show you accidentally ordered from Wish.

Setlist:

• 1. To War
• 2. Winterbane
• 3. The Artifex
• 4. Dread Reaver
• 5. Hecate
• 6. Beyond the North Waves (Immortal cover)
• 7. Acid Haze
• 8. Dream Cull
• 9. Bridge of Spasms
• 10. Warriors (I cover)
• 11. In My Kingdom Cold (Immortal cover)
• 12. Tyrants (Immortal cover)
• 13. All Shall Fall (Immortal cover)

Watain

Although this is ostensibly a co-headliner, with both Abbath and Watain topping the bill on equal terms, there is little doubt that the true headliner of the evening is the latter band. The venue has undergone a complete transformation during the 20-minute break and now appears as Hell itself, with jagged structures, flayed banners, inverted crosses, and some kind of altar with giant horns adorning the stage, as the Swedish five-piece enters to the tune of an eerie, Gregorian choir. In comparison to Abbath just before, there is a real sense of danger, of conviction, about Watain’s performance, which begins with vocalist Erik Danielsson performing a ritual with his back to the audience, bowing at the aforementioned altar and raising his hands in the air before the set kicks off with “Ecstasies in Night Infinite” — the opening track to the band’s latest album, “The Agony & Ecstasy of Watain”, which dropped earlier this year. In what you might call the trve black metal fashion, the song unveils a chaotic, intense, ominous and dominating soundscape in which one is never really sure whether it is all just theatre, or an actual reflection of Danielsson and his cohort’s beliefs. Certainly, his welcome speech just before “The Howling” is aired, would suggest the latter: “We are Watain, and we have come here tonight in service of the devil god! All we ask of you, Copenhagen, is to open your hearts to the sound of the unknown, to the fetid spirits!”. It’s not like I was planning to get any sleep tonight anyway…

All of the five musicians look grim and menacing — none more so than Danielsson, who twitches and twists around the stage in the most unnatural movements like some demon, wielding his mic stand like a lance in combat during tracks like “Storm of the Antichrist” off the band’s 2007 outing “Sworn to the Dark”. Sometimes, he’s speaking literal Latin in between songs, and although the venue has allegedly told the band to refrain from using blood and fire during their set, there is, at one point during and after the airing of “Before the Cataclysm”, a clear stench of blood in the air, as Danielsson kneels and picks up a chalice from the altar and raises it high above his head as he turns to face the audience. These unearthly séances, including multiple esoteric monologues given as intermezzos between tracks, are a huge part of building up the unpleasant atmosphere that reigns over Watain’s concert. But one should not forget about the music itself either, as the tornadoes of frightening, mysterious melodies by guitarists Pelle Forsberg & Hampus Eriksson, and the rhythmic maelstroms of drummer Emil Forcas & bassist Alvaro Lillo, play just as important a part in conjuring it. So many other black metal bands emphasise grimness as the end all, be all of their performance, but Watain has always been a singular act in this regard. It truly is refreshing to behold the malice and fury of the Swedish ensemble’s antics in the live setting, and as “Angelrape” from the group’s 2000 offering “Rabid Death’s Curse” and “Malfeitor” off 2010’s “Lawless Darkness” bring the show to its conclusion amid a sea of pumping, horned fists, I am inclined to think that Watain might just be the best classic black metal band out there right now. A deliciously maleficent performance by the Swedish mystics.

Setlist:

• 1. Ecstasies in Night Infinite
• 2. Black Salvation
• 3. The Howling
• 4. I Am the Earth
• 5. Storm of the Antichrist
• 6. Devil’s Blood
• 7. Serimosa
• 8. Before the Cataclysm
• 9. Angelrape
• 10. Malfeitor