The coming of the legendary true-black-metal band DARK FUNERAL to Kyiv is undoubtedly the #2 event of the year (or #3 if you count the Cannibal Corpse who didn’t actually come). They came even despite the difficult political situation in Ukraine. It’s great, isn’t it? To my great disappointment I must admit that instead of the promised ROGATIYE TRUPOYEDI (“Horned Flesheaters” – Ar.) and ICEWIND BLAST, the organizers presented SEMARGL. It came to my knowledge that the expected moscowites didn’t come because CD-Maximum didn’t finance their trip. So sad, can’t do anything about it.
   
   Well, I arrived at the “Sputnik” (“Satelite” – Ar.) at about 16:00. I found the door opened, no security, free to enter for everyone. At that time there was a group of active underground personalities gathered there. Having communicated a little (by the way, at the same time DF were sleeping in the make-up room instead of making a sound-check) I went out of the building right to stumble upon Dargaard who demanded on consuming alcohol drinks (s@@a@b@ch! ? He wasn’t going inside anyway! ? ). The rest of time before the show was spent cruising between the all-night shop and the friends of mine who had/wanted wine and beer, etc. ;) During one of the numerous raids I heard the music. “I missed it” I thought. I went to the entrance really fast and got accredited in a second. I entered ‘Sputnik” without much trouble mainly because of the small audience – around 350 metalheads.
   
   Just at that time I saw SEMARGL performing on the stage. They wore perfect outfits: numerous thorns, skin, corpse-paint. The vocalist was bald except for the back of his head where he had long hair which he was twisting and waving in all directions. ? Unfortunately the sound wasn’t as good. They either didn’t have a sound-check or it didn’t go well. One could mostly hear hissing, of course it’s what underground’s supposed to sound like, but, hey!, it’s 2004 now, not 1990. To be just I must point out the percussions, which performed pretty good. But I must say that this is not the first time I hear the group and it’s actually the second time they disappoint me. Right after their performance SEMARGL started handing over some demos. I thought of getting myself one to listen at home but when I saw the handing process I wisely decided to stay where I was. ?
   
   Next were AWOKEN, a group either from Odessa or Ilyichovsk. In a couple of moments the meatcutting has started. The audience cheered up in a second and one could see hair-in-the-air ?. The sound was much better by the way. The sound engineer at last woke up I guess. Everything sounded tough and mighty. I can point out the great MARDUK covers and the CARCASS’s "Corporal Jigsore Quandray". I can’t describe the audience in that moment. ? After their part AWOKEN did the same as SEMARGL and started handing over demos. This time I didn’t even think of getting myself one.
   
   Then came a half an hour pause during which the organizers tried to cheer up the audience. They didn’t succeed of course because everybody was waiting for DARK FUNERAL. Hey, wait a minute, when some Swedish guy in a red sport jacket came out and started yelling “Yo! Yo!” the audience got an inspiration. ? Buy that time DF where finishing corpse-painting.
   
   And suddenly the lights turned off and the dark figures of Swedish blasphemers appeared on the stage. The crowd roared when Magnus Kaligula thrust his hands into the air in silence. And OFF IT WENT! This was what you had to come for here, only for this! The Swedes splashed the new and new portions of anger on the crowd and Magnus was yelling and the guitarist along with the bassist mightily bashed out. Naturally, the sound was the best yet (they have their own technicians after all) but my soul wanted more, I think they could have made the sound better. Nevertheless, their level is hard to underestimate. ? I only wish “Sputnik” had a wider stage. After placing all the needed stuff there wasn’t much place to jump and run on it. So the musicians had to stand in their places through most of the show. ?
   
   Great respect for playing Shadows Over Transylvania, Secrets Of The Black Arts and Vobiscum Satanas – my favorite songs. ;) After that they wanted to call it a night (? - Ar.) and leave but the crowd made them play an encore for another 20 minutes!
   
   To all appearances DARK FUNERAL are satisfied with their show in Kyiv cause they promise to come back some time in the future. Well, we hope it will be so.