So, during these winter holidays I dropped by moscow — to visit relatives, see the city, and of course attend at least one moscow gig — to see how our northern brethren do concerts. Fortunately, we have a couple of correspondents in moscow, one of whom (Alan) showed me around and "walked me" to a show.
So, this event took place at one of moscow's clubs, namely R-Club. I got there fairly quickly (relatively speaking, for moscow), met up with Alan, and we headed in. Worth noting is the symbolism of this fest — Christmas Eve, after all, and here's a black metal festival. Walking into the club, I'll be honest, I was blown away — the club turned out to be quite spacious, with a proper stage and a quiet lounge. In short, Kyiv's "Torba" would be nervously smoking in the hallway by comparison.
Yeah, we were a bit late, so MEFISTOPHEL was already playing onstage. The vocalist was dressed up as a vampire from the 17th-18th centuries, and the music matched — some sort of melodic/vampiric black metal. Nothing special, I didn't see anything interesting in the band. The guys played well, and that was that. Oh, one more thing I forgot — this club had one thing in common with Kyiv's Torba: CRAPPY SOUND!!!!! And this CS (crappy sound) ruined everything.
Anyway, the next band was already taking the stage while I ran off for a bottle of that bourgeois beer, Heineken. Next up were the guys from TOPHET — all I know is they're from st. petersburg. The band spent ages tuning, talking with the sound engineer, checking, adjusting — but the audience didn't like this at all, and metalheads started drifting off for beer or to sit in the quiet lounge. Finally, the guys got it together and delivered a pleasant portion of black metal with a certain dose of death metal. Again, I wouldn't call it outstanding, but it was quality stuff (if only the CS hadn't ruined everything). You could tell these weren't beginners onstage. In short, they played and left.
Next on the podium was the moscow band ESGHARIOTH. As advertised, the band was preparing to release their debut album, which promised to be a sensation (oh, those promoters). Again, what can I write? They played reasonably well — black metal again, with some death elements — but something was off. There was no energy in the music, and judging by the audience's reaction, the band didn't impress anyone. Maybe the CS was to blame?
But the next band was familiar to me not from the poster. I first heard them at the Metal Heads Mission 2005 fest, and even bought their album "Omut" (The Pool). And I must say, this band appealed to me — both their MHM 2005 performance and their album — so I was expecting a good set from them. Worth noting: attitudes toward this band in moscow are rather mixed. After the vocalist introduced the band, some in the audience cheered happily, some grimaced, and some smiled. Let me say right away: the band plays the purest symphonic black metal in the style of DIMMU BORGIR circa 1996-1999. So, all the band members came onstage — there, excellent, right, and here comes their keyboardist — a lovely girl in corpse paint and with an amazing... anyway, I came here to listen to music!!!! So they started playing, and something was wrong — damn, the sound engineer needs to be fired. Poor Olga (the keyboardist) tried so hard, but the keyboards just couldn't be brought up to the proper level. In short, the CS ruined everything. But those who know and love this band know their level of play and how they should actually sound!!!
Ugh, it's not easy being a reviewer of this style of music — this beer is going to be the death of me!!! So next, the guys from GROM took the stage. The poster said this was one of the most intense bands on the russian scene. Pfft, I didn't hear anything that intense. Though the audience reacted very lively to the performance, to me the sound leaned 70% more toward death, with an inclination toward a rawer sound. Seemingly interesting, but there was no energy in the music — the only way the band got people going was with their stage presence. Overall, nothing special.
After a short break, the st. petersburg black metal band DRAMA took the stage. According to one of my acquaintances, this was the best band in the black metal genre in russia. Well then, let's listen and see how good these guys are. So they started — no, better to say they let rip, or slammed, or... anyway, the guys played at 100%, simply tore through — I nearly ran under the stage to headbang myself, but I couldn't — I'm press, and a visiting representative of an online publication at that (got to maintain appearances). The band played impeccably, 10 out of 10, and the CS was brought up to AS level (acceptable sound). The guys shredded the hall to pieces. They delivered tons of black metal in the vein of IMMORTAL and SATYRICON circa mid-'90s. Most of the audience, having had quite a few drinks, were going wild near the stage — they even formed something resembling a mosh pit. Toward the end, the guys decided to finish the crowd off: first they played a VENOM cover — "Razor Action." I could barely contain myself from running up and headbanging — what a performance, just superb. Nasty, I'd say energetic — in short, exactly what classic black metal demands. But that wasn't all — the last song was a SATYRICON cover — "Mother North." Well, in that case my brain couldn't hold back, but with the last of my willpower I restrained myself from thrashing near the stage. Since this composition is practically one of the greatest in black metal, the crowd immediately rushed to the front for maximum mayhem. In a word — highest marks for the band's performance. They really played excellently. Hopefully someday we'll get to see these guys in Ukraine.
I unfortunately missed the last band, CRYSTAL ABYSS, due to circumstances.
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Written by Lestat
Special thanks to SFCollector and personally Mirus for the provided accreditation.
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