BEHEMOTH / AT THE GATES / WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM at Rockefeller (Oslo, Norway)

Sunday, January 27, 2019

by Jorge Patacas

On a cold and snowy Sunday night in Oslo, the capital of Norway, we headed to Rockefeller, a venue with capacity for 1350 people where the polish band Behemoth was going to play as part of their Ecclesia Diabolica Evropa 2019 tour, being accompanied by the Melodic Death Metal pioneers, At The Gates, and the North American band Wolves in the Throne Room.
With sold out tickets and a notorious great enthusiasm of the audience, the Washington crew was responsible for opening the night with their atmospheric Black Metal. Led by the brothers Aaron and Nathan Weaver, the sextet did not go unnoticed with their set composed of only three songs from their latest studio album, “Thrice Woven” (2017), although each of them has a length of more than eight minutes.
Just a few minutes later, the Swedish At the Gates showed up with their sound made in Gothenburg. While it feels weird not to see Anders Björler on the guitar, his replacement Jonas Stålhammar perfectly fulfills his role with the six strings, and that’s because we are talking about a musician with vast experience in the Swedish scene that has been and is a member of bands such as The Lurking Fear, God Macabre, The Crown, Bombs of Hades, among many others.

“To Drink from the Night Itself” and the classic “Slaughter of the Soul” were perfectly chosen to open the show and conquer the audience in just seconds. Then, the legendary Tomas Lindberg asked the audience if they preferred him to speak in English or Swedish, with a clear favorable response to his native language. The tracks of their most recent efforts, “At War with Reality” (2014) and “To Drink from the Night Itself” (2018), were alternated with their classics released before their split-up from 1996, being especially acclaimed those belonging to the influential “Slaughter of the Soul” (1995), of which they played tunes like “Cold”, “Suicide Nation” and the anthem “Blinded by Fear”. An energetic, straightforward and powerful show, exactly what we expect from a band like At the Gates.
It was time for the Polish invasion in Oslo. A black canvas covered the stage while the intro “Solve” was played for half an hour until about 9:40 pm. when the lights went out and images were reflected on the canvas. The wait was over, the conquest was imminent… finally Behemoth came out to demolish Rockefeller with “Wolves ov Siberia” (from their most recent album “I Loved You At Your Darkest” [2018]) and “Daimonos”. From the start it became clear that their show has evolved notoriously over the years. The band always understood that the visual part is as important as the musical part, and this is clearer than ever nowadays, achieving a unique balance between the two. The four members impose a great presence on stage with a cold look and a make up according to their particular style where Black and Death Metal coexist as a single entity, while several flames appear and those of us in the front rows can feel the heat produced by them.
Leer más »

Thursday, February 21

GHOST / CANDLEMASS

at Oslo Spektrum Arena

Sonja Henies plass 2 (Oslo)

18:00 hs.

Tickets at Ticketmaster

PRICES:

Sitteplass prisnivå 1: 600 NOK

Sitteplass prisnivå 2: 500-600 NOK

Ståplass: 550 NOK

Pulpit: 1300 NOK

MASTODON / KVELERTAK / MUTOID MAN at Oslo Spektrum Arena (Oslo, Norway)

Sunday, February 3, 2019

by Jorge Patacas

Less than a year and a half has passed since the last performance of the North American band Mastodon in Norwegian soil. At that time, November 2017, the band performed at the Sentrum Scene, a venue located in Oslo downtown with capacity for 1750 people, where, by the way, the Brazilians Sepultura played on their “Chaos A.D.” tour during their glory days in October 1993. This time the concert promoters decided to go for a bigger place, and that’s how Mastodon would perform at the great Oslo Spektrum Arena, opened in December 1990 with a capacity for 9700 attendees. The recent Slayer, Anthrax, Lamb of God and Obituary concert in Oslo as part of their European tour was held here, as well as renowned bands of different genres from Rammstein to A-ha or the Red Hot Chili Peppers, so this gives you an idea of what’s Mastodon position in the scene today, and we can confirm that considering that the venue was almost full.
Two more bands are part of their European tour, fellow countrymen Mutoid Man and the Norwegians Kvelertak who have got people talking about their musical proposal for some years now.
With a perfect organization by Live Nation, the doors were opened as expected at 7:00 p.m., and twenty minutes later, Mutoid Man began his half-hour set. The trio formed in 2012 by Stephen Brodsky (Cave In) on voice and guitar, Nick Cageao on bass and Ben Koller (Converge) on drums, showed all their abilities through nine songs from their two studio albums, “Bleeder” (2015) and “War Moans” (2017), as well as a tune (“Gnarcissist”) from their debut EP “Helium Head” (2013).
The first songs were played in a flash one after another almost with no breath in between until they talked to the audience making some jokes too. Musically they are quite difficult to categorize, but you can notice influences from Hardcore Punk, Heavy Metal, Hard Rock and certain progressive hints. Their discharge of energy on stage left nothing but an excellent impression on the audience, and this way they left everything ready for Kvelertak, who on this date acted as a local band.

Personally, I had the opportunity to see them before playing in one of the main stages of the Wacken Open Air 2015 with their former vocalist Erlend Hjelvik. However, this performance at the Spektrum Arena was far superior. Perhaps an indoors venue like this fits them better, having the chance to be closer to the audience, since, despite having a much greater capacity than an underground club, there is less distance between the stage and the first row compared to the Wacken Open Air.
With three guitars played by Bjarte Lund Rolland, Vidar Landa and Maciek Ofstad, plus Marvin Nygaard’s bass and Kjetil Gjermundrød’s drums, the band began their show with “Åpenbaring”, and the new vocalist Ivar Nikolaisen appeared on stage. Although he joined in July last year, it seems he had been in the band from the beginning. The dominance on stage and the energy displayed by the vocalist of the punk band The Good, The Bad and The Zugly, show why the Stavanger band chose him when looking for new vocalist. He did not stop moving from one side to the other during the whole show, cheering the audience up, doing headbanging, going down to sing along with those who were in the front rows on several occasions, an attitude that also took the bassist Marvin Nygaard in one opportunity, even doing crowdsurfing while he was still playing.
Some of their most catchy songs were part of the setlist, such as “Bruane Brenn” (the riff sticks in your mind for hours and it gives you goose bumps when you hear it live!), “1985”, “Blodtørst” and the ending with “Kvelertak”, one of their classics at this point. This sextet not only has very direct songs, but also that “in your face” attitude that is missed so much on the big bands these days. There are influences of various genres on their music, from Hard Rock and Punk with inspiration on their countrymen Turbonegro, to Heavy and certain hints of Black Metal (that night this was perceived in songs like “Nekroskop” or “Mjød”), but more than anything what they offer is a great Rock N’ Roll show. Simply brilliant!
Leer más »

* by Lucas Gordon (Correspondent in USA)

Richie Kotzen started his career when he was a teenager, recording his first album when he was 19.
Right after becoming an adult, he got his first big gig, becoming a member of Poison. The he replaced Paul Gilbert in Mr. Big.
He released over 20 records on his own, plus the ones he did with all other bands including The Winery Dogs, Greg Howe and all his collaborations.
In this intimate conversation with rock journalist Lucas H. Gordon during the Bowl For Ronnie 2018, Mr. Kotzen discussed taking a break, while composing a new record, and his experience touring South America.

* by Lucas Gordon (Correspondent in USA)

The 2018 Bowl For Ronnie brought several celebrities and rockstars that played bowling for a good cause.
This year Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath), Adam Jones (Tool), Jeff Scott Soto (Sons Of Apollo), Doug Aldrich (The Dead Daisies), Otep Shamaya, Marc Ferrari (Keel) and Jack Black among many others, reunited to raise funds for the Stand Up And Shout Foundation, created by Wendy Dio.
In this hysterical interview Jack Black talked about his band Tenacious D.