Live Review: Heathenfest 2009, November 25th, Vancouver, BC
November 27th, 2009 Filed under: Reviews - Live, Shooting Gallery by admin
(Photo – Scott Alexander | ObsidianfoxPhotography.com)
Live Review – Heathenfest America 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
The Red Room, Vancouver, Canada
This past Wednesday up and coming metal promoters The Invisible Orange chose Vancouver’s Red Room to play host to the last North American date of the Heathenfest America 2009 tour. Stocked with an army of some of the best folk metal around –Eluveitie, Alestorm, Vreid and Kivimetsan Druidi with some death metal reinforcement courtesy of Belphegor- and acquiring the support of two of Vancouver’s best folk metal bands –Scythia and Trollband- Heathenfest descended on this cold, rainy night with the sole intention of drinking our city dry and raising some hell in the process.
Scythia hit the stage first. Having already garnered a lot of attention in the local scene for their energetic live show and distinctive take on the folk metal genre, this up and coming 6-piece got the show started right. Tearing through their much too short of a set, they made the most of the small stage, ensuring an entertaining performance and leaving a strong impression. Up next, Trollband picked up where Scythia left off kicking out a nice, dynamic mix of fast and slow songs. Although they were short one guitarist, the remaining members did a great job holding it down. Though their sound is varied, there’s definitely a more aggressive feel to these guys and their choice to end with one of the most brutal songs in their set definitely pleased fans with a bias for the heavy stuff.
Next, Kivimetsan Druidi, based out of Finland, mixed it up a bit with the operatic-style vocals of Leeni-Maria, not to mention her stage presence which varied at will between seductive and humorous. By the end of their set, she had the crowd worked up and ready for Norwegian black metal band Vreid. Though not quite as brutal as Belphegor, Vreid was the first band of the night to bring a consistently heavy sound. Unfortunately, many of their songs were pretty standard, each song resembling the next. Though they were heavy and fast, there wasn’t a whole of variety between tracks, which led to an overall unexciting set.
Darlings of the evening, Scottish pirate metal heathens Alestorm stole the show. Without a doubt, many people came just to see them as the venue was half cleared out the moment they left the stage. With some great drinking songs and an apparently never-ending supply of energy, they brought the Red Room to life. When they kicked into their first song, almost everyone in the venue made their way down to the floor, drink in hand. Front man Christopher Bowes proved to be quite the character, making jokes throughout their set and throwing down some sick solos on the keytar.
Next up, Belphegor stormed the stage only to find that half the venue had cleared out. Unfortunately, Belphegor, the only blackened death metal band on the bill were sort of the odd ducks on the tour and consequently the reception for them wasn’t the warmest. That being said, those of us who stayed, those of us who appreciate having our faces torn off by the Austrian quartet, were treated to a killer fucking show. Never one to disappoint, vocalist Helmut was in fine grotesque form, swearing at the crowd during sound check, taking pauses to make pig sounds into the mic while staring blankly at the crowd and pouring blood over himself during “Justine Soaked in Blood.” …
Finally, Eluveitie filled the stage beyond capacity with their 8 member line-up. While certain aspects of their sound could be categorized as a cross between the Black Dahlia Murder and Amon Amarth, their use of instruments seldom seen in metal music –i.e. mandolin, whistles, hurdy-gurdy and bagpipes to name a few- gives them a depth that helps them transcend these influences. With a seamless melding of brutal aggression and moments of contemplative beauty, Eluveitie are probably one of the most diverse bands to come around in a long time.
By Alxs Ness
Find more photos like this on ABORT Magazine/ABORT TV’s Official Online Street Team
WANT MORE LIVE REVIEWS? CLICK HERE
Copyright © 2004-2009 ABORT Magazine. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of this publication, in whole or in part, in any form or medium without express written permission from Abort Media Publishing Corporation (AMP Corp.) is prohibited. All use is subject to our Terms of Use.
TONIGHT! November 25th, ABORT is Proud to Sponsor the Vancouver Date of: HEATHENFEST, The Red Room **LIMITED TICKETS AT THE DOOR**
November 25th, 2009 Filed under: ABORT Presents..., News/Calendar/Industry by admin
Heathen sects from across Europe will be converging on North America for the first annual Heathenfest tour! Switzerland’s ELUVEITIE, the worlds heaviest Celtic tinged folk-metal band in existence, will be headlining the event with direct support coming from label mates BELPHEGOR, Austria’s most feared S&M loving blasphemers. Support will come from Scotland’s own Pirate metal sensations ALESTORM, Finland’s female fronted folk-metal troupe KIVIMETSÄN DRUIDI, and Norwegian black n’ rollers VREID. Local support also just added: Trollband and Scythia
ELUVEITIE (www.eluveitie.ch & www.myspace.com/eluveitie) mastermind Chrigel Glanzmann commented:
“After our last planned US tour appearance was cancelled we were just as disappointed as our fans were. We promised to immediately start looking for a worthy replacement tour and so here it is! To us, it already seems far too long since we toured the US and Canada. We definitely haven’t forgotten the warm welcome we received there! So we’re more than happy and enthused to ‘set sail’ westwards once again! All the more we have some excellent bands joining us, which we’ve had the pleasure to share the stage with before in Europe! And not at least we’re eager as hell to cudgel the American metalheads with some brand new songs! I’m sure this tour will kick ass, devastate and definitely be a flagrantly HEATHEN feast!”
“We will of course play songs from our latest acoustic release Evocation I but we’ll also play some songs from our upcoming album which is fully metal again. This tour will be the first time ever that we’ll play those brand new songs live! Next week we’ll enter the studio to start recording the new album, which should come out in early 2010.”
11/25/09 Red Room – Vancouver, BC – CANADA Presented by THE INVISIBLE ORANGE
Copyright © 2004-2009 ABORT Magazine. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of this publication, in whole or in part, in any form or medium without express written permission from Abort Media Publishing Corporation (AMP Corp.) is prohibited. All use is subject to our Terms of Use.
Live Review: Kreator and Exodus w/ Belphegor, Warbringer and Epicurean – April 24, Vancouver
April 26th, 2009 Filed under: Reviews - Live by admin
(Photo - Scott Alexander)
Live Review: Kreator and Exodus W/ Belphegor, Warbringer and Epicurean
Friday, April 24 2009
Vogue Theatre, Vancouver, BC
Although it took 3 venue changes to get it right, the final decision to host Kreator’s Vancouver show at the Vogue Theatre proved ideal. With not a bad seat in the house and near perfect sound, this venue accommodated both old school and newer fans; seating for those who didn’t want to get smashed around in the pit and a small section at the front of the stage for those who wanted to get rowdy.
Minneapolis based Epicurean got things started, playing tracks from their debut album A Consequence of Design. Although they played a tight set, their metalcore sound didn’t quite fit the bill. Luckily, up and coming thrash metal act Warbringer (whose album was produced by Gary Holt of Exodus) brought things up to speed with high energy and aggression. Like real troopers, these guys kept their show commitments despite drummer Ben Bennett being out of commission with a fractured arm. Not to mention the professionalism and endurance of Epicurean drummer John Gensmer who filled in for Bennett and played a double set.
Up next, Austria’s Belphegor spewed their satanic, sadomasochistic, orgiastic fantasies onto the unsuspecting crowd. Although another unexpected choice for this bill, Belphegor’s got a knack for getting good reception at mixed genre shows (Amon Amarth for example) and this one was no exception. With a set list including “Stigma Diabolicum,” “Justine: Soaked in Blood” and “Bondage Goat Zombie”, this was most certainly one of the darkest acts that The Vogue has seen to date.
Darlings of the evening, Exodus took the stage like a bunch of rabid lunatics. Who would have thought that after nearly 27 years, this band would still be around, kicking everyone’s asses. Without a doubt, Exodus was one of the rowdiest, most high energy bands on this bill. Original member, guitarist Gary Holt, made sure the crowd moved up to the front by jumping behind the barricade to play to the guys in the front row. Although unsuccessful in inciting the audience to tear up the seats to make room for a bigger pit, vocalist Rob Dukes managed to get a pretty decent pit going considering the circumstances.
With Johnny Cash blasting over the PA system, the road crew did their thing and after a short country music interlude humoures enjoyed by all, the lights dimmed and Kreator’s epic intro began. The stage lights flashed in rhythm, highlighting the amazing artwork featured on the band’s banner as well as the two tall, pillar-like side banners. As far as stage set-up goes, Kreator went all-out. The only negative thing that can be said about their set was the intensity of the strobe-lights; it might have been the size of the venue or their positioning, but when they were on full blast and it was almost impossible to look at the stage. The venue had even posted a warning sign at the door alerting concert-goers of the potential seziure-inducing lightshow
Small details aside, Kreator put on a great show. Considering how difficult it must be to whittle 12 albums worth of material into a 16 song set, they were successful in mixing up the old with the new. One of the major highlights of the show was drummer Ventor’s tireless performance on “Riot of Violence” how this man could do the vocals while playing drums after an almost full set is unbelievable. All in all, the general consensus was that this was one of the best shows in Vancouver this year. Job well done boys.
Kreator Set list:
Hordes of Chaos
Warcurse
Extreme Aggression
Phobia
Voices of the Dead
Enemy of God
Destroy What Destroys You
Pleasure to Kill
People of the Lie
Violent Revolution
Terrible Certainty
Betrayer
Encore:
Amok Run
Riot of Violence
Flag of Hate
Tormentor
Exodus Set list:
Bonded by Blood
Iconoclasm
A Lesson in Violence
Children of a Worthless God
Piranha
Deathamphetamine
Blacklist
War is my Shepherd
The Toxic Waltz
Strike of the Beast
By Alxs Ness
(Special kudos to Alex, Dave and Kevin at Union Events for pulling this off without incident, they even packed the balcony, Bravo.- Ed)
Copyright © 2004-2009 ABORT Magazine. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of this publication, in whole or in part, in any form or medium without express written permission from Abort Media Publishing Corporation (AMP Corp.) is prohibited. All use is subject to our Terms of Use.
