Metal Shock Finland (World Assault )

Polish death metal legends VADER are currently touring Asia. The Band has issued the tour diary about the first 3 days, read it below:

Day 1- Travel (04-05.07):

We all met each other at the Chopin airport in Warsaw and repacked all our equipment. Because of baggage restraints I could take only my cymbal case so I passed on some electronics and my practice pad to other people. I’m probably travelling the lightest on this tour, which is a nice change!

We then went through all the usual procedures; check-in, security, duty free and boarding and started our 5-hour flight into Qatar. After that we had a 7-hour wait in Qatar, which was immensely boring. Pete, Halik and I did manage to find some reclining chairs, which meant we could at least sleep and be comfortable for a few hours, then finally, an 8-hour flight to Seoul.

After landing we travelled straight to the hotel. During the journey we got to see at least a little of Seoul. It’s a really beautiful city with huge skyscrapers and densely populated urban landscapes but also a lot of parks and green areas. After arriving at the hotel it was time to grab some sleep and then go out for food.

We were taken to a local Korean Barbeque place. We had a grill in the centre of the table and the meat was cooked in front of us. What I managed to eat was very nice however, most of the meal ended up on the floor as I am not very skilled with chopsticks! After the meal, finally time for real sleep and to get ready for the tour in Asia…

Day 2 – Seoul (05.07):

We were up early and straight to the venue. When we arrived we were all pleasantly surprised by the venue. It had a big stage with plenty of space, really high quality backline, nice lights and a small but comfortable backstage area with space for all of the luggage, so everything should have been easy, right? Wrong. None of the sound equipment worked so it took 4/5 hours to soundcheck all of the microphones and get everything working. By the time we had finished it was already 30 minutes after the first band should have started. On top of that there were around 10 bands on the list so let’s just say we had a lot of free time.

So we ate something, went back to the hotel to relax a little and then came back to set up for our show. By this point everything was around 1 hour behind so we had some time to check out some of the local Korean metal bands. I have to say there is some killer death metal coming out of Korea right now, super-fast and extremely brutal – just how it should be! Soon after it was time for our show. Thank fuck we took as much time as we did soundchecking or the gig would have been a disaster! Everyone was happy with the performance and the crowd were cheering for an encore so I guess they were happy too but I know that Daniel was having a tough time behind the sound desk. After such a long journey and being completely jet-lagged it was a tough gig for me too! I felt so out of shape!

After the gig there was time for a quick meet and greet and then dinner at the local metal bar. A really small place- and it was a million degrees inside but the people were really welcoming and the beer was cold so it was a very nice evening!

Seoul Show setup:

SOTHIS
VICIOUS CIRCLE
REBORN IN FLAMES
SILENT EMPIRE
FRACTAL LIGHT
RETURN TO THE MORBID REICH
COME AND SEE MY SACRIFICE
TRIUMPH OF DEATH
WHERE ANGELS WEEP
CARNAL
CHAOS
WINGS
SWORD OF THE WITCHER
GOD ID DEAD
DARK AGE
THIS IS WAR

Also check out below a taster of the show:

Day 3 – Seoul 09.06.07 – Day off!

We went out for sightseeing at around 14:00 and we finally got to see something of the real city. It’s a crazy urban maze with a lot of buildings and apartments all built on top of each other and there are so many people on the streets, it’s really difficult not to get lost!

We then went back to the hotel for a short while, but I made another trip, this time to the river and just walked along to see what else I could find. It is much more calm there and it’s hard to believe you are in the same city, everything is quiet and there are a lot of green areas and parks. The only indication that I was in the same city was still the highways that criss-cross above the path along the river. Under these structures, I discovered an amazing phenomenon I’ve only ever seen in Korea so far. Free, open air gyms – weights, running machines and other pieces of equipment are scattered along the path and a lot of people are using them.

When I got back from my trip it was time to rest a little before one more outing to the river with Spider, Daniel and Pete. Everything looks completely different at night. With all the city lights the skyline is incredible. Even though it was 22:00 on a Sunday night, it looked like the whole city was relaxing by the river. During our short time in Seoul, I really got to like the people and the attitude to life here. A really great way to start the Asian tour!

Check out all the tour dates below:

July 05 – Seoul, Korea @ Jalya Art Hall
July 08 – Nagoya, Japan @ 3 Star Imaike
July 09 – Osaka, Japan @ Namba-Rockets
July 10 – Tokyo, Japan @ Garret
July 11 – Tokyo, Japan @ Garret
July 12 – Beijing, China @ Yu Gong Live House
July 14 – Singapore, @ Ossuary
July 15 – Live In Bangkok @ The Rock Pub

More information at:
https://www.facebook.com/vader – http://www.vader.pl