Metal Shock Finland (World Assault )

Turin, Italy – Wednesday 30th September 2015 at Cafè Liber.
Live Report by Christian Tallone – Proofreading by Teresa Hopkins

With the honor of a personal invitation from legends like VENOM INC and VADER, Tarja Virmakari and I made it to the venue shortly after the arrival of the tour bus.  As Piotr, imposing frontman of VADER rested, we were invited to make ourselves comfortable and had a pleasant chat with The Demolition Man and Abaddon of VENOM INC. This was the very first time I had seen them live and found myself in the company of the band who, through their music, has influenced most of the other great bands out there.  All this and the level of humility and kindness we received from them evoked an emotion which is hard for me to adequately put into words.

We enjoyed backstage a dinner of lasagne and chickpeas with bacon, accompanied by plenty of red wine.  Afterward, beginning at 7:30PM, we checked out impressive performances from opening band WITCHES from Paris and second support band, UK’s DIVINE CHAOS.  These guys truly put their instruments to the test!  I was disappointed to see that perhaps news of tonight’s show had not made it to enough people, for the venue still had plenty of room available.

But not for long!  A mere 10 minutes before VADER‘s set, as Piotr, Marek, Tomasz, and James warmed up backstage, the small, 200-capacity venue quickly filled.  Evidently, the audience of Turin had saved their energies for the two main protagonists in action.  With a setlist focusing mainly on the first two decades of their career, VADER delivered, regardless of the venue’s small size, giving us an hour of flawless performance, getting the audience involved and pulling us into the hellish chaos that only they can create.

Fans old and new were equally as enthusiastic when true legends VENOM INC next took the stage!  Classic VENOM songs took us back over the years, and Tony was loaded like a spring (Tarja’s note: meaning “bow”)!  The volume was devastating and the Turin crowd didn’t miss a beat or lose a verse!  After about 2 hours of metal history, the band indulged us with only one encore to close this memorable concert with the great ‘Black Metal’ and ‘Countess Bathory’.  Before the penultimate closing hymn, Mantas gave a short speech, one of the most touching moments of the night.  He said: “When I wrote [‘Black Metal’] more than 30 years ago, I was told that this song changed the entire direction of the genre”… and his voice was trembling.

As every good thing has its ending…so also this breathtaking night was about to end.  We greeted each other with the promise to meet again at the first opportunity and began our 3-hours drive back home, leaving VENOM INC with their fans, because, as they say: “Without you, we would not exist!”

To listen to the chat Tarja Virmakari had with VENOM INC, in Turin, go HERE.

Tony “Demolition” Dolan, is releasing their tour blog, in video clips, pictures and messages, daily (or as often as possible), exclusively to Metal Shock Finland. Go and check them out HERE.

More information at https://www.facebook.com/VenomIncOfficial – https://www.facebook.com/mpireofevil – https://www.facebook.com/vader – https://www.facebook.com/divinechaosband – https://www.facebook.com/witches.fr

Christian Tallone, with Tarja, Mantas and Abaddon (The Demolition Man behind the camera)

Christian with VENOM INC