Live Report by Tarja Virmakari

Polish death metallers VADER have just concluded the 2nd part of their European ‘Back To The Black’ Tour; hitting Germany, Denmark, France, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Italy, Switzerland, Czech Republic and Slovakia – playing their classic albums: “Sothis” and “Black to the Blind” in their entirety. The tour also included several festivals for which VADER had prepared a special concert set. More than a live report, this photo-reportage is from the entire Milan-show, which featured on stage VADER, MELECHESH, STERBHAUS and W.I.L.D.

The 14th show on VADER‘s 2nd Part of the Back To The Black 2013 -tour was held at The Theatre in Milan (Italy). Only the night before VADER and guests had played in Rome, so after a long transfer in the tour-bus sunny Milan was appreciated for sure by the whole tour-crew. I arrived at the venue early at 2pm, so as to be able to spend some time with my tour-crew friends, also following how the stage-crew built up and got ready the setting for tonight’s show. Zoe, the “light-girl” had some tech-issues at first when trying to make everything work with the lights, but she sorted everything perfectly right on time, as always! Somewhere in between the buffet and the show, I had a nice chat with Peter and we talked mostly about the current tour; Peter also spoke widely about the band’s upcoming plans (you’ll find the link to the interview, HERE).

The long waiting was soon to be rewarded as French W.I.L.D. went on stage, ready to open the evening. Maybe because of Italy’s National Liberation Day, the crowd wasn’t huge, but that didn’t stop W.I.L.D. for a moment, the guys really gave a fantastic show with their death thrash setlist; short but without mercy, warming up the atmosphere to welcome the next band to conquer the audience; STERBHAUS from Sweden. The guys had a total Blackened Thrash metal attitude right from the first seconds, and with their face-paintings, the show got it’s vicious and nasty flavours that made the crowd even more hungry.

W.I.L.D.

Sterbhaus

Check out all the W.I.L.D. photos by Stefano Catalani HERE.

Check out all the STERBHAUS photos by Stefano Catalani HERE.

It was time for MELECHESH! When I met the singer Ashmedi backstage earlier, he had found out I’m from Finland and he greeted me with “Mitä kuuluu?” (“how are you doing?”) … With the first seconds of “Illumination”, the venue was filled up with Sumerian thrashing sounds, it was like a leap onto another continent, and the crowd went crazy. Too bad though, that the venue was more empty than full, but unfortunately its’ clashing with the National Liberation Day had its effects… but regardless, MELECHESH played the show as if they were in front of hundreds of people, with precision and devotion.

Melechesh

Check out all the MELECHESH photos by Michele Aldeghi HERE.

Check out all the MELECHESH photos by Stefano Catalani HERE.

setlist:
Illumination : The Face of Shamash
Sacred Geometry
Ladders to Sumeria
Defeating the Giants
Grand Gathas of Baal Sin
Triangular Tattvic Fire
Rebirth of the Nemesis

… the expectation reached its peak, at the very same moment as the intro to VADER began, the atmosphere was tangible! the crowd was here for VADER, and thanks to the 3 previous bands, it was more than ready for the 70 minutes’ blast! When Peter shouted “Sooooothis” the venue erupted…it was a guarantee, a promise of a show that each of us would remember for a long long time to come! …and as we were only “a few” on that night, Peter said, jokingly: “as we most probably have more songs in our setlist that we have persons in the audience, we can dedicate one song for each one of you”. In fact, the whole show had an intimate atmosphere and it seemed to be dedicated to each of US, and that made it feel so special. Besides the Sothis and Black To The Blind -classics, VADER also belted out songs from their latest “Return To The Morbid Reich”, and Dark Age from their first album “The Ultimate Incantation” and also Reborn In Flames from “De Profundis”. I personally would have liked to have also heard “I’m The One Who Feasts Upon Your Soul” and I also missed hearing “Helleluyah”… but that must wait until the next time and the next shows… and as always, the last song came much too early, the crowd wanted more … but the time had come to say “bye” for now. Although I was not relishing the 4 hour drive home be assured my cd player belted out many VADER classics, with me humming along, too! This was a great show with maximum power, the sounds were perfect, VADER took the audience and brought it to an infernal trip, giving me the awareness that this band should be one of “The Big 4”! \m/ \m/

Check out all the VADER photos by Michele Aldeghi HERE.

Check out all the VADER photos by Stefano Catalani HERE.

Setlist:
Intro / Sothis
The Wrath
Fractal Light
Heading for Internal Darkness
The Innermost Ambience
Carnal
True Names
Beast Raping
Ultima Thule
Return to the Morbid Reich
Reborn in Flames
Foetus God
The Red Passage
Come and See My Sacrifice
Distant Dream
Black to the Blind
Dark Age
Vision and the Voice