[YiannisD] I was a bit worried since I was not on time for this Death Metal appointment. The poster said that the doors would open at 19:00, and I thought I would miss many GRAVE songs. Luckily, the Greek reality landed me on earth since the live didn't start before 20:00. We immediately entered the venue, grabbed a beer and prepared for a punch in our faces by the Swedish Death Metal masters. By the way, I was kind of disappointed with the attendance since such a show should have more than 500 metalheads. Maybe the fact that it was Tuesday affected many? Yeah, not the best day for a Death Metal show...
The Swedish war machine got on stage to deliver its own brand of rotten Death Metal. Lindgren seemed kind of tired (or may I say wasted?), something that was visible in some parts of their set, but they did their best to leave us screaming for more. And so we did, after being hammer smashed by hymns like Bullets Are Mine, Soulless, Turning Black, Obscure Infinity, Extremely Rotten Flesh and many more. GRAVE left the stage just to come back for a kickass encore that contained Christi(ns)anity and Into The Grave. No need to mention the pits created during these songs. Some people will surely still hurt. Overall, a pretty nice set, with my only objection being the not so warm presence of the band. Some say that they are the classic cold Swedish metallers. I just felt like it was a routine for them...
And it was about time for the highlight of that night. The British monsters were ready to kick our asses and transport the venue into a huge slaughterhouse. With dynamic performance, BENEDICTION were more than incredible for the 500 fans that gathered in the club. I really believe their set couldn't be better. Their setlist was great - even though I would like to hear a couple of songs they didn't play - and their sound was unexpectedly good. What amazed me was the talented Dave Hunt. This man proved to be a more than great frontman and an insanely great singer! He was friendly, talkative and thanked the audience a million times for the warm reactions! Just to give you an idea of what was going on during BENEDICTION, if the show was taking place at an outdoors place, the cloud of dust would have surely covered whole Athens! Subconscious Terror, I Bow To None, The Dreams You Dread, as well as songs from their latest full-length offering Killing Music like Burying The Hatchet managed to create endless moshpits and all time classic Punk dancing that made the British metallers can't hide their smile! They surely are one of the best and most enjoyable acts I have ever seen on stage. Their passion, well played set and gratitude towards us, the audience, were more than enough to make me fall on my knees at the end of their set and bow before their glory. Whoever missed this show should feel some guilt already. Thank you for everything BENEDICTION! We hope to see you again soon!
[YiannisDK] I can say that I was very pensive regarding of how PESTILENCE would be on stage. Resurrection Macabre did not bring that enthusiasm as I needed and the years of the band's absence from the scene filled my head with thoughts.
Suddenly, Mameli climbed on stage raising his arms probably wanting the audience to be fermented but the reaction was not the expected. After one minute the whole band was on stage while Mameli almost screamed if anyone from the people down there remembered him. Probably this move was without meaning but I won't stand at all on it. I believe a few years ago having the opportunity to see PESTILENCE live would be something great and the fact that this was happening in front of my eyes had totally absorbed my interest.
The live started with the first two tracks from the Resurrection Macabre, Devouring Frenzy and Horror Detox. Yes, it was cool to have PESTILENCE for the very first time here in Greece. The visual performance of the band was nothing special, -blame it on short hairs or anything you want- and they also looked a little inflexible. From the instrumental point of view -well- I don't know in what planet that Tony Choy is living but the guy was unbelievable. The guitars were powerful, with very good playing from Uterwijk and Mameli. The biggest surprise was the drumming dynamite that listened to the name Peter Wildoer. His performance was a recital not only in the songs but also in his drum solo that after its half was shared with Choy's one. Lastly, the vocals were like we were entering the gates of doom. Almost like the albums.
Songs? From the Malleus Maleficarum unfortunately only the Chemo Therapy. And played like it was in the bonus tracks of the latest CD that personally do not fulfill my needs. They gave unnecessarily power and volume to the guitars turning the songs a more brutal approach loosing the aggressiveness they had. From Consuming Impulse Chronic Infection, The Process Of Suffocation and Out Of The Body -if I remember well- with the last one being the first encore song and one of the best moments of the live. Secrecies Of Horror, Lost Souls and Land Of Tears from the Testimony Of The Ancients album that was played for the first time in 15 years and was something like a present. The opening with Spheres, Mind Reflection was another surprise for me and I enjoyed it very much. The rest of the setlist included songs from their latest release like Fiend, Hate Suicide and Synthetic Grotesque.
The whole PESTILENCE gig -without being something bombastic or to be remembered after many years offered to me many nostalgic moments- when I melted their fresh released records. And that was what I liked most. And although the audience was exhausted from BENEDICTION's hell I am sure there were some other who may thought that way. In the end, we had the chance to see one of the greatest European's Death Metal bands ever in their best ever happening that ever took place about that music in this country.
