The Gagarin club is not a big one, actually it's one of the smallest I've ever been in, but its' small sense is what makes it so special. Whenever a concert is held there, us fans have the chance to meet up the band members and other Metal lovers of our little country. Because of its' small space, it seems to be very easy to fill it up until there's no room to breathe, yet that amazing feeling of a big crowd screaming towards the stage is sometimes what we all look for. That's why even when the cub barely contained a hundred people in this show it felt like each and every Metal lover was there.

DESERT came up only a short while after the doors opened which was a nice change of paste. They opened with the great Intro of their "Never Regret" album, and right after that they naturally continued to the next song "Assassin's Fate". They were excited to have their first performance after finishing a tour in Bulgaria as an opening act for the Russian band CATHARSIS.
 

The audience was probably full of their fans for they were chanting like hell and knew all the lyrics. The next song, "The Wolf's Attack" is a personal favourite of mine. Their performance live was even better than the record itself. Alexei Raymar, the lead singer of, had so much energy up on stage it was hard not to get caught up with it. Continuing on with their new album was the song "Son of a Star". This song is about a formative story of the Hebrew tradition- the story of Bar Kochba, a local hero, a "Son Of a Star" if you may. If they weren't excited before, they were now and the audience with them.
 

It is kind of amazing for me, how much the Israeli audience are into their own locals. I absolutely admired the way they all must know by heart all of the songs, for they were singing along as if it was a national anthem. For them, DESERT gave their best. The sound weren't as clear as expected but it didn't matter since we heard what was needed. The energy that filled the club was all needed from a show like that, and so it was OK that the sound was closer to a broken speaker then a Metal concert. All of this was nothing of what was more to come.
 

"Never Regret" is the theme song of their new album, I recalled it to be a nice and gentle one, but the sound made this beautiful song sound like pure noise (and not in a good way, at that). It was the soundman's fault, and it was only getting worst, yet even the terrible sound wasn't able to diminish the wonderful keyboard line of the "Flying Dutchman". For those of you who are familiar with the work of DESERT, it is very clear they were sticking to the new stuff from the latest album. I was absolutely OK with that, considering there was a major step up in their latest material, making them turn from a good local band to a great one in international scales.
 

They invited Infy Snow, another local artist, for their famous cover to "The Phantom Of The Opera". Some even said it was better than the NIGHTWISH version. I'm not sure about that, but they are most certainly getting close. They've finished with the song "Letter Of Marque", with great energy. The roll of a warmup band is to warm up the crowd before the actual band begins there act. Yet by the time DESERT got off the stage, the crowd wasn't warmed up, it was on fire!
 

There's something ancient about DESERT. Their songs have some kind of an old scent to it that their audience simply love. That old scent combined with their great sound and performance skills create a new kind of Power metal never to have been heard before. In the new album, they take the chance to appreciate some legacies, and the result is without a doubt, wonderful.
 

CATHARSIS chose to open with what probably was the worst Intro for a show in Israel. The sound of sirens made the crowd move with inconvenience, up to the moment they came up. It took about a moment or so for me to see they are an old-school Power metal, including all the elements. Their looks were what made all the difference- Igor 'Jeff' Polyakov, the guitar player, was wearing a kilt. Oleg Zhilyakov, in charge of the lead vocals, had the looks of a Power band singer after years of none-stopping work, and they all had that long hair of long timed Heavy metal. One of their most awesome features is the flute that comes out in almost every song by Oleg 'Mission' Mishin, mostly in roll of the second guitar player besides that flute. The best thing about them is certainly the keyboard player, Julia Red. She was having fun and doing it great, absolutely drawing all of the attention.
 

Being probably the only non-Russian speaking person in the audience, it was kind of hard for me to understand what was going on between the songs, not to mention the songs themselves. All of those were completely clear to all of the other people in the crowd. People of all ages were shouting the lyrics of the songs they seemed to grow up on. The Gagarin club was packed with people raising their hands up high and singing the songs like it was at least the greatest show they've ever seen.
 

Even though the sound of this performance was a million times better than that of the previous, their soft ballad in the middle of the show was harmed by terrible sound defects. Yet behind all the unintended distortion, it was possible to hear a great metal ballad, the way metal ballads are supposed to be. CATHARSIS' performance proved to me music has no language. Though singing is a crucial part for most of the times, it's not the lyrics that matters as much as the vocal quantities. Their music is telling a story, and the lyrics might add to it, yet the lack of them or at least the lack of me understanding them, does not derogate of the story told.
 

"Имаго" is opened with a great drum solo, to it joined an awesome keyboard part. The true metal heart of Israel was revealed in that act, showing we need nothing but noisy hard music to fill our hearts with joy. In some parts, it seemed like the crowd was more into it than the band itself, but in those parts the crowd jumped so high they had to be driven by it. The song "Дитя штормов" ("Child Of Storms"), is in some way a theme song for the band in my opinion, perhaps for its performance with Infy Snow, welcomed once again to the stage. Even though she has a bit more to learn in her performance value, she truly is an amazing singer. The flirting on stage between Infy and the singer sure made their duet even more interesting.
 

CATHARSIS work together for almost two decades now, and it sure is heard in their live playing. They know exactly what to do and how, they know each other without even trying and take everyone along with them. It matter no one that the sound was horrifying, they were just feeling the music and nothing else was important. I've haven't seen such a well preformed show for a long time. It was noted, they were preparing for a long time and apparently the music was well fitted to the Israeli metal lover's ear. People had trouble not jumping, it seemed like there was not a single person in the club not completely in the show. They were head-banging, dancing and simply having fun. So was the band, they seemed to enjoy every single moment they had up on stage.
 

True, the only thing I've understood throughout the entire show was their shouting "Cпасибо Tel Aviv"- "Thank you Tel Aviv"; it didn't make the show any least fun for me. They only proven my very cheesy, returning point – music has no language, but the music itself.