Kreator, Arch Enemy and more at Manchester Academy (2014)

Manchester Academy (Manchester, UK)

Kreator, Arch Enemy, Shining & Marty Friedman

It has not been to long since the mighty KREATOR came down to United […]

By Michael Coyle

• December 19, 2014

It has not been to long since the mighty KREATOR came down to United Kingdom to tour with their latest release "Phantom Antichrist", with that being said it is rare to see a band of KREATOR's caliber return so soon, but hey I'm not complaining, the more times I get to see KREATOR tour the United Kingdom the happier myself and everyone else is. With this recent run through of the UK the Teutonic Thrash legends returned to Manchester bringing with them a strong and powerful lineup consisting of the legendary Marty Friedman, Norway's Shining and of course Melodic Death Metal titans ARCH ENEMY.

So we start the show off with Black-Jazz Metal tyrants SHINING, now I've seen this band a few times before both at Damnation Festival and Bloodstock and I can say they are a very diverse type of band as they bring different elements to the field, but on the other hand you have to admit it can be confusing sometimes as this band is normally confused with the Swedish Black Metal band of the same name. Anyway from the very start of SHINING's set they brought some familiar songs taken from their 2013 release, "One One One" which much of the audience was able to recognise and jam to in the audience, now though they may not be everyone's taste they are still a band that know how to bring it when it comes to their live performances, Jorgen Munkeby (singer, guitarist and saxophone player) brought everything he had for this performance by coming to the crowd and involving the crowd together in a performance of Jazz Fusion Metal goodness.

SHINING's set only lasted about twenty minutes as the band would remain on stage to play along with legendary shredder Marty Friedman, now this was a complete surprise as I felt that with an act like Marty Friedman, that he have his own time slot to at least bring Manchester a full set of some of his solo material, in a sense it was a let down not to see Marty's full capacity as a musician but even still he made good use of the time that he had on stage by jamming out some monster riffs and solos. That being said it was my first time seeing the man and I have to say that the wait was worth it all these years as with what he was capable of doing on that stage was incredible to say the least and I think the audience will agree.
Arch Enemy:

Now this was a show I massively enjoyed very much, and what a show it was. From the start we saw the band open with the intro "Tempore Nihl Sanat (Prelude in F Minor)" which then led into the band's first track "War Eternal", by far one of my favorites off of the new record and one hell of a live track! Now what made this show something special was the fact that the band has recently added a new addition to their roster, the legend himself and shredder extraordinaire Jeff Loomis, and I have to be honest that I was excited to see this man play. Through the bands set they went through some of their most infamous tunes stretching from "Black Earth" to "Doomsday Machine" and of course to the bands recent release War Eternal. Each song played that night was played with a power that was new but was also a sign that the band are still going strong, maybe even stronger if you can believe it, even still with the bands new frontwoman Alissa white-Gluz we see this young fire being let loose like a beast breaking the chains and tearing out of the cage. As always Michael Amott brought his A game with him showing that there are no signs of slowing down what so ever. So really what more can I say other than the fact that ARCH ENEMY played an incredible set?

Setlist:
Tempore Nihl Sanat (Preludein F Minor)
1. War Eternal
2. Ravenous
3. My Apocalypse
4. You Will Know My Name
5. Bloodstained Cross
6. Under Black Flags We March
7. As The Pages Burn
8. Dead Eyes See No Future
9. No Gods, No Masters
10. We Will Rise
11. Nemesis
12. Fields Of Desolation

Now we come to the big finale, the power house of Hate and terror, the mighty KREATOR!. Now the set compared to their last show down in Manchester has to be one of the strongest I have seen them play as it contains songs that stretch from the bands legendary catalogue. The show itself can be described as followed strong, vicious and without a doubt impossibly brutal. KREATOR's show consisted of different screen captions that featured art from the bands courier and images of many of rock and metals fallen, these images were featured on the song "Voices Of The Dead", many of the images consisted of Chuck Schuldiner, Cliff Burton, Phill Lynott and Ronnie James Dio, in a large way I felt this brought everyone closer together as it allowed for everyone to pay homage to those that brought so much into our lives as both fans and as musicians inspired by their work. One thing that caught me by surprise was the band used pyro as part of their set which for me, in that venue, was the first I've actually seen but goddamn was it awesome, the pyro was mainly used for the song "From Flood To Fire" which in a massive way made the song stronger and as well making the venue into a temporary oven. KREATOR's set was more than words can describe, truly a show that embodies the spirit of German Thrash in every way as well as bringing us all closer together as fans at the same time, so finally all I have to say is Hail To The KREATOR!!!!

Setlist:
In the year 2525 (Zager & Evans song)
The Patriarch
1. Violent Revolution
2. Civilization Collapse
3. From Flood To Fire
4. Extreme Aggresion
5. Phobia
6. Enemy Of God
7. Voices Of The Dead
8. Awakening Of The Gods (Intro Only)
9. Endless Pain
10. Suicide Terrorist
11. Mars Mantra
12. Phantom Antichrist
13. Impossible Brutality
14. Hordes Of Chaos (A Necrologue for the Elite)
15. Pleasure To Kill