This tour was a quite odd collection of bands, at least that was my first thought when I read about it. Variety enhances the experience perhaps, but I still stick with my first thought, a very odd line up it was.

EMERGENCY GATE was perhaps the perfect openers. They look fairly cool, sound fairly good and didn't stand out one bit. This Emo-Aggro style starts to get mainstream and when it does a lot of bands get a free ride on it. I don't see the point in playing if you don't have your own identity or touch on the music. One doze Gothenburg NU-Metal ala IN FLAMES, fill that up with the American alike almost to the top and add a little Old School. EMERGENCY GATE actually sounded really good from time to time, tight and groovy and the keyboard was a really nice addition to the music. That one they used a lot better than most bands. But my biggest concern was that I could never feel THEM in the music. It felt more like a We know this works and if we do it we might get out and play thing rather than something real. The thing that brought them down the most to was vocalist Udo Simon, he didn't have the power for the really rough parts and the clean vocals sounded terrible. The forced bleating style worked though and those were the times when he used that voice, EMERGENCY GATE shone.

I tried to listen to Slania from ELUVEITIE a couple of times but I had to turn it off. It was just too annoying and too much of a cheap IN FLAMES rip-off for me to stand it. So, my expectations for this weren't high at all. But the more equipment they dragged out on stage the more curious I got, of course I remembered the Folk-music influences from my tries to listen to it but those instruments sure make a bigger impact when you actually can see them. And they shall have a lot of credits for not canceling this gig. Their guitar player, or guitar players was ill and couldn't play, if it was both of them or if they've jumped the ship for some other reason was not cleared out. Filling in for them was one of the guys from CALIBAN and a few more odd people. I really love it when I'm wrong about bands. No ELUVEITIE's records didn't make very much impact on me but just three notes into the first song I have a huge smile on my face. They were an instant energy injection and they really made this night a lot more fun. I still am not a huge fan of this type of folksy Metal but when it's performed with perfection and 100 percent live. Meri Tadic - violin and Anna Murphy on some sort of harp (or custom made Hurdy-Gurdy as stated on their website) looked very timid while walking up on stage but that imaged was wiped off very fast. How can a head-spinning, harp-playing babe fail? It all was very much beauty and the beast images, the pretty girls with their neat instruments in contrast to the brutal music and the action they served. Vocalist Chrigel Glanzmann was in it too, his street-bum look and raw vocals fitted perfect but the angle was completely different when he picked a cute little flute from his pocket and started playing in the middle of it all. The downside was the lack of original guitar players, I understand that you don't give 100% if it's not your band in the first place but the right flank of the stage looked so damn stiff compared to the rest. I guess I need to give ELUVEITIE another chance, if I can appreciate them this much live I must be able to take in them on record too.

CALIBAN then, who brought yet another style to this event, what could they provide? The thing that was very cool with CALIBAN was the peeled off stage set. It looked so cold and naked compared to the first two bands I almost thought I've gotten lost somewhere and ended up at a completely different concert. That is not very common at a small club gig. Hell, it's not even common at an Arena event. And I'm sure CALIBAN is very good at what they do but they're absolutely noting for me. CALIBAN is too much Hard Core for my taste. And to start with the sound got a turn for the worse, it got extremely rough and squeaky. Perhaps that's something else I don't understand because even if it got better the longer the concert went the roughness never really disappeared. No matter what CALIBAN did for me I have to say they did a great job. The music was extremely well played and everything was super tight and the visuals... What can I say? I supposed that's the way it's supposed to be.

The thing I used to love about KREATOR was their really raw sound and they peaked for me with Terrible Certainty, Extreme Aggressions and Coma Of Souls. With that I'm not saying the others are bad, not at all. KREATOR have held really high standard all the time, even when the abandoned their roots and started to play some sort of Goth Influenced Rock with Endorama. I was extremely thrilled when they announced to be back to basics and released Violent Revolution and since then they've stuck to their standards. But, even if all releases of the new millennium have been good to me everything feels too much cleaned up and all the raw force those older albums had is lost with today's production. And that was what I felt watching KREATOR this evening too. Everything sounds awesome but the edge was missing. The songs are catchy and easy to scream along to but I don't really want to, I don't feel the urge to scream at all. Mille Petrozza seemed a little bummed out with the response he got but watching this I completely understand why. All three bands before them showed off a lot more energy and I doubt the guys in the front, which barely got their chins over the security fence, have the same feelings about KREATOR as I have. And to win that kind of crowd you really need to rock.

Not even Extreme Aggressions felt as edgy as it used to and I sort of lost hope that they would be able to turn this around. But of course they could, with People Of The Lie, halfway through the set something happened, the old KREATOR were back and so was that raw energy. Still, they lacked a little energy as a band but musically it was absolutely the way it's supposed to be. And who can complain about the last half of the setlist? Violent Revolution, Terrible Certainty, Betrayer and Riot Of Violence to mention a few, that was killer, super. And as always they ended the set with Flag Of Hate and for the absolute ending, a way to modern version of Tormentor.
From an overall perspective KREATOR did really well, they choose some really nice songs and everything sounded great but compared to other bands from the same era they have lost, they don't live up to the standard they used to have.

(photos by bearer of the flag of hate Erika)

EMERGENCY GATE

ELUVEITIE

CALIBAN

KREATOR