WATAIN, supported by DEGIAL and VENENUM, have launched on a massive European tour, including a total of 26 shows in just 30 days, and are set to leave a blazing trail of infernal chaos across the continent. The first stop was Munich, Germany, where this trio of bands unleashed their tempestuous onslaught of blasphemy.

Starting things up was VENENUM, a German Death Metal band. Formed in just 2008, and with only one EP to their name, this band certainly has catapulted into the limelight at a phenomenal speed. And it is with masterpieces such as "Deathscent" that we are shown exactly what this band is capable of. Playing one thunderous, relentless song after another, VENENUM soon had the crowd riled up. One thing that stood out about their performance was the exceptional tightness of the band; like well-oiled cogs, each member was in perfect synch with the others. But just as abruptly as they started, their set was over.
 

Next was DEGIAL, a Swedish Death Metal band formed in 2004. With most of their set being drawn from their 2012 album "Death's Striking Wings", their ruthless and unrelenting brutal and dark riffage has more than likely left several people today tenderly rubbing their annihilated necks. Shredding their way through their set at a galloping tempo, DEGIAL more than got the crowd warmed up for the coming storm of WATAIN.
 

Setlist:
1. Transgression
2. Swarming
3. Serpent's Tide
4. Chaos Chant
5. Death's Striking Wings
6. Eye of Burial Tempest
7. Anubis
8. Temple in Whirling Darkness

Finally, the curtains were closed as the stage was prepared for the WATAIN, and after what seemed like an eternity, they were finally pulled back to reveal a shrine-like spectacle. Fencing in the stage was a wall of sheet-metal adorned with various bones, symbols and blood, illuminated by two flaming metal stands, whilst from the front of the stage, two cattle skulls stared at the crowd with their unseeing, hollow eye sockets. The centre of the stage was dominated by the drumkit on a high platform, before which was a sacrilegious altar, set up with chalices of blood, skulls, black candles, incense, a scimitar, and other satanic paraphernalia, with the instrumental track "Night Vision" setting the atmosphere. Out of the shroud of mist appeared the band, pausing only briefly to survey the audience before launching straight into their set.
 

With the majority of the setlist coming from the recently released "The Wild Hunt" album, each track was ravenously received by the crowd, although perhaps none more so than the older classic "Legions of the Black Light". And when all was finally said and done, and the rest of the band had left the stage, vocalist Erik Danielsson turned his back on the crowd, the tattered remnants of a raven's wings flapping morosely on his back. Kneeling in front of the altar, he raised the scimitar to the sky before using it to extinguish the blackened light of the candles, symbolising yet another town, another audience, another show conquered in the name of Satan.

Setlist:
1. Night Vision
2. De Profundis
3. Malefeitor
4. Black Flames March
5. Puzzles of Flesh
6. Devils Blood
7. Sleepless Evil
8. Legions of the Black Light
9. Total Funeral
10. The Wild Hunt
11. Outlaw
12. Sworn to the Dark
13. Holocaust Dawn
14. Waters of Ain