21.01.2005
MAYHEM
THE APPARATUS
MINAS TIRITH
CHTON
Studentersamfundet,
Trondheim/Norway
January 15 - 2005
Attendance:
About 7-800 people.
review by Haavard Holm
- all photos © by Erlend Holm
The public use of these photos is strictly prohibited without written permission
The
concerts taking place at the famous local venue "Studentersamfundet"
here in Trondheim
are
always a highlight, and although it is rare with metal-gigs there, they
are well worth to
visit
to see a band on a bigger stage than the usual, and also packing a bit
more people through
the
doors than at a normal concert up here.
Mayhem
has fairly regularely been visiting Trondheim and the surroundings these
recent years,
but
when their infamous vocalist from "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas",
Atilla, has returned to the
fold,
it
surely attracts more attention and people to a gig like this. The
mini-Norwegian tour for Mayhem
this
time featured only 4 concerts, but maybe more as a warm-up for their
greater tours to come
later
this year, surely also on the continent with a great attention to the
reformed line-up.
Nevertheless,
the local Death Metal guys in CHTON were the first band out, and already
at this
early
stage the venue was quite crowded. Their oldschool, pure Death Metal has
it's attraction,
and
the band set the standard by trying to give the people value for showing
up, even with a newly
hired
bassplayer in Harald from Bloodthorn, due to a temporary vacancy for their
normal bassplayer
Kenneth.
Still, the band doesn't loose anything from this, the band is turning the
amps high and give
their
best on stage. Sad that the sound is remarkably terrible during their
first 2-3 songs, but it improves
a
bit through their short set, so still this is the best Chton gig I
personally have seen this far, although there
are
still a few things I would have pointed out to improve.
6,5 / 10
MINAS TIRITH recently released their new album,
and are a band which has been around here in Norway
for ages already, still without getting much
attention to them, I believe that outside of Norway they are
totally a unknown band. Their latest album did
not impress me too much, but that doesn't mean that I look
away from the fact that these 3 guys are
brilliant musicians. And live I have also seen them once before,
then being a
enormous force on stage with very
limited resources, so this evening also I was curious
to see where they'd end up.
And it was a impressive performance also this
time for the band, surprisingly also to see a 3-piece band
blowing the other bands off the stage with the
most crushing sound of the night. Impressive!
Their progressive form of metal with some
semi-death vocals is perhaps not what catches most of the
audience at a Mayhem gig, but still the band
went on without regrets, and it seemed like both the band
and the crowd had a pleasant time, me included.
The bands inspirations from a band like Rush are very
clear, and as Rush is one of my personal fave
bands that's appreciated, and as long as they also do
better live than on their CDs I have to be
satisfied with the band also this evening. Of course being on stage
with such a small line-up has its limitations
with the performance visually, but hey, I just enjoyed the
musicianship on behalf of everything else.
7 / 10
http://www.thetruemayhem.com
THE APPARATUS will shortly have their debut
album out on Dreamcatcher Records, and I was also
expecting a bit from these local lads this time,
as I hoped they had matured since the last time I've
seen them.
The band was supposed to play after
Mayhem, as a sort of after-party band on a smaller
venue inside the building, but as the arrangers
this evening panicked due to lack of time they had the
band go on stage at the same time as Mayhem. Not
a good trick if you ask me, a lot of people who
had intentions to see them never knew they had
been given a new time, including me that didn't know
they had played until Mayhem was coming to an
end... sad!
And for what
MAYHEM regards, the crowd was
clearly anticipating this gig, as together with Atilla in on
vocals, they have also since the last time they
played here added a 2nd guitarist to the line-up, something
I regard as the smartest move the band has done
for a long, long time. Simply because the band
with only one guitarist is a weak
live-experience, and with now a new one into the band it has more
power and musical delicassy to the sound, and
makes their songs also more enjoyable live.
The opening with "Deathcrush" was no
surprise, but still appreciated, and it was clear that Atilla had
a allright day at work. His vocals maybe doesn't
fit all the material from recent Mayhem-albums, but
still the vocals were ok this evening, not that
I make much difference from when he sings to what Maniac
did prior to his re-appearance in the band.
The worst problem with the newer Mayhem material
is more that I can't get the grip on them live, they
work a bit anonymous compared to their classics
and are not able to stand out in any way. That might
be also to the fact that I personally do not
think Mayhem on album these days are even close to what
they once were in the past.
The highlights during the concerts were then
of course the songs Atilla originally did with the band, of course
then from the "De Mysteriis..." album.
In particular "Life Eternal" which was the absoloute winner
during
the concert, it worked almost perfect.
Apart from that it wasn't much to report from
the gig, the bands appeal on stage can always of course
be discussed, I think it was a bit too much from
Atilla and his waiving around with some sort of misplaced
weapon in front. Looked like a combination of a
knife and a spaceship, really silly, especially thinking that
he had to throw it around for each song they
played.
Still a all-over good gig from the band, the
forceful show worked well, and although I never will consider
Mayhem as a spectacular
live band, I enjoyed
myself during their around 1 hour set.
7 / 10
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