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

 

 

CHTON

MINAS TIRITH

THE APPARATUS + MAYHEM


 

CHTON         http://www.chton.com 

 

 

 

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      http://www.minastirith.no 
 

 

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

 

 


 

 

THE APPARATUS - MAYHEM       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


Haavard Holm    

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