Ever since some spoiled and bored Norwegian teenagers back in the early nineties found Satan to be more fun than Greenpeace there have been passionate debates whether the grim and misanthropic art that Black Metal should be goes along with the blood, sweat and beers – atmosphere of a live concert. And while most of them nowadays don’t have any problems to perform in front of even the most indifferent stadium-audiences imaginable, the question still has some relevance amongst the ranks of the more orthodox acts still connected to the underground. Two bands that undisputedly belong to that (inner) circle, namely TAAKE and KOLDBRANN are currently roaming Europe and at least in Bischofswerda proved that their Mojo works strongly on stage. Joining them will be URGEHAL, yet for the first dates of the tour they have been replaced by Germany’s DARKEND NOCTURN SLAUGHTERCULT. And without any offence towards URGEHAL, I’m fucking glad about it. These definitely driven beings reigned an unrelenting hailstorm of violence and blasphemy upon the masses that yours truly hadn’t have the honour to witness in years. The whole horde oozes a possession from every inch of their bloodstained bodies that let’s you forget all the ridiculous developments that the degeneration of Black Metal into just another counterculture-phenomena brought upon us. Fuck the “true vs. untrue” internet discussions, fuck the grotesquely contorted vinyl-hype, go witness their concerts and experience what it’s all about. Truly infernal. Obviously it wasn’t exactly easy for KOLDBRANN to follow such an opener that didn’t quite warm-up the crowd but rather burned it to rubble. But after a pretty lame start they slowly got their gears in motion and their vocalist, who - compared to DARKEND NOCTURN SLAUGHTERCULT’s bloodcuming witch - at first seemed almost a bit shy gained more and more confidence during the set. Still I found their music more solid than exciting, maybe a bit too much HELLHAMMER – influences for my liking. I know I’m blaspheming. Finally TAAKE. To me they’re simple the one act still in existence whose music contains the purest essence of Norwegian Black Metal. The ancient norse lyrics, Grieghallen-sound and that certain atmosphere that countless acts have tried to achieve in vain – it’s all there. So I was more than curious if they were able to pull off the magic live. First off, Hoest is not only an exceptional composer but also one hell of a charismatic stage-beast. They started furiously with the opener of their last opus ”Hordalands Doedskvad”, Mr. H. looking and sounding like a crazed drug-fiend straight from the woods…and then it stopped. Didn’t really recognize if an instrument or a player fucked up but for what seemed an eternity the guys just stood on the stage, not knowing what to do. Finally they decided to switch to the next track (they made up for it later by playing a glorious version of said track as an encore) and if Hoest was angry before he was now definitely pissed, much to the benefit of their performance. They played mostly newer stuff, but their finest hour struck with the first song of the classic ”Nattestid…”. Hoest forced his skinny body to form the Tyr-Rune (remember the album-cover?) and when he hissed the flag of Norge afterwards everybody in the crowd was sure to have experienced something special. The gig surely wasn’t perfect, they had their up’s and down’s, but I take such unique evenings with a slight touch of chaos and obscurity over boring routine entertainment anyday. The tour has just began, so anybody who still has got the chance to see them would be well adviced to do so. 

Torsten Gründig

Back