FINNTROLL, SAMAEL, ROTTING CHRIST, METSATÖLL, NOTHNEGAL

I had been looking forward to this concert for a long time, especially since my desperate attempts to see ROTTING CHRIST this summer. But you know it, when you’re looking forward to something so much, things usually go bad. And that’s why I completely stopped looking forward. Just to make sure I won’t be too disappointed afterwards. But when the D day came, my worries turned out to be totally groundless. The first good sign came early in the afternoon. The heavy snow finally ceased to fall, the wind stopped and the temperature got a bit higher, so we could all enjoy the evening without freezing our asses off (except for the Greeks, who were shaking in jackets even inside the club). The Masters of Rock Café was nearly full. No wonder, it’d been more than two years since both FINNTROLL and SAMAEL last played in the Czech Republic. And so it happened that the audience was quite wide even for the first band of this evening, NOTHNEGAL.

This black/death metal band comes from the Maldives. To be honest, I didn’t even know that there were any metal bands coming from this island country, so NOTHNEGAL was a complete surprise for me. They invaded stage with a very loud and energetic set. I couldn’t help it and felt a bit… is that even a word, vacationally? Anyway, the band probably took this into account, since the merch stand was supplied with travel catalogues (a.k.a. Destination: Maldives) and tourist guides instead of real merchandise. The sound was great from the very beginning and lasted so till the end of the evening, which was another pleasant surprise for me.

The second band to take the stage that evening was METSATÖLL. These Estonian guys had already played here before, so they had some real fans in the audience, which wasn’t hard to notice. Czech crowd is always crazy about folk metal, so the overall optimistic show of METSATÖLL didn’t leave them cold. I think you’d have a hard time searching for a band that fits the term folk metal better than this one. Lots of clean parts, flutes, bagpipe and of course lots of talking, singing and whooping in a strange foreign language (presumably Estonian). Not really my thing, but the crowd was satisfied and that’s what matters.

Then the highlight of the evening came, at least for me. ROTTING CHRIST offered a set of songs mainly from their latest album Aealo, including the songs “Aealo”, “Fire, Death and Fear” or “Dub-Saĝ-Ta-Ke“. But also the fans of their older stuff could be satisfied, because the band didn’t leave out classics such as “Athanati Este” or “King of a Stellar War”, and some songs from Theogonia were also included: “Χάος Γένετο (The Sign of Prime Creation) “ and “Gaia Tellus”. Their flawless performance didn’t leave anyone cold; it’s only a pity that it lasted so shortly, I wouldn’t mind ROTTING CHRIST being the headliner, they deserve it more anyway. But no matter what, their show was over and the next band of the evening was about to come.

I have to admit that I’m seriously not a fan of SAMAEL, but their show was interesting to watch. The atmosphere was quite impressive. The singer was all dressed up in bloody red, which remarkably contrasted with his nearly white peroxide hair and the people couldn’t keep their eyes off him. They played a mix of old and new songs and I could tell that some of them weren’t nearly as appealing to the crowd as others. Overall quite a nice show, but not enough spark for me to really enjoy it.

When FINNTROLL started to play, it was obvious that this was the band that most of the people came here for. As they began with the intro “Blodmarsch” from their latest album Nifelvind, it was already stormy in front of the stage, so when they played hit songs like “Nedgĺng” or “Trollhammaren”, the atmosphere got even hotter, and it was obvious that the musicians were enjoying themselves as well. 80 minutes of a double-sided party, that’s what a right show should look like.

All of the bands offered their best performances and were also open for some chit chat with the fans. No one (including me) could leave disappointed that evening.