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Samael
Live at Hard Club, Portugal
Read the report and see the photos of Samael’s passage by the city of Porto.
On the past 5th of October I was happy enough to watch a great tour take shape on the beautiful town of Porto, namely in the new and renewed venue called Hard Club, now on this side of the river as opposed to its early incarnation. I was mainly there to see Samael, but with five bands in the bill, two of them being Keep Of Kalessin and Melechesh I was hoping for a great evening of metal!
As I arrived there, and with the summer heat that’s been really intense in these autumn days, I just relaxed a bit with some friends on the cool bar that they had assembled outside the venue. Because of all the chatting and drinking I ended up losing the first band of the night, Six Reasons To Kill. But given that they were described as somewhat deathcore I didn’t care much for that. When I finally entered the venue, Noctem were already playing. Distilling venomous black/thrash riffs through the room at blazing speeds, and only stopping to indulge in some neoclassical leads reminiscent of any given melodeath band, they served as an appetizer for the “bigger” bands that would play next. A few of their songs stirred an itch to move and break some heads but the show was much too short for any real action to take place. Noctem are a band to investigate further on, no doubt.
Next was the first acquainted band of the evening, both for me and for the present audience, the Norwegian quartet Keep Of Kalessin. Once big shots of melodic black, known for their monstrous albums Armada and Kolussus, they nowadays seem more interested in appearing on TV and Eurovision contests. They did a great job in stirring part of the crowd, the one obviously into their later sound, pushing song after song of thrashy anthems with a touch of black metal, mainly in the drum department. Obsidian C. is still a show off in the guitar and he had no trouble in proving it to the ecstatic audience. The setlist revolved mainly around their latest album, Reptilian, and that fact alone drove half the people there (myself included) into a state of numbness, as the songs coming out from the stage were nothing noteworthy. The enthusiastic part of the crowd had the show of their lives though, with a fair share of action on the mosh pit!
After the Norwegian quartet left the stage things were being immediately prepared for another quartet to take its place, the Arabic band Melechesh. I say Arabic because Ashmedi is an Israeli radicated in the Netherlands with band members of several nationalities, so I wouldn’t want to pin them down to a single country. I also say Arabic because their brand of black/death/thrash is heavily infused with Arabic folk melodies and rhythms, leaving you with a sense that you’re travelling through the sands of the Mesopotamian deserts. What’s left to say other than this was the first consensual show of the evening? Song after song the band channeled their Oriental tunes to a ravaging crowd, one that was clearly eager for such a discharge. A discharge that was furthered by the presentation of three songs from the days Proscriptor from Absu was playing in the band, namely “Ladders To Sumeria”, “Triangular Tattvic Fire” and particularly “Rebirth Of The Nemesis”, which closed the show in apotheosis. Again it felt a bit short and two or three more songs would have been ideal, but I felt lucky enough to witness such an intense show.
Finally the moment everyone was waiting for was at hand, the moment where the Swiss gods of electronic/industrial metal would step on the stage and annihilate the remainder of the crowd. At this point the venue was pretty packed to see the headliners playing and I can tell you that they didn’t disappoint! The setlist was pretty diverse and encompassed much of the band’s career, from albums like Worship Him up until their latest effort, Lux Mundi. The lack of an actual drum kit, replaced by Xytras’ electronic paraphernalia stroke as confusing in the minds of some of the present, but after the initial song no one thought about it anymore. The show was a display of classic songs like “Rain”, “Shinning Kingdom” and “My Saviour” from their masterpiece Passage, “Into The Pentagram” from their first album and black metal phase, “Baphomet’s Throne”, “Flagellation” and “Ceremony Of The Opposites” from the equally named album, and “Infra Galaxia” from the album Eternal. These were played alongside newer anthems such as “Slavocracy”, “Western Ground”, “In The Deep”, “Antigod”, “The Truth Is Marching On” and “Soul Invictus”.
The show felt amazingly good and was a good tour through Samael’s career, with the newer songs getting some attention from the crowd. The band was irreprehensible in their delivery, and the bassist alone was tiring just to watch! Vorph is one hell of a frontman and he showed all his array of vocal styles while being really intense in his theatrical approach to the songs and lyrical content. A true pleasure to watch and a show within the show itself, marching during Antigod, or acting extremely evil during the “Into The Pentagram” and “Flagellation” combo, which proved to be one of the high points of the show with a great lighting show and a burning pentagram in the visual panels behind the band. The lighting and visual effects were a constant and only helped out to improve the already amazing experience that was to watch this band playing live. Travelling through a wormhole at the sound of “Infra Galaxia” was a moment that I’ll hardly forget!
All in all a great night of metal, and a very diverse show filled with bands of different genres that helped make things more interesting. Samael in particular continue to demonstrate why they’re one of the most interesting, strange, original and ultimately amazing bands of the past 20 years. It’s a band that clearly gives everything they have on stage and pass all that energy to the crowd watching them. What else could we ask of a live band?
Take a look at the photo gallery below for some great moments of the shows.
