Last week-end, RTMC organized the anniversary concert for Root, with invited bands. I’ll start with few words about Romanian Thrash Metal Club. I first heard about their festival, Old Grave Fest, a couple of years ago – now the fest reached its 6th edition. I attended it twice and I appreciate what they are doing. The event doesn’t stop at Thrash Metal, it brings bands from other music genres as well, and I made some good discoveries while listening to the line-up, which is well chosen and I enjoy its overall vibe. If you haven’t been to any edition yet, this year it’s a good start, and you’ll find more information on the facebook event, here, or even better follow the future events category on our website.
Back to the 1st of April evening in Fabrica Club, the line-up was: Dead Void, Sincarnate, Root and Cardinal (in this order). I’ll just shift the perspective a bit and give some impression about the bands from the one I enjoyed the most to the end, although overall I must say it was a successful evening, with no unnecessary delays (only half an hour at the start), good sound, good performances from all four bands and an impressive audience.
As I said in the beginning, Root was celebrating 3 decades of existence. I knew the band and listened to some albums, but I couldn’t say they are a constant presence in my playlist. Calling them legends means doing them justice and it was a hell of a show. Jiri ‘Big Boss’ Valter came on stage, told the public that he loves us (usually I’m not taken but this kind of statements but I felt some affection in his simple words), and constantly engage in a dialogue with it. Everybody was yelling their lungs, hail Satan, Lucifer, asking for songs, and he was giving some witty replies (666! / no, now we’re playing 777). I liked him, the atmosphere he was creating, his stage presence and with his hellish voice, so suitable for an unholy symphony. I enjoyed every bit of this dark metal performance. The setlist included songs from their early materials, Hell Symphony, The Temple in the Underworld, Kärgeräs, but also new songs. They gave us Leviathan, Casilda’s Song (nothing more deliciously evil than to hear people screaming the word Carcosa!), Píseň pro Satana, The Key to the Empty Room.
Dead Void was a pleasant discovery, I knew nothing about this new band and it was their first gig. Sometimes no expectation and listening to a band live for the first time it’s a good idea. The band is a trio based in Denmark, and they perform, to quote them, a dark, twisted and fucking heavy Death Metal of Doom. The songs are slow (as far as I can remember only the latest had a faster pace), but they know how to build the atmosphere. I’ll give you the name of the songs (they were four, Repulsive Bliss, Isolation’s Hold, Shadowed Height of Ascension, and Hydra, which was my favorite), but unfortunately I couldn’t find a place to listen to them properly. So for now I’m eagerly waiting for a full length and, who knows, maybe a comeback, and recommend you to keep an eye on them.
For Sincarnate it was also a special moment, as they were launching their new released album, In Nomine Homini, we wrote some words about it here. Now I regret not having the time to listen the album prior to the concert, perhaps it would have given the experience a new dimension. They played the album almost in it’s entirely, and in the order on the album (except for the tracks no 7 and 8, but they ended with L̄iwyᾱṯᾱn, that closes In Nomine Homini). But even if I only listened it to it live, I can tell it’s a very complex album, and it was very well interpreted at Fabrica. What I didn’t thought it was such a good idea was the insertions of catholic choruses, screams and so on between songs, I think they could have done it without that. My favorite parts were Attende Domine (the first song) and In Nomine Homini, which has a superb instrumental last part. Anyway here the album is out already, it also has an impressive graphic art if you are drawn to that, so I urge you to look for it and give it a try.
Cardinal closed the evening late at night. Again it was a band I haven’t listen before, some very, very young kids from Constanta. They sing a Stoner / Garage Rock, with a very simple and fresh sound, if you are curious you can give it a listen to them on their bandcamp page here. The setlist consisted in songs from their EP (two Satan’s Satyrs covers), but also a new untitled one. Personally, I liked Daniel’s voice better than Victor’s. I saw a lot of enthusiasm and positive energy around this band and I’m sure they will grow nicely.
A very good night overall, with an eclectic line-up, a mix of new and old, a lots of good music to be discovered. You can find a photo galery on our facebook page, here, shoot by our photographer Gheorghe Paraschiv.
