The down side of having to attend a concert in the middle of the week is that not everybody can get off work at a reasonable hour. The concert even if it starts at 7 PM, not a lot of people showed up in time for the first band, VÁTHOS.
Quantic, the club where the event took place has become in the past months a hot spot for any type of events from concerts to festivals. The club has a separate room from the one with the stage. The room being ideal to get a snack, being open during concerts for those that just want a night out in a nice pub, and not there for the event itself. The club has been collaborating wonderful with the local concert promoters. Speaking of the local promoters, this event was organized by Final Step Productions. They bring to life from the smallest events to the most complex festivals, showing that the crew is truly passionate by metal. With each event they make sure to show the same professionalism no matter If we are talking about a small local band or a popular one like Batushka.
Nevertheless, the local band tried their best to entertain the crowd.
MartYriuM was the second band to enter the stage. With a theatrical and aggressive performance the band impressed everybody with there orchestrations and industrial elements. Sandra Misanthrope has an incredible voice and with her devilish mask made quite a show.
W.E.B. was an interesting appearance on the stage, they were promoting their 4th album “Tartarus”. The band manage to resurrect the tired, after work people that started headbanging and screaming as soon as the first note hit the stage. The sound was perfect and we could really feel the evil spreading along the concert. They were a perfect match for what was coming. The band even if they were surrounded by Batushka’s decor, manage to rock the stage and made everybody feel like a group of satanists have taken over a church.
The main attraction of the night was, of course Batushka, the Polish super group got on the stage to perform yet again the album „Litourgiya”. Sadly, the setlist is the same as last time:
– Yekteniya 1
– Yekteniya 2
– Yekteniya 3
– Yekteniya 4
– Yekteniya 5
– Yekteniya 6
– Yekteniya 7
– Yekteniya 8
The band, probably busy touring, has yet to release any new materials. The album has raised the bar so high that a lot of fans think that the band is too afraid to disappoint, that being the reason why they are not making way for new materials. Nevertheless, this affects the concert, a lot of the fun of going to a concert is trying to guess what old or new material will the band play. Already knowing the setlist is killing a bit the enthusiasm of seeing a band live. Also, the album was played, as always from the first song Yekteniya 1, to the last one Yekteniya 8.
The decor, as mentioned was already set on the stage at the beginning of the concert. We all get that having such a complex theatrical show does not allow time to fix every small detail in the small time in between bands. Seeing part of the props from the first minute we walked in the club until the moment the band started playing did spoiled a bit the pleasure of being entertained by a theatrical band. At the concert in 2016 there was a small break before Batushka, moment when the crowd couldn’t see anything that was happening on the stage, only to be amazed by the small church that appeared right in front of them.
The sound was a bit different compared to the other times I got the chance to see them live, it was a small change that switched the hole concert, the main singer had the microphone louder that the 3 members that formed the choir. As the main singer is, of course the main singer, but we don’t need to forget that there are songs, like Yekteniya 1 or Yekteniya 3 were the beauty of the songs stayed in the harmony of the perfect collaboration of the singer and the choir. Speaking of Yekteniya 3, this song is the most embraced by the fans, it starts with the public clapping 3 times on the same note, and there is nothing the fans love more than to be part of a concert.
All and all the concert was refreshing and exactly what everybody needed to get through the week. Batushka does have an entertaining way of playing, I am not sure If is the pure blasphemy of the ongoing idea of black metal fans finally having a way „ to go to church” but they have manage, with only one album, to make a name for them self. The main talk between the fans at the concert was about If they are ever going to release any new materials. This waiting game can only work for so long. And we don’t need to forget that for a band that made their concert so theatrical, it is mandatory to come up with new things before fans get bored. Will they be able to make a second album as good as the first, or will they disappear in glory , having released upon the world only„Litourgiya”. This will be an interesting turn of events to see in the future.
Photo credits:Gheorghe Paraschiv
I’m not sure what to say about this review, other than.. umm, poorly written. I was expecting you to have editors that know English. I get that some mistakes can show up in an article (typos and stuff like that), but this looks like a text written by a child who’s only been learning English for less than a year. I’m not a grammar nazi, but this is just horrible. Sorry! Get a text book and refresh your writing!
Oh, and about the concert. I, for example, didn’t care about Batushka having the stage props already out there from the start. And by knowing their playlist is exactly how they wanted it to be, to make people feel like going to church, where you already know what is going to happen. With a small difference. Batushka’s concert is worth going to, as opposed to going to church.
Cheers!
Thank you for taking the time to provide us with your valuable feedback.We are sorry the review could not rise to your high standards. We are really happy you enjoyed the concert. Have a lovely day.