Satyricon
Fryshuset Klubben – Stockholm, Sweden – 21 October 2017
Satyricon decided upon Stockholm to be the city for their final show of the European tour that started a month before in their hometown, Oslo. The tour, in support of their latest album Deep Calleth Upon Deep, saw the legendary Black Metal band play in most European countries before arriving at the Fryshuset Klubben, the smallest of the two halls in the Fryshuset, for this final gig. Before the Norwegians, though, two support bands played their sets warming up the crowd.
The first band to take the stage is called Fight the Fight. They play Metalcore and, even if the genre is not among my favourites, I always enjoy some well-played music; unfortunately, this band’s music was quite dull and, above all, it is not clear why they were opening for a band that plays a genre so different such as Black Metal. It is no surprise, then, that the reaction of the public was not exactly enthusiastic. Still, the musicians put a lot of energy in their performance and managed to win some of the Blacksters present and get an applause as they left the stage thirty minutes after they arrived.
My reaction to the second support band, Suicidal Angels, was quite the opposite, what a nice surprise! The Greeks play an old school Thrash Metal, in the style of the old Slayer and Exodus. Their extreme music was way more fitting to the night than that of those who preceded them and, even if they are everything but original, their music is well-written and performed, and was very warmly received by the crowd. The two skilled guitarists traded crushing riffs and blistering solos, the drums and the bass provided a powerful rhythmic section and the time available to the Thrashers seemed to fly. Before the end of the performance Nick Melissourgos, the singer/guitarist, called for a wall of death, and the crowd complied happily. The show ended with a loud applause from the public that surely enjoyed the energetic playing of Suicidal Angels.
The crowd was surely warm when Satyricon finally got on stage and, as the band started with the new “Midnight Serpent”, loud screams greeted the Norwegians. The show continued with “Our World, it Rumbles Tonight” from the previous album, then “Black Crow on a Tombstone” from The Age of Nero to continue with the title-track of the latest album, “Deep Calleth Upon Deep”.
While this new album received mixed reviews, the new songs work well live and the public seemed to enjoy them; considering that the venue was sold-out, whatever the reviews said, Satyricon’s fans weren’t dissuaded from showing up.
The show went on with songs from all of the band’s albums going back to the much-loved Nemesis Divina, with the exclusion of “Rebel Extravaganza” (and of the first two albums). After more than an hour, after having played “Mother North” from the aforementioned Nemesis Divina, the band left the stage; of course, this was just a short pause before the encore so, after some chanting and screaming from the crowd, the band came back. This time Satyr, the frontman, brought with him a V-shaped guitar and with him now playing it, other than singing, the band played the last three songs, “The Pentagram Burns”, “Fuel For Hatred” and “K.I.N.G.”.
The show wasn’t very long, 15 songs for a total of maybe an hour and a half, but it was definitely intense. Even if some people might not like Satyricon’s latest album, a live show from the Norwegians is still absolutely worth to be seen.
