The Flaming Arts Festival -- Moscow, Russia -- May 20th, 2012

[brutal_descent]

Let me start off this review by breaking the bad news to any Kataklysm fans out there: Kataklysm started their set about ten minutes ago. I left early, since I don't really like Kataklysm that much, and because I also have a big assignment that I have to work on that's due Monday. I'm still going to post their set from the other dates of the tour at the end of the post, so it's not that bad.

First of all, let's give a loud "fuck yeah" to warm weather! I've missed being able to come to shows early and not freezing to death outside. Came to the venue an hour before doors, and met up with some of my friends. We entered the venue as soon as doors opened, and took our places in the front row. Since the first band of the night wasn't a notable one, the crowd didn't really start making their way up to the stage until a little before Vader. While waiting for the show to start, I went over to the merch stand and bought a 'Return to the Morbid Reich' Vader shirt. 'Local' support came from God's Tower, a Belarussian traditional/gothic (PL-gothic, not Lacuna Coil-gothic) band. They played about six or seven songs, and got a warm (Lukewarm? Well-heated?) response from the audience. Around this time my sleep deprivation started kicking in, and I caught myself falling asleep a few times during their set (no offense, guys.) But there was nothing to fear, for Vader was here!

Vader were pretty fucking awesome. I think their instrumentals came off perfect live, and their singer visibly enjoying the show. I headbanged my way through half of their set, and gave my neck a short break during Black Velvet & Skulls of Steel. At this point, in between every song Piotr would start off a sentence by growling "Decapitated-" getting everyone in the audience riled up, thinking that Vader were about to play Decapitated Saints, only to finish it with some cheesy joke (e.g. "Decapitated... are my favorite Polish band." "Decapitated... is how I feel when I wake up for work on Monday mornings.") After Carnal, however, they did play Decapitated Saints, and shit went cray-zay. Definitely one of my favorite live songs now. After they finished their set, I retrieved a setlist from the stage and noticed The Final Massacre, Sword of the Witcher, and Raining Blood (Slayer) had been crossed out. Bummed about it, but whatever. As they say from where I come from, "какие наши годы?"

Vader:

Return to the Morbid Reich
Sothis
Come and See My Sacrifice
Devilizer
Cold Demons
I Am Who Feasts Upon Your Soul
Black Velvet and Skulls of Steel
Wings
Carnal
(The Final Massacre)
Decapitated Saints
The Sea Came in at Last
Helleluyah!!! God Is Dead
This Is the War
(Sword of the Witcher)
(Raining Blood)

Next came on Marduk, who upon finishing soundcheck, put on eerie intro music on the PA and spent around twenty minutes backstage putting on their corpsepaint. I didn't enjoy their performance as much as I should've, but I will admit that of all the black metal bands I've seen, their live sound has been the closest to evil incarnate During Baptism by Fire, Mortuus stuck the mic in my face for each chorus, which I thought was pretty badass. I didn't get a setlist, but I'm assuming their set stayed the same throughout the tour:

Marduk:

On Darkened Wings
Nowhere, No-One, Nothing
Materialized in Stone
Still Fucking Dead
The Black Tormentor of Satan
Baptism by Fire
Womb of Perishableness
Souls for Belial
Warschau 2: Headhunter Halfmoon
Panzer Division Marduk

Well, the rest is history; I left early, leaving Kataklysm to do whatever it is that they do. Here's their set from the previous dates of the tour for all you Kata-fans:

Kataklysm:

A Soulless God
Serenity in Fire
Let Them Burn
The Resurrected
Iron Will
As I Slither
At the Edge of the World
The Awakener
Crippled & Broken
Taking the World by Storm

In Shadows & Dust (Intro)
Push the Venom

Pigman out Every Time I Die tomorrow night!

[mankvill]

Originally Posted by brutal_descent

Vader:

Cold Demons


Marduk:

Baptism by Fire

Those two songs right there are songs I NEED to hear live before I die.

[brutal_descent]

By the way, there were a lot of hot girls in Marduk t-shirts

[NecroRob]

It's so criminal for Vader to play "This is the War" and not continue by playing "Lead Us!!!" as well. They did that the last time I saw them and it just didn't feel right...