What’s better than a gig where I get to see one of my all time favourite bands? Answer: a gig where I get to see one of my all time favourite bands, with another one of my all time favourite bands supporting them!
Tonight’s event took me to a venue called Hellraiser in Leipzig, a place that seemed to be a little off the beaten track on the outskirts of the city. Upon entry the place seemed to feel a little poorly laid-out with a bottleneck forming at the merch before even getting into the main room, where the stage which looked very cramped even before taking into account the fact that both band’s gear was set up together onstage.
I felt particularly concerned about King Satan‘s lack of space as they have a lot of movement to their performance as a whole – and I’d particularly enjoyed seeing bassist Jerry’s karate kicks on the stage in Turku at their album launch about a week and a half prior to this, so I was hoping the lack of space wouldn’t hinder the band. Naturally this was only a minor worry, because King Satan absolutely nailed it as always, just like I knew they would despite the lack of room to fully move.
King Satan is a band that is best appreciated live, because although their albums are all great, it’s in a live environment that they really come to life. As I usually see KS in Finland, naturally frontman King Aleister Satan addresses the crowd in Finnish, so it was great to understand what was being said for a change due to being in Germany this time around – however I did feel minorly offended when he said “we are only here to warm you up” because I was honestly just as excited to see King Satan as Kätilöt!
Riding the high of the release of their fourth album The Devil’s Evangelion, the setlist naturally leaned more towards that album than their previous ones as they showcased what they had to offer with their latest material. Chaos Forever Now is amazing live (I think I prefer its live rendition to the recorded one!) and led in nicely to Once Upon A Shadow, which also follows it on the album.
Although I have chosen to die on the hill that The Pagan Satan isn’t a great live song (like mentioned in my previous review of them, the slightly awkward slower tempo always makes the set lose a bit of momentum in my opinion), the set gained all its energy back with the chaotic The Carnivalesque of Dark and Light, which is an absolute delight in a live environment. One of my favourite tracks from The Devil’s Evangelion, I had been curious to see how the track’s chaotic nature would translate into a live environment – and it was utterly magnificent, with its frenetic energy giving the song extra bite live. This was followed by Fuck Yoga, which was one of my personal favourites of this performance. Fuck Yoga is always fun to witness live, but this time around it seemed to have extra vigour and fire.
Closing the set with The Killing Of God, it felt like a very satisfying ending to an absolutely wonderful set (although I certainly wouldn’t have said no to an extra song or two because I’m greedy, what can I say). When I first discovered this band at Nummirock in 2017, I knew I’d come across something special and over the years I have been a fan, they have just gone from strength to strength. A very well-deserved support slot for such a talented band.
Like with King Satan, Turmion Kätilöt is a band best appreciated live. Whilst I of course enjoy listening to their entire back catalogue, it’s in a live environment that this band really shines. I’ve honestly lost count of how many times I’ve seen them over the years, but it’s testament to their fantastic live presence that I keep forking out money to fly overseas to see them live.
My first time seeing them live since the release of their latest effort Reset, I was intrigued to see which songs from it that they would choose to perform. Although my ‘top two’ picks from the album (Trauma and Puuttuva Naula) didn’t make it into the setlist, and a chunk of some of my other older live favourites didn’t feature, this didn’t make a difference in the slightest.
There wasn’t as much movement about the stage as I was used to due to the small size of the space, but they certainly weren’t lacking in energy as they powered through a set featuring highlights such as Verta ja lihaa, Kerran kuollut, Verestä sokea and Hades, the latter featuring a rather interesting introduction touching on dungeons and slaves – it certainly made me wonder what I’ve been missing out on during the shows where they have been addressing the crowd in Finnish!
Naitu in particular is always a treat. There’s just something about that introduction that really hypes the song up, and although I prefer it as a set-opener, it really gets you moving no matter where it falls in the set. And meanwhile on the flip-side, I was a little sceptical about them closing with Pulssi due to it being the only song I didn’t fully connect with on Reset, but I was happy to have my opinion changed because it seemed to have a different vibe live and worked fantastically as a way to wind up an already-amazing set.
Once again, Turmion Kätilöt delivered – and I’m already counting down the days to see them at Nummirock in June!
Leave a Reply