BEHEMOTH
with Watain & Bolzer
Capitol - Perth, Australia
September 29th 2015
Tour packages that combine more than one capable headliner are always a great idea and especially so for Australia where the market can be harsh as far as ticket sales verses tour costs go. The latest package to hit Australia comes in the form of 3 of Europe's darkest bands in metal - Behemoth, Watain and Bolzer - who all differ from each other stylistically but share the same passion for intense and heavy music. Perth was lucky to catch these guys on the first show of the tour so here's what went down on the night.
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Kicking off the night were death metallers Bolzer who are a 2 man band with a strong atmospheric vibe in their music. I'll admit I don't know a whole lot about this band but from what I can gather at my first experience with them, they meant serious business as they pummelled their way through a fairly decent length set that warmed the crowd who were still spilling into the venue during their set.
Watain was the band I was actually looking forward to seeing the most, I love their black metal style that hints at rock n'roll and thrash in certain aspects of their music. After catching them at Soundwave a few years ago, I was intrigued to see how a club show would differ from their more theatrical festival set. As the band came out, the stage was laden with props that was a scaled down version of what they do best but when all is said and done, their music said it all. The pure black metal atmospheric stuff is great but it's the thrashy and hooky stuff that really stands out and while the crowd took a good while to really get into it, by the time the last few songs were blasting through the PA, the crowd was all over it. Their last album "The Wild Hunt" was released 2 years ago and the band managed to play some tracks off it including the title track which was one of the highlights of the night. It was the intensity of which the band were playing at which really stood out in the performance, vocalist Erik Danielsson giving his absolute best to the crowd despite having less than impressive feedback from them. As possible retaliation (or not haha?), there was blood spilled into the crowd by Watain which ended up looking like a murder scene in the moshpit, fans still literally covered in blood after the show. As "Malfeitor" rounded out their set, all I could think was it was going to be tough for Behemoth to top this one.
The Polish legends of black/death metal that is Behemoth came out to a much bigger and receptive crowd, clearly the band that most were waiting for on the night. Frontman Nergal doesn't say a lot to the fans during the show but he doesn't have to, the band are about as serious to their music as the fans are to having a good time and there was no disappointment seen as the band pushed their way through a set filled with tracks from "The Satanist" along with a handful of oldies. It's not often that a band that's been around as long as Behemoth have a new album that is right up there with the old stuff but that is exactly what "The Satanist" is. These songs were really made for the live experience and you could tell the band were having a ton of fun performing them, even a smile cracked from the face of Orion during the set so that has to say something! "Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer" was a highlight with it's cool groove but "At the Left Hand ov God" was an absolute standout with it's tribal beat and riffy melodies.
As the band walked off the stage after a couple of encore tracks complete in evil looking head gear from "The Satanist", it was clear that Behemoth won the night over and the sweaty fans that could be seen staggering out of the venue was a testament to the power of the band. But both Bolzer and Watain held their own very well, Watain especially winning fans over by their second half of the set. We hope to see more of this tour package stuff coming to Australia as I'm sure the fans who attended truly appreciate it.
Photo Gallery - click to enlarge
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Review by Andrew "Schizodeluxe" Massie
Photos by Tammie Molotov - Molotov Enterprises And Photography
