I bought my ticket for this show before Samael was announced as a special guest, but also before I heard Faith Divides Us Death Unites Us.
Why am I saying this? Well, I didn't like the new PL album and...
I arrived in Stodola (concert hall when majority of major metal ghigs take place in Warsaw, venue of capacity of ca. 1,200) around 19:15, when the hall was almost empty and so I had a chance to grab a drink and check out the merch without queueing. Paradise Lost had some nice tees, but as I'm not fond of the new CD, I picked a skull T (a really nice deisgn BTW) which isn't directly connected with any album.
The opening band, Carnal, had a really great sound. In fact, they turned out to be the best sounding band of the evening! Loud and crystal clear. The music was also good, but not for me. I reckon I'd have enjoyed it 15 years ago. Let's say they're a melodic version of early Machine Head and leave it there.
Samael were next. I wasn't thrilled as Above was also a disappointment for me and I still had last year's appearance of the Swiss commando at Vader's XXV anniversary (which sucked, in short). This show was much different, luckily. The sound was good (not as good as Carnal's, but still really good). The band were hyperexcited to play in Poland again (they're considered one of the most respected and biggest metal acts here; in fact, I can hardly think of a band more respected among Polish metalheads).
Mas was in constant motion, headbanging and dancing in his usual twisted way and I could see that Makro finally started moving on stage, in a more or less similar way. Xy was visible mainly when he picked drumsticks and stopped playing keyboards for a few seconds in most dramatic parts of some songs. And Vorph was glaring with positive energy...not in a gay way, just positive - smile when needed, faked frown when playing old stuff
, but all the time maintaining great contact with the crowd.
The setlist was very good, not perfect, but I enjoyed even songs from Solar Soul (another Samael album I dislike). They weren't the headliner, so they had to leave after about 45 minutes. The setlist was more or less like this:
Rain
Solar Soul
Reign of Light
Baphomet's Throne
Infra Galaxia
Black Hole
Western Ground
Ceremony of Opposites
Into the Pentagram
Slavocracy
The Ones Who Came Before
Then Paradise Lost came on. With muffled sound, too much bass on it - the only instrument that could be well heard were the drums. Bass was felt through the floor rather than heard through the ears. Guitars were audible, but hidden. Nick's vocals were OK, better than most time I heard him. But the setlist, oh the fucking setlist...the setlist was horrible.
Apart from playing a few songs off the new album (including the only good track from this record, Frailty), they concentrated on their most commercial songs. We heard One Second, Enchantment, Say Just Words, The Last Time, Erased, and so on. The only moments when I was having fun was when they played their immortal classics: Pity the Sadness (yeeeeeeessss!) and As I Die (yes). I had to leave the room in the middle of the show and opted for a few rounds of vodka shots with my friends instead of watching the disco frenzy performed by the Brits.
I swear, this was the last PL concert I have been to, unless of course they are to be featured on a larger (festival, etc.) bill. Not only have they failed to come back with an album containing ''music to be murder by" (Nick's own words), but they have done everything to scare the old fans away from their gigs by picking the most poppy material to play live.
Fuck this, at least Samael knew where they were playing. Hail to Samal, and to PL: don't come back here, fuck you and bye (quot. from Life of Agony). No, really - respect for what you've done on first 4-5 albums, but quit calling yourself metal. Cheers.
P.S. You won't believe that eating/drinking a table spoon of honey after heavy drinking results in no hangover the day after! Thanks for the advice and the company, Adam and Ola!
12-02-2009, 01:31 AM
