Samael, the Swiss industrial/black metal band played for the second time in Croatia on Thursday, the show being a part of their Solar Soul Balkans Tour 2009, alongside with the Norwegians Keep of Kalessin and the Slovene band Noctiferia. I haven’t seen the latter, but the former two did great. All in all, it was a a night of pure industrial and some black/death metal.
Keep of Kalessin –  consisting of four guys from Trondheim – were pretty good, and that I must admit. My firsyt impression wasn’t that great, since I thought they were producing just a wall of noise, but after giving them a few minutes, I changed my mind and found out I actually liked them pretty much. They’re aggressive, but there is some melody in all that brutality, and it sounds good. They were nominated for a Norwgian prize called Spellemannprisen in 2008 and toured with Behemothom and Dimmu Borgir the same year to promote their last album Kolossus, which they still promote, now with Samael. They were quite interesting, and that is why there should have been more people there to see them – but, most of the people were there to see Samael, so the venue wasn’t full until later. They put me in a good mood for what was to come, even though I must admit I had no real idea about how good the Samael show was going to be.
Samael came onstage sometime after 11. The red lights were on, making the feeling somewhat hellish. The second they started playing it was obvious these guys know what they’re here for – I haven’t really been listening to Samael for years and wasn’t sure about what to expect, but what I heard and saw was really something. They sound powerful and energyful, aggressive yet almost hypnotizing. The light show and the video wall suit the music perfectly, which along with the band’s appearance was all absoultely professional and in tune with the band’s image and attitude. They played songs from various albums, from „Valryries’ New Ride“, „Slavocracy“, and „Solar Soul“ from the eopnymous album, to some older stuff like „Jupiter Vibe“ and „Rain“.  All in all, they left an impression even on such a metal dropout as myself. I would say they’re really worth seeing live, no matter if you are a fan of theirs or even a fan of industrial metal at all, they’re  a must see for every fan of any heavier subgenre of metal.

Report: Sara Profeta
Photo: Ivana Sataić (ivana@venia-mag.net)