HEART FULL OF SADNESS AND RAGE TURNED INTO HEART FULL
The concert was opened by SERVANT, German band from Lower Saxony formed in 2021. They have already released two studio albums: “Blessed by the Light of a Thousand Stars” from 2021 and “Aetas Ascensus” from 2023. This was their first performance in Croatia and they set the mood for the evening black metal and presented their vision of what you get when you combine death, Devil and magic. Great gig with many creative melodious digressions which made their sound unique and impressionable!
ONE HELL OF A CONCERT: Per Groza ad Astra
GROZA had an amazing performance that can be summed up in two words: extremely powerful! This was the first concert in the last four months I enjoyed to the fullest extent. During the last 30 years all the concerts I attended were accompanied by streams of alcohol and some greasy food afterwards. After my operation and major health issues: I can’t have alcohol or any unhealthy food, cigarettes etc. So, it was one hell of a concert – as I didn’t need anything to lift up my mood, nor the company of anyone to simply feed great. I felt for the first time: there is nothing missing from this perfect moment right now. It is personally the most precious gift I felt: to know I can go to concerts and enjoy to the fullest without anything or anyone. Music is all I need. I learned: the world hasn’t stopped and everything is fine and it almost brings tears to my eyes out of pure joy. Extremely liberating! From this moment I know: I am free. Life became a bit more bearable, which is a huge accomplishment!
Two months ago, GROZA released “Daffodils” in collaboration with Harakiri for the sky & Karg and it was a fascinating song, but only after I heard it live: I switched to adoration as it’s extremely powerful! I believe the secret ingredient was extreme amounts of grief and rage at injustice which transferred to an amazing song with fascinating raging passion. It’s one of those songs that make you stop doing everything and think really hard about the meaning of life and death.
Absolute highlights of the concert were performances of “Elegance of Irony” and “The Redemptive End”. “Daffodils” is side by side with those all-time favourites and the special touch that made us adore the band even more was a very emotional and touching dedication of the song to Mike “M.S.”, who sadly passed away.
Although the band itself doesn’t mind comparisons with Mgła, I think the band itself evolved enough not to be considered as a one of the Mgła lookalikes, but rather a unique entity on its own as the latest work the band presented proved originality, skills and sensibility of a great band within the genre.
ELLENDE had their first performance in Croatia and it has been a long wait for the fans in Croatia as many were looking forward to seeing the band live for a long time! Ellende is a black metal solo project created in 2011 in Graz, and behind it is L.G, who gathered session/live musicians around him a year later. The band has released five albums so far, and the most current of them, “Todbringerin”, which saw the light of day at the end of August, was promoted last night. The band is considered an ambient post-black metal band which covers themes such as: nature, melancholy, existentialism and other. Their gig was great and they sounded a lot better live than expected and they also created a fired-up atmosphere at the venue. It was pure beauty and energy wrapped in the comfort of black metal void of nothingness that sounded so familiar and closer than a closest friend in time of need.
