De Profundis XXV Album Reedition tour
MARA was formed in 2012 when Dimitrios and Erik joined forces and started rehearsing in Tynnered. In 2014 they recorded the demo “Usurpers to the Crown” which was followed by several local live performances. In 2017 the band recorded live performance both with audio and video, so this resulted in the release of the live EP “Live at Sticky Fingers”. Special feature that the band has to offer is the fact that Mara always creates as a unit and it contributes to influences of several creative approaches and brings out the unique of their style. The latter was demonstrated within their debut album “Djävulstoner”. The band states that their goal is to deliver hard hitting riffs, innovative song structures and an rebellious attitude to modern music. Inspiration for their music is drawn from the state of the world as well as astronomical and cosmic currents. The band recently released a new single called “Embers of Hades” in order to celebrate European tour together with Vader and Reject The Sickness so make sure you check it out.
Mara were the first band too perform last night and they have successfully presented their vision and sound of misty metal from the frozen shores of Sweden, fusing the sounds of misanthropy and spirituality. The description of the sound is taken over from the band directly and I must admit that the live performance was a great surprise as some of the bands tracks do not sound as energetic and uplifting as it was demonstrated at the live performance. Overall, the impressions are great and the band emits positive energy as a well-coordinated team of musicians.
REJECT THE SICKNESS (Belgium) presents their style as a lethal cocktail of melodic-death and thrash metal. Reject The Sickness is a five-piece band from Belgium that has been shredding metal since 2010. Their lyrical concept that deals with outcast youth. Abuse, neglect, self harm and how to deal with the aforementioned are the main themes. The lyrics are fictional although Guy, the vocalist, can draw inspiration from his job as a social worker. It is a walk through the darkest reaches of the human psyche. Musically, progressive and ambient elements are threaded into a blend of thrash and death metal that is melodic without compromising on aggression.
Reject The Sickness gave an excellent performance and I must say that I was especially amazed by the singer Guy Vercruysse as his energy with synergy with the band really engaged the audience into heavy head banging from the very start. Maybe my sympathy for the band lays in the fact that their lyrics are especially socially engaged as the band deals with the same issues that underline all that is wrong with human relations, maturity issues and all other interactions. Lyrical themes are concentrated around child neglect, anger, emotions, negativity which makes the band special in terms that they are delivering a very strong message of issues that inflict all of our lives on daily basis. I am also a social worker and was really amazed by the powerful sound of the band live, charisma of the singer and the energy the band transmitted while addressing some of the most important topic today.
VADER is a Polish death metal band founded back in 1983 in Olsztyn. They started as a heavy/speed metal band, then switched to thrash sound and eventually evolved to death metal to which they have been faithful for over 30 years. They started achieving popularity in the Polish metal scene after the first Metalmania edition show in 1986. After going through a number of line-up and music direction changes, in 1987 they eventually embraced a death metal sound with reminiscences of thrash. Members of the band are Piotr “Peter” Wiwczarek (lead guitar, vocals), Marek “Spider” Pająk (rhythm guitar), Tomasz “Hal” Halicki (bass) and Brit James Stewart (drums). The band has released 11 albums so far, while the most current release is the EP “Thy Messenger” from May 2019. The name of course comes from Darth Vader, and their lyrical songs are inspired by the stories of H.P. Lovecraft, World War II and horror as a genre. Lyrical themes concentrate around: necronomicon, magic, anti-religion, war, darkness and similar. The band is currently on a European tour, as part of the De Profundis XXV Album Reedition tour.
The Polish death metal legends Vader finally returned to Zagreb after more than eight years and unfortunate break due to a pandemic, which coursed numerous cancellations of the show. Those cancellations caused us many frustrations and an overall feeling of uncertainty, so all those moments caused overwhelming feelings of happiness as one of the most admired death metal bands actually and finally arrived to Zagreb! The band totally dominated the stage and brought the audience to a boil in a matter of first minutes into their live performance. It was great to see such a great band in a smaller and more intimate venue such as Močvara, as it was easier to experience the best band has to offer and step up closer into the first lines in the audience. It was no surprise to see that fans were travelling from all over the country to see the legendary band live and that the venue was packed! It’s too hard to pick the best part of the concert as the opus of the band is highly impressive, but performance of the “Into Oblivion” as the gig was coming to the closure was pure gold. Hopefully we’ll have more chances to see the band live and without any more cancelations which cost us a lot of nerves.
VADER
REJECT THE SICKNESS
MARA
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