As one of the unlucky ones who had not witnessed DISSECTION in their prime during the mid-90s (I have, hehe - "Sadistic Frank") having the chance to see them once really meant a lot to me. Since the first day I heard them I loved this band and that’s why my expectations were pretty high to this “Rebirth”. The new song, as Frank correctly wrote in his review, is rather disappointing - blandly said – and came as quite a shock making me dread the band’s appearance in Osnabrück might turn into a total farce… fortunately it did not turn out that way in the end… The local support NEBELHEER who entered the N8-stage first was ok, consisted obviously of three younger guys and delivered a melodic, atmospheric Black / Thrash mix with a bit too monotonous shrieks and lyrics in German language. Definitely not my cup of tea, but with enough power to mobilize parts of the good-humoured audience and profiting from the gutsy sound, NEBELHEER proved to be a solid starter and received quite positive reactions. After a hellish long break the excellent Swedish Black Metal horde WATAIN was the first highlight of the evening. The stage-setting with skulls, bones, banner, candles, chains and torches was impressive and perfectly underlined the sinister aura of these orthodox devil-worshippers. With his theatrical gestures and poses scrawny singer Erik (only eating crispbread or what?) disseminated charisma and dedication to the band’s black art while the rest of the band was a little static, but also martially “corpse-painted”. The approximately one meter distance between stage and audience, which got hold back by some sort of barrier, reduced the intensity and intimacy of the show especially compared to the one I saw in Niederquembach last year, but apart from a little quiet guitar sound it was still great. People banged and honoured WATAIN’s performance and apart from ‘Devil’s Blood’ and ‘Opus Dei’, which I would have loved to hear live, the setlist was pretty good: Some songs taken from the debut like ‘The Limb Crucifix’, ‘Rabid Death’s Curse’ and ‘On Horns Impaled’ (which Eric dedicated to SECRETS OF THE MOON) plus material off “Casus Luciferi” like for example ‘I Am The Earth’, ‘Black Salvation’ and ‘The Golden Horns Of Darash’ confirmed why this band is so popular at the moment and what Black Metal should be about and how it should be performed. WATAIN embody the essence of it… Another way too long break passed, the typical DISSECTION-crosses and a new banner decorated the stage and the relatively small and shitty-built N8 (too many “dangerous-for-drunken-people” steps and hindering barriers) was filled to the brim with around 350 people bruising in front of the stage when suddenly ‘At The Fathomless Depths’ emerged from the speakers. The audience cheered and I’m sure some could not believe that they’ll be seeing DISSECTION in a minute, tension grew and then the quartet entered stage and started with ‘Black Horizons’. The sound was powerful and transparent though a bit too “ear-friendly” and Jon Nödtveidt seemed a little surprised by the huge appreciation with which he was welcomed by the audience. In return he and especially the second guitarist delivered an energetic performance and except the crappy ‘Maha Kali’ the setlist was simply perfect: ‘A Land Forlorn’, ‘Thorns Of Crimson Death’, ‘Frozen’, ‘Unhallowed’, ‘Retribution-Storm Of The Light’s Bane’, ‘Where Dead Angels Lie’, ‘Night’s Blood’, ‘Elizabeth Bathori’, ‘Soulreaper’ and an impressive version of ‘The Somberlain’, which gave me the creeps, awesome! Most people (including myself) were pretty happy with the performance of the new line-up and Jon Nödtveidt’s energetic appearance, but I expect that the band’s magic has decreased when you’d seen them in their earlier days and with the old line-up. In addition to that the drummer could not convince me, he was tight, but somehow the drumming sounded “softer” than on the albums… strange. Overall DISSECTION’s rebirth was definitely a fantastic experience for someone like me who had not seen them before and witnessing all the great old songs performed onstage was something really special! Yet, from listening to ‘Maha Kali’ I doubt that the Swedish horde will be able to continue on the level of dark intensity they reached with “Storm…” and its (in my opinion even better) predecessor “The Somberlain” when they enter the recording studio. I bet the differences between the new and the old line-up will truly manifest then, but we shall see…this “Live-Rebirth” was definitely worth the wait!!!

Links of interest: www.dissection.nu, www.templeofwatain.com, www.nebelheer.de, www.bruchstein-tours.de

Live report: Stefan Franke
Photos: Daniel Horlbogen 

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