I was really looking forward to see two of the best “Pagan-related” – acts, namely MOONSORROW and irish masters PRIMORDIAL and driving through all these lovely little villages in the heart of the Thuringian Forest with all them Easter-fires burning definitely set the scene. Unfortunately, the Kallewerk itself is more like a huge disco with white lanterns and huge “Red Bull” - flags all over, not exactly what one would call a Metal temple. But probably good enough for all the poor young guys who spend their military service in the army barracks located here where they are educated to become full-time alcoholics. Which brings us to the irish masters of misery, MOURNING BELOVETH. Having missed GARDENS OF GEHENA, they were the first act I witnessed. Their last album “This Murderous Circus” is quite a monument in terms of bleak, yet still majestic doom but these 15-minute excursions into the realms of depression and emptiness don’t exactly go together with a “rocking” live-performance. Plus they were suffering from a highly uninterested audience that was scattered around the place (a situation that would only slightly change for MOONSORROW’s gig). Exception must be made for a handful of maniacs right in the front who enthusiastically celebrated every band that played that night. Good to see, that there’s at least some spirit left. But all in all, MOURNING BELOVETH's gig went by widely ignored and when the drums suddenly fucked up during the last song they just left the stage. In a strange way, it all fitted very much to the dreary atmosphere of their music. MOONSORROW was next and obviously the main attraction for most. Another perfect example that mjölnirs and viking imagery are still vital ingredients for popularity in this scene. But with their brilliant “Bloodverses” MOONSORROW at least deserve it. Due to the epic song-proportions of their masterpiece they only played ‘Pimeä’, but the other titles also made for solid heathen-entertainment. Quite a few people already left after this gig, which wasn’t all too promising for PRIMORDIAL. Just to put things straight, to me they are the most relevant Metal band that is still around and I can’t think of any other act that has constantly been releasing brilliant stuff, completely unimpressed by all the obstacles that every band has to face that is uncompromisingly following their vision and not marketing strategies. But although I’ve seen them quite often during the last couple of years they still have to come up with a fully convincing live presentation. They’ll probably never get a really huge audience unless they call their next record “The legacy of the ill-fated Irish viking wankers” but it were two other major problems that made this gig the weakest performance I had to witness from them yet. First, they couldn’t bring their lead-guitar genius. They had someone replacing him but to me he was more like a second rhythm-guitar player and the distinctive lead-melodies were painfully missed. The second, even worse problem was, as Alan Averill himself so eloquently put it, his “totally fucked up” voice. Don’t know what happened to him but most of the time he was rather speaking than actually singing and if you’re familiar with their material you might imagine the loss. Especially ‘The Coffin Ships’, one of the most moving Metal tracks I’ve ever heard, was completely ruined by both the lack of lead guitar and – singer. Anyway, you have to pay respect that A.A. was really fighting his way through a considerably shortened set and, thanks to the maniacs mentioned above, the band even played an encore, not the obligatory ‘To Enter Pagan’ though. Still, here’s hoping that I’ll live to see an altogether convincing concert of my favourite band. P.S.: 10 Euro for that MAEL MORDHA split, that’s just ridiculous…

Torsten Gründig

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