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Friday, February 19, 2016

Kataklysm / Belphegor @ Baltimore Soundstage 11/8/2015

I went to see Canadian Death Metal band Kataklysm with Austrian black metal (finally!) Belphegor ($20). I saw Scott, Daniel G, Renae and due, Sean, Jason, Erin, and Zach, there.


There were a few hundred in attendance this evening for a pretty solid set of bands. I don't think Kataklysm really has a huge draw, but I've always liked them. I know Belphegor had at least a couple cancelled tours over here, so finally seeing them live I was excited for.

Haters gon hate







Merchandise was pretty plentiful, but unfortunately a bit not to my taste. I think I would have gotten a shirt ($25) if Kataklysm had less crazy (bad crazy) designs. I mean the "Hate" one was amazing for an inside joke, but the guy getting shot in the head was a bit much (too brutal?), the prayer one not for me, and the Soul Destroyer one a bit different. I have to say they DID have variety. They also had also had beanies and boyshorts ($15) and some physical media (CD/DVD/LP -$10/$20/$25). Belphegor had some pretty standard black metal type designs, along with a couple racy topless demons  for their shirts, a ton of CDs ($15), a hat ($20), patch ($5).


Bonus Belphegor

There was a local act or 2 that I saw but didn't really get into. I think I was mostly looking at the merch, observing, and chatting. Sorry guys :/



Brutal black metal band Belphegor, whom I had been waiting to see for some time- they always seemed to cancel before they got over here was up before Kataklysm. They came on to an ominous intro and some sort of bell- before exploding the speakers (figuratively) and sounding kind of like a satanic mess (not in a bad way). The force that they brought was pretty killer, even if it kind of made the vocals and some guitar parts inaudible at times. That being said- I think I need to brush up on their discography, because I only caught the name of a couple songs, and completely didn't recognize the rest (not that I would have anyways- their wall of black metal sound is pretty brutal). Not that I didn't enjoy it for the most part- black metal live has an energy all of its own! They had some pretty cool looking skull microphone stand too.



AND SMOKE TOO




Kataklysm, with their more....distinct... sound was a lot better, IMO. We only got 2 tracks off of their latest album (Of Ghosts and Gods), surprisingly, as this was the tour for that album!  They had two from Waiting for the End to Come (their previous). I don't think I've heard "Ambassador of Pain" live before. I would have loved to hear more tracks like "Prevail" or "Marching Through Graveyards," but they only played a rather short headline of about 50 minutes. The last time I saw them headline, in 2014, they also do about 50 minutes too. Even in 2012, their amount of songs played was the samso I figure that was a 50 minute set too! Not a good thing to be consistent on. We need more metal guys!



Regardless, frontman Maurizio Iacono had a pretty great command of the somewhat small crowd. He stomped around stage and did his two finger pointing thing a lot. The heavy groove of their chaotic death metal really worked for me this evening. They sounded great (apart from some "too heavy" moments) that made my ears bleed a little bit (even with earplugs). I think the sound was a bit loud because there were not a lot of bodies to soak up the sound.  Hell, I was actually on the rail for a bit, right up front, which I rarely do/am able to do.




Overall. it was an odd pairing for the tour, and unfortunately too short of a show. I recall hanging out for a bit after, hopeful for some foto with the corpse painted heroes from overseas, but that didn't happen. I was left wanting more :(

Next show: KAMELOT YESSSSSSSSSSSSSss

Photos
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Setlists
Belphegor(9:35- 10:24)

  • Intro
  • ? (bell)
  • ?
  • ? eyes of ?
  • ?
  • ?
  • ?
  • Lucifer Incestus
  • Conjuring the Dead
  • ?
  • ?

Kataklysm (11:00-11:53)
  • If I Was God... I'd Burn It All
  • The Black Sheep
  • As I Slither
  • At the Edge of the World
  • Thy Serpents Tongue
  • The Ambassador of Pain
  • Push the Venom
  • Like Animals
  • Soul Destroyer
  • ? (maybe Like Angels Weeping (The Dark))
  • In Shadows & Dust
  • Crippled & Broken

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