"The 20th anniversary for the one, AHAB. The 10th anniversary for the others, ULTHA. A unique collaboration for a unique evening. In a total of 30 years, they have chased a lot of dark sounds into the world. As if the white was "incomprehensible" and could therefore only be countered with a lot of darkness."

[Dajana] Yes, indeed, an unusual combination of bands and sounds in an unusual location. The :: Christ Church ::, which was almost sold out that evening, has already seen many artists live, and so have we. Musically, however, most of the bands were rather "noise-reduced", quieter by nature or presented acoustic or unplugged versions. That evening was actually the first time we had seen "noise bands" live in the Christ Church ;)
On the other hand, I heard about an In Flames concert at this venue, where the fans stood the pews upright... Ok, anyway, we're late this year. The NOCTURNAL HALL team got together today for the first concert of the year :)

[BRT] With ULTHA playing right on my doorstep, of course I couldn't say no. Strangely enough, I have a hard time with the nautical doomers AHAB. And then both bands in the Christ Church, I was very curious to see if the sound wouldn't be drowned out by the reverb. Because one thing was clear, both bands are rather difficult to imagine unplugged.

:: pics :: ULTHA ::

[Dajana] It's (holy) Sunday, the doors of the church opened and closed early. Well, that was probably the plan. It was supposed to close at 10pm because of the residents and all that. It ended up being a bit later ;) I was particularly looking forward to see :: ULTHA :: playing live. I never did so far. Furious, raw and fast black metal in a church. That in itself already gives me goose bumps. And indeed, the reverberating church sound gave the already great music that certain something.
Compared to Ahab, ULTHA have released just as many albums in half the time, but on this evening, they concentrated on their latest album, All That Has Never Been True, released in 2022. There was also one song from each of the two previous albums.
ULTHA hit the stage at 7pm. Guitarist and singer R first appropriately recited a blessing (but it wasn't really meant seriously) and then it got hellishly loud in the church. With bassist C's piercing shrieks, I sometimes wondered what passers-by outside the church would think ;)
The church organ during Der alte Feind (Jeder Tag reißt Wunden) could have been a bit more dominant, especially in this location. I don't know how good it sounded at the back. BRT? Other playful finesse was also a bit lost.
What really bothered me, from a photographic perspective, was the one-dimensional red light in compact smoke. In other words, you couldn't see much. Well, ULTHA are known for not letting anything distract from the music. But you could hear. You got to hear with brutal force. For a good 60 minutes. Did I say goosebumps? Yes? Good!

[BRT] The sound was great at the back, the synths were very clear to hear, and even if they and Master Schaub's drumming were a bit more present than usual, the sound was very homogeneous and clean overall, everything was very easy to hear. When it comes to the red light, there's never really anything else with ULTHA (yes, it looks awesome, it's just crappy to photograph ;) - Dajana). Red light and fog to the max is of course twice as good in a church. Unfortunately, the real church organ was not integrated into the concert...
Otherwise, it was exactly the intense hurricane I had hoped for, except that the location made it even more special. With a special focus on All That Has Never Been True, the guys played songs from one of the strongest albums of 2022 and, in my opinion, their best. The response clearly reflected this and in turn seemed to fire up the band.
Goosebumps? Yes, and how.

Band: R (git, vox), C (bass, vox), L (git), M (drums), A (electronics)
Setlist: The Night Took Her Right Before My Eyes, Der alte Feind (Jeder Tag reißt Wunden), Dispel, Bathed In Lightning - Bathed In Heat, The Avarist (Eyes Of A Tragedy), Rats Gorged The Moon... And All Fell Silent

:: pics :: AHAB ::

[Dajana] :: AHAB :: were already in the starting blocks for the last sounds of Ultha and had changed the stage in no time. AHAB took their time for their new album. The Coral Tombs was released a good year ago after an eight-year break and, like its predecessors, was highly praised by fans and the press. On this evening, AHAB presented a wonderful journey through all five albums, a kind of retrospective. Overall, this was not a setlist put together especially for the anniversary shows, but one that had already been presented live in recent months. However, this also had the advantage that the tracks in this order built up great dynamics, so that the attention rarely wandered off during the extra-long tracks that are usual for Funeral Doom.
It got a bit quieter, there were longer acoustic passages, which created a lot of atmospheres (in which the loud chatter of two horny drunks with an equally drunk lady really got on my nerves). There was a bit more light, but also even more fog - the three jets were stupidly placed right in front of the noses of the string section. Four of them with the guitarists/bassist in the gap would have been much more visually appealing ;)

[BRT] As said, I cannot do much with funeral doom, especially with AHAB. Unfortunately, because the literary themes alone really kick my ass. But the music doesn't catch me. I've seen AHAB live many times and also tried the records, but overall, the material is probably too unwieldy for me, although the ingredients are actually just right. It was the same in the Christ Church, everything was in the right place, but unfortunately it didn't touch me.
Funnily enough, Prof. Arronax Descent Into The Vast Ocean from the current album The Coral Tombs, on which Chris from Ultha did the guest vocals, was not played. That would have been ideal... Well, AHAB were also well received overall, so they must be doing something right.

[Dajana] Yes, it was a brilliant show, even if it got a bit too lengthy for me at the end. I didn't even know about Chris' guest vocals with AHAB. Damn, THAT would definitely have been an anniversary-worthy highlight! But all in all, it was a great concert evening and a nice start for the year 2024. Judas Priest's next ;)

Band: Daniel Droste (vox, git), Chris Hector (git), Stephan Wandernoth (bass), Cornelius Althammer (drums)
Setlist: Further South, Like Red Foam (The Great Storm), The Sea As A Desert, Old Thunder, Redemption Lost, Colossus Of The Liquid Graves, The Divinity Of Oceans, Antarctica The Polymorphess, The Hunt