| Doors: 7 pm | Show: 8 pm | Tickets: 32.50 EUR plus fees |

[Dajana] 1, 2, 3… triple complete. Oh wait, 8-11-16 and the triple “O” is perfect. After Obituary (11/8), Overkill (11/11) now I got to see OPETH, within one week (and one day). What a dramatic bow of musical awesomeness ;)

[Dajana] For a quarter century Sweden’s musical alchemists, OPETH, are one of the most creative, unique and most impressive protagonists of the Prog/Rock/Metal scene. They don’t need to be introduced anymore. But if so, shedding light on every aspect of the band and their entire work, I had to be a music scientist for and it would fill a book. So, it has to be enough to say that OPETH are still as creative as ever, remain true to themselves in every single note they compose, and do musically whatever they would like to do, against all conventions and marketing aspects. They still love to include elements from unusual musical fields and are so wonderfully unpredictable, on their records as well as live on stage ;) Oh, I still remember the show at Night Of The Prog Festival 2013, where everybody expected a “nice” and melodic clean sung ProgRock show and got the full Death Metal set with harsh growls. I never have seen so many jaws dropping before… hahaha. That was utmost funny, indeed, and so OPETH!

[Dajana] After the festivities to the band’s 25th anniversary, the OPETH have released their 12th studio album Sorceress that once again will make fans’ opinions differs. Far, far away from their Death Metal roots, OPETH go on exploring 70s ProgRock fields, brilliantly, of course. Sorceress is a wonderful album. Let’s see how it will be received on the band’s 3 weeks running European tour.
To us it was meant to join them at the :: E-Werk :: in Cologne, which was, surprisingly, not sold out. The balcony was closed, the main hall well-filled, but not that kind of cuddly packed. And… the one-woman-Black Metal act MYRKUR was not part of the billing. As I learnt later, she only joined the left 4 dates afterwards. Damn. I would have loved to see her performing live.

[BRT] OPETH and SAHG sharing stages… this I call a perfect billing! Two bands that suit each other, are not too similar musically and have great new records out: OPETH released Sorceress in September and so did SAHG with Memento Mori. Regarding the new releases I’d say, SAHG are one step ahead. But you of course can’t miss a show with Mikael Åkerfeldt on stage.

:: pics :: SAHG ::

[Dajana] Yeah, I call myself a lucky bastard to see :: SAHG :: twice within hardly two weeks after their performance at Leafmeal Festival. And now with a set a little bit longer than in Dortmund. It might be debatable, if SAHG do it better on a big stage or in an intimate club; their show is excellent, wherever they play ;) Sound was clear and differentiated, just great, so to say, and the band, especially guitarist and singer Olav Iversen, enjoyed playing for such a big audience. Only the light (from the perspective of a photographer) was utterly shit. Nevertheless, we once again got a great show, with 3 new songs that kicked ass as well as the classics.
[BRT] SAHG used the short playing time to present a wonderful potpourri of songs through the band’s history. Of course, they focused on the stunning new album, Memento Mori. Their powerful and unique mixture of Doom, Hardrock, Prog and Psychedelic was well-received by the crowd and the band had obviously a lot of fun onstage. SAHG just have the capability to put sophisticated progressive songwriting into compact and catchy songs and the audience did honor that. My personal highlight was the opening track of the new album, Black Unicorn, a dramatic track with a significant Pink Floyd note.
Setlist: Hollow Mountain, Firechild, Sanctimony, Black Unicorn, Pyromancer, Blood Of Oceans

:: pics :: OPETH ::

[Dajana] The issue with the lights completely changed when :: OPETH :: entered the stage. Of course. The Swedes always have an elaborated light show and it is so much more fun taking pictures as well as just enjoying the show, when the lights perfectly support mood and atmosphere in every single track.
Mikael Åkerfeldt once again was the perfect entertainer, as dry as a bone and blackly humorous. He told us from day off in Cologne and their shopping spree where they ended up in a Hip Hop record store, that he had to accompany his kids to a One Republic show, sampled The Story Of My Live and pondered, if he should cover that songs ;) And of course, there was an extraordinary introduction of the band members again. Mikael always scored, also when he communicated with the crowd.
OPETH directly kicked off with Sorceress (such an awesome track) and then went through the entire history, picking up one song from almost every album. Only the first two ones and Heritage were left aside. For rough 2 hours, OPETH put a magical spell on the E-Werk and enthused the audience, who responded frenetically. Well, if you talk about an OPETH show, you can’t help yourself talking in superlatives. It was truly amazing!
[BRT] Those, who now expected, Mikael Åkerfeldt and his mates would play a show focusing on Sorceress, while including latest work from Heritage and Pale Communion, were so bloody mistaken (and so I was too…).
[Dajana] What about the unpredictability of the band? ;)
[BRT] OPETH played a classy best-of set, considering all chapters of the band’s history yet letting out Heritage. From the current 70s Prog-phase there were only 3 songs played, besides we got the full and downright heavy section through all records, from My Arms, Your Hearse on. More growls than expected, but nothing anybody would nag about. OPETH were in high spirits and played with so much energy, drive and power, it was pure pleasure to watch them. The band had fun too, especially Mikael who loved to entertain the crowd, but never put himself too much in the foreground. Next to the excellent song selection we got a fantastic light show that perfectly accompanied the show. This was indeed a brilliant concert evening!
Setlist: Sorceress, Ghost Of Perdition, Demon Of The Fall, The Wilde Flowers, Face Of Melinda, In My Time Of Need, Cusp Of Eternity, The Drapery Falls, Heir Apparent, The Grand Conjuration // Deliverance

story © Bert & Dajana • pics © Dajana & Dajana Winkel • Photography