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It’s always fascinating to see how many facets of Metal there are! While we deeply immersed ourselves into this magical Pagan world at the beginning of February, we decided it was time to descend into the darkness that is Black Metal on February 8th. Plainly speaking, we went to Hellraiser in Leipzig to attend the one day festival Black Metal Howling! A total of seven bands gave the honors that day and we bested our inner pensioneers and didn’t go to bed at 8 PM, but rather choose to take a closer look at this special event! Because of the sheer amount of bands, there will be two concert reports this time. Here, in Part 1, it’s all about SPERE, KÖNIGREICHSSAAL, BOÖTES VOID and SERVANT.
Huge thanks to Philipp Seiler for the impeccable organisation and the lovely invitation! And, as always, big shoutout to lightinmirror.de for the awesome photo work!
SPERE
First up were SPERE. Original Black Metal is always characterized by a rich minimalism, a fact this duo seemed to be aware of! Besides the two musicians on drums and guitar, there was only a candlestick holder on stage. With this Black Metal version of a candlelight dinner the guests at Hellraiser were quickly engulfed in dark tunes, that also had a slight Doom feel to it.
At this point, you have to pay respects to the two musicians, because not only were they the first ones on that stage that day, but it was also their first gig ever! With songs like Kombatant or Nawigator they proofed though that you have to look out for SPERE in the future. The audience was pretty ecstatic for a Black Metal audience (two people clapped!) and I like having SPERE as an opener. It was the perfect preparation for the day and the evening.
The only thing that really and truly bothered me was the horrible sound! The two didn’t deserve that at all! It’s not SPERE’s fault that they decided to rely on the house’s sound technician. I really wish them that this works out better at their second gig. One small tipp on that (if they don’t already do it): Maybe move the drums next to the guitarist, by that you both will be noticed equally well!
KÖNIGREICHSSAAL
The Programm continued with the polish band KÖNIGREICHSSAAL and a sound mix that I would describe as dissonant and dark. The whole set was a cacophony that had a lot of style elements patched together and to this day, I’m not really sure what I really witnessed there…
The vocals ranged from harsh singing, that kind of reminded me of BEHEMOTH, to some spoken word passages to partly hysterical screaming. Overall, this band seemed to be caring less about the individual songs and more about the almost hypnotic overall effect. In that regard, the set had this aspect of being uncompromising and almost brutal!
The unique atmosphere is not something for everyone and I readily admit that this was not my cup of tea, but you have to pay respect to the dark depths that this Polish band was able to create.
And let’s be honest: If you were looking for some symphonic music about unicorns and princesses in need of a rescue, then you were at the wrong place with Black Metal Howling!
BOÖTES VOID
In preparation of the evening, I had thought that BOÖTES VOID would be the band that could be a new favorite of mine! That was indeed the case, even though you’ll see in Part 2 that they weren’t the only ones!
In comparison to the bands before, the music by the band from Würzburg was significantly faster, catchier and comparatively well composed. There is a lot of potential in this and they were also the first ones that evening to try and actively get the audience to participate in the show. The question whether or not it’s apt for a Black Metal show to have rhythmic clapping can stand aside when, as it was the case here, it somehow fits the show.
I also thought that the masks were exceedingly well fitted to the partly occult sound of the band. Someone really thought long and hard about the overall look of the band and I think that this is one of the things that defines modern Black Metal bands, that often describe their music with the words „post“, „atmospheric“ or „Avantgarde“: In order to give the music a transcendental character, a holistic approach to the musical concept is needed. If you have such creative people in front of you, as the people behind BOÖTES VOID seem to be, then fun is guaranteed!
SERVANT
If you remember my concert on the ELLENDE concert in Dresden in October 2024, then you probably remember SERVANT. While their set during the concert in Dresden was already high quality, they certainly topped that at Black Metal Howling!
As the fourth band that evening (or that day), they had a warmed-up and craving for more audience and SERVANT didn’t leave anything to chance. The powerful, at times occult seeming, hymns were fired at the audience and it was pure joy to witness that. Besides songs of the current album Death Devil Magick, such as Litany, we also got to hear insights into their further discography, with Mater Hominis being an example of that.
If I compare the gig at Black Metal Howling with the one in Dresden, the one in Leipzig was much stronger. That is due to, on the one hand, the more diverse showcase of Black Metal that Black Metal Howling presented (and the ELLENDE couldn’t and wasn’t supposed to do) and on the other hand, SERVANT simply aren’t an opener anymore! If you get confronted with their music just like that, it’s not coming off as strong as it truly is. That really goes to show what influence a Line-Up can have!
At this point, I want to, once again, recommend SERVANT’s current album Death Devil Magick to all those that love high-quality and uncompromising Black Metal!
And that’s it for Part 1 of Black Metal Howling! Die other three bands, NAXEN, GROZA and NARGAROTH will be covered in Part 2. Stay tuned!
Shieldmaiden's Voice 