PARADISE LOST + SAMAEL - 15.12.09

After the great new album that the British have released PARADISE LOST, not counting the ones they already have behind them, the presentation tour was eagerly awaited. The line-up was even more succulent when it became known that the Swiss SAMAEL, who have also released a new album, would accompany them. The European tour was much more appetizing, if possible, accompanied by GHOST BRIGADE, but unfortunately they were not accompanied on the Spanish dates.

SAMAEL opened the evening with "Rain", for me the best song from their album 'Passage'. Groups usually start their concerts with a song from the last album and not from old records. They continued with "Solar Soul" and reviewed their musical career, even dropped DSC_0008 "Into The Pentagram" from the first album. Surprisingly they only played one song from the last album 'Above', 'Black Hole', and halfway through the live. The logical thing is that if one publishes a new album, promote it; And in the case of SAMAEL, after having lost fans who love their more black metal work to more experimental albums like 'Reign of Light' or 'Solar Soul', now with a return to their roots with 'Above' they have continued running a live based on the more industrial DSC_0008 disks, something very risky that may not be well received. In any case, the public has been devoted and they have given us a very good performance adorned with a good light show and images in keeping with the music on the sides and in the back of the stage. The four components were very active during the 50 minutes of their performance. Even Vorph addressed the audience in fairly correct Spanish. As is normal, the passage of SAMAEL's music from album to direct, and more so in industrial songs, will not sound the same as in the studio. As Xytras took care of the samples rather than the drums, it was recorded and, obviously, the power and strength that this instrument gives live, they lacked. The bad sound didn't help them either, there were times when they didn't even hear the guitars. Despite this important nuance, seeing the Swiss live is quite a show, with the four components giving their all and delivered to the public.

SAMAEL set-list

Rain

Solar Soul

Reign Of Light

Infra Galaxy

Western ground

Ceremony Of Opposites

Black hole

Into The Pentagram

Slavocracy

The Ones Who Came Before

It was the turn of the British. PARADISE LOST are known to barely interact with the public live and that Holmes's voice has little to do with that of the album. So it was. Despite doing a fairly correct and better live show than I had imagined with all the negative reviews it had received, his fame is completely on point. The sound was not to shoot rockets either since the drums were very high and the voice somewhat low (although it can be an excuse to hide the mistakes of Holmes).

The concert began with "Rise of the Denial", from the new album, and they reviewed their career playing songs from six of their twelve albums, although they still do not play anything from 'Icon'. The most popular songs were his greatest hits "Erased", "As I Die" (where the audience had to help Holmes in the chorus), "Enchantment", "One Sencond", "Last Time" and, of course, and for end the concert, “Says Just Words”. From the new album they played, as I mentioned above, "Rise of the Denial", "I Remain", "First Light" and "Faith Divides Us, Death Unites Us", this being the one that was most chanted. Personally, I think they left “As Horizons End” and “Last Regret”, two of my favorite songs from the new album and that I really wanted to hear live.

Unlike the bad reputation of his live shows that I mentioned earlier, Holmes must have been in a good mood because he had dealings with the public and made a couple of jokes about Spanish beers that hardly anyone understood, British humor.

As with SAMAEL, the two side screens and the one on the stage showed us images that set the rhythm of the British music DSC_0067. The play of lights was always in dark colors to give more atmosphere to his performance, and the fact that they were quite static also helped. The members performed the songs without complicity among the rest of the group, although many of us miss Greg Mackintosch, absent due to the serious illness of a relative and who forced the group to cancel some dates in early December. His replacement Milly Evans played the songs correctly, with some failure as usual, but thanks to him we were able to see the British live.

In summary, it was a good evening, much better than what I expected from PARADISE LOST, although being headlining and playing for only an hour and a quarter, it was short, with a Razzmatazz room almost packed.

On a personal note, I appreciate the fact that venues like Razzmatazz, and especially when the concerts are on weekdays, end at such early hours that they allow you to take public transport quietly and return home without thinking about taxis or leaving before the event to catch. public transport.

Set-list PARADISE LOST

Rise of the Denial

Pity The Sadness

Erased

I Remain

As I Die

The Enemy

First Light

Enchantment

Frailty

One second

No Celebration

Eternal

Requiem

———-

Faith Divides Us

Last time

Say just words

Photographs: Ester Pérez

Text: Xènia Senserrich