I was waiting a long time for this show. I don’t know what exactly happened and never noticed the first visit of the Austrian band in Greece during the 2016 tour, but this time I wasn’t going to miss it.
Temple Athens wasn’t full when Message In A Cloud hit the stage. A band that was created first as a side-project of the guitarist Nikos Loukopoulos (Decemberance, Constrictor), released their fist full-length album last year entitled “Anassa” (and this report is being written while listening to it) and are already working on the second one. As you can see, my first contact with them was more than positive. Very nice instrumental post-rock/metal with great melodies and some small outbreaks with blast beats showing a black metal influence. The least I can say is “bravo” and I’m already waiting for their next live performance and the new album. Click here tp watch a video from their performance!
Up next, a band that was only logical to be there as they are part of the same label with the headliners. After two independent releases, the “Allochiria” EP (2014) and the full-length “Omonoia” (2014), their second album “Throes” (2017) came through Art Of Propaganda. It was really interesting seeing the surprise on everyone’s faces who didn’t know them before this show and this was mostly due to the incredible capabilities of Irene on vocals. She is far better than most of the vocalists in the post-hardcore/sludge scene who think that all they need is beards, tattoos and beer belly. Besides that, Allochiria write very good music and gave a nice show that was accompanied with the projection of the Japanese cult horror movie “Tetsuo: The Iron Man” of 1989. Click here to watch a video from their performance!
At this point, I have to say that the sound was great in both bands and the air-condition in Temple helped us not to melt from the heat. The venue was full, the minutes didn’t seem to pass, until finally Harakiri came on stage. “Heroin Waltz” from the amazing “Arson” was an ideal opener, even if the sound had some problems with the guitars not being so loud. Luckily, that was fixed quickly enough and you could clearly hear everything clearly. Their long tracks were performed flawlessly, carrying all the emotions and chills that their studio albums give you.
Without any verbal interaction with the audience, not that it was needed in their case, they just moved from one amazing song to another. They gave us a unique experience that is very hard to be described to anyone who hasn’t spend countless hours with their music. An amazing performance from a great band. The only negative part was that it didn’t last longer than 80 minutes.
Setlist: Heroin Waltz, Funeral Dreams, Lungs Filled With Water, Jhator, You Are The Scars, Tomb Omnia, The Graves We’ve Dug, Calling The Rain
George Terzakis
Photos: Konstantinos Mindcrimek
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