Unfortunately, Monday’s program made it impossible for me to check out Sorrows Path, so I’ll start with Karma Violens. It was obvious that, a few exceptions aside, they were playing in front of a crowd that wasn’t familiar with their music.
In some cases, that’s a good opportunity, in order to win over some new fans, but not even the best frontmen in the genre demand a moshpit or a wall of death from non-familiarized people. There’s no denying they were tight though; if they were supporting a band like DevilDriver, their set would have worked better.
A little after 10, Warrel Dane and his Brazilian comrades came out on stage, beginning with ‘Narcosynthesis’ and following to the letter the tracklist of ‘Dead Heart in a Dead World’, an album that is 15 years old this year. During the first two songs things were relatively calm, but as soon as Warrel (and after he finally pulled up his zipper) announced ‘Inside Four Walls’, the crowd erupted.
An obvious but substantial clarification: These tracks deserve to be played by the people who wrote them. If the members of music groups were insignificant (pun intended), we would go see good tribute bands and feel the same way. The musicians that accompanied Warrel were great… it’s just that we miss Nevermore. Heavy metal wants them back.
I thought Dane was in better shape than during Sanctuary’s recent visit in Greece (‘Future Tense’ was played this time as well), he’s got less vocal troubles with Nevermore songs (his voice sounded good in the back of the venue) and he obviously enjoys playing the material.
The only complaint would be that there were no songs from his solo record, but take a look at the setlist and tell me what could be left out…
Romanos Terzis
Setlist: Narcosynthesis, We Disintegrate, Inside Four Walls, Evolution 169, The River Dragon Has Come, The Heart Collector, Engines of Hate, The Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel cover), Insignificant, Believe in Nothing, Dead Heart in a Dead World
Encore: Enemies of Reality, Born, Forever, Dreaming Neon Black, Future Tense
Encore 2: This Godless Endeavor
