After arriving a bit late we only saw the end of the first band Devian, (actually we found out that there had been one more band before them, but they had not been announced on the playbill) our first real concert for the evening was the Austrian blackened death metal Belphegor.

“Are you ready for some fucking blast beats?!”
- Helmuth (vocals/guitar)

This was shouted Helmuth and that was something the crowd was not late to acknowledge that they were.
Actually, my first impression was that of an old-time Vader show, it had the exact same energy to it. Funny note is; after the show Lunah (Lauridsen, photographer) came up to me and said she had had the exact same thought. I suppose there must be something to it…
Of course, this is in no way a bad thing to be compared with. The live-energy was what I found interesting in Vader so many years ago, and now the same energy did the same thing for me with Belphegor.
The whole band seemed to be very excited about playing (sometimes hard to tell, as the music invites a rather gruff facial expression), and their show was reaching way beyond the edge of the stage. The crowd had grown considerably since the last band, and almost all were in on the headbanging.

So what could have gone wrong?
Well, nothing really. As I said, both the bands' and the audiences' energy was at an absolute top. Belphegor even had a considerable playing time for a support band, which let them vary songs from their latest four releases, although much weight was of course put the latest one; Bondage Goat Zombie.
To accentuate the meaning of this, Helmuth donned an S/M mask filled with studs while playing the title track of this album.
On the technical side of things, there are two things worth mentioning; the sound which was very well mixed for the evening, although a bit low if you ask me. The only complaint could be about the lighting for the evening; just because the band plays a very dark form of metal it doesn’t mean they have to play IN the dark!

Apart from the darkness, this was actually the show of the evening for me. Unleashed who were headlining were good, but Belphegor had much more energy, and even the crowd was more into their show from what I could see.

Setlist:

Bleeding Salvation
Seyn Todt In Schwartz
Belphegor – Hell’s Ambassador
Stigma Diabolicum
Swarm Of Rats
Justine: Soaked In Blood
Lucifer Incestus
Bondage Goat Zombie
The Goatchrist