On the Trident’s Curse tour, three black metal bands had ganged together to raise hell over Europe. Rotting Christ was the prong that we were most interested in seeing. Less than a year after their last show, the band was now back to wreak house at the same venue as their last visit. However, the addition of Watain to the line-up had allowed them to move up the large hall instead of the small one, and the change did them good.

“It’s nice to be back in Copenhagen! Are you doing alright?”
- Sakis Tolis (vocals/guitar)

Due to a long and slow-moving queue leading into the venue, we came in just in time to watch them finish their first song. Not the best way to start the night, but damn it, we were warm and ready for whatever came next!
The band had basically the whole stage at their disposal, which surprised me, knowing the type of extravagant builds Watain usually work with. It was a good thing though, as the band got to prove once and for all that they could as easily handle this size, as the smaller stage they had been on at their previous visit. To begin with, everyone stayed pretty much in their places - they rocked out, had a good connection with the audience, and created a great atmosphere, but nonetheless, stayed pretty much stationary.
After a few songs though, even this began to open up more, and Sakis Tolis, Vagelis ‘Van Ace’ Karzis, and George Emmanuel began changing positions with each other, and later still even played off each other, creating even more of a feel-good atmosphere than they had up to this point.

Yeah, it may sound odd to say feel-good, but that’s exactly what Rotting Christ does. The brutal music, and highly blasphemous lyrics aside, this band seems to be made up of genuinely cool guys, just wanting to play because they like it. No signs of a bad attitude or anything of the sort here. Smiles, and a few spread out kind words to the audience. A few hey’s instigated by Sakis Tolis and Van Ace respectively. A good time.

Thankfully (except for beer-runs, which were quite a pain), the hall was quite well-filled already, and Copenhagen was ready to rock together with the Greek band. From the beginning, there was a healthy dose of headbnaging going on, and loud shouts and raised arms reaching all the way to the back filled the room between songs.
As the setlist reached the Thou Art Lord (a band Sakis Tolis heads together with a couple of previous Rotting Christ members, and a few others) cover Societas Satanas, the band obviously decided it was time to turn it up a notch though, and called for a wall of death. This was enthusiastically picked up by the crowd, and the parting went almost from the stage to the sound mixer. Well, until hell broke loose, and the two sides smashed into each other that is. Shortly after, the ensuing chaotic mosh reformed on Tolis command, and created an impressively large and wild circle pit. The crowd was on fire!

As was the band, and I know this is a recurring theme at this site, but I really do feel that I like Rotting Christ more with every successive show. In my last review, I said that we might just have the concert of the year on our hands, and damn it all if the band didn’t perform at the same level once again! And to think that this was only the first night of the tour, imagine how the rest of the shows will be - quite amazing I dare speculate.
As Lunah, our photographer, pointed out; “This is how a concert is supposed to be played.”
And that pretty much sums it up, nothing else needs to be said.

Setlist (incomplete):

ΧΞΣ
Fire Death And Fear
Ἄπαγε Σατανά
The Forest Of N’Gai
Societas Satanas (Thou Art Lord cover)
In Yumen - Xibalba
Grandis Spiritus Diavolos
Non Serviam