Quite a few years had passed since our Portuguese compadres were last seen performing on an Athenian stage and precisely that fact combined with a fresh and well-received album by them prompted a rather sizable audience to pack Kyttaro Club, to the brim to the point where the doors had to be left open, because they wouldn’t swing freely if someone tried to get in or out. (Wow!)
Spotting a former Greek pop diva (Sophia Arvaniti) among the devotees was a bit of a surprise, but it was not the only one, as pretty much almost one and all “big” figures of the Greek scene (the Guys from Rotting Christ, Septic Flesh, Aherusia and others) were present there on a fan capacity, some of them just to reminisce with their touring buddies from yesteryear, while others to do a bit of PR, while downing a can of beer.
So between semi-casual conversation and with the anticipation building, the fifth and possible final part of the “Road To Extinction” tour stop in Athens, begun with Eleine a band who’s synonymous with their scantly clad frontwoman. They were a perfectly professional band, with high production values, but largely uninteresting songs, rather uninspiring vocal melodies and while they can’t be faulted, praise is not something that could be bestowed upon them either. Female fronted Symphonic Metal has far superior bands that are quite rightfully far more popular than these Swedes. They were trying hard to impress, with their frontwoman even dancing seductively, but ending up with a performance that didn’t quite come across as classy cabaret or anything of the sort but rather cheesy and cringe-worthy.
The Italian sextet of The Foreshadowing were up next, with their style being something between Saturnus, Novembre and Katatonia, an interesting sort of change in pace and style, to a more doomy and gloomy mode, that also performed quite well, giving great emphasis to their most recent release “Seven Heads Ten Horns”, which got quite few of its songs aired.
Following a somewhat lengthy but not unscheduled changeover, so as a “goat scull” could be constructed in front of the drumset, out of foam models and doing multiple soundchecks, Moonspell did take the stage shortly after ten if memory serves correctly and for the next hour and a half just delivered a well-balanced setlist, to the best of their ability to a really appreciative crowd with a pre-recorded intro leading straight into the 1-2 of their album with “Breathe (Until We Are No More)” and “Extinct” that got the crowd warmed up, but not going crazy (just yet). The multiple soundchecks paid off greatly, with Moonspell having and exemplary live sound, with enough space and a real volume and dimension that didn’t suffer, no matter where in the room you might have been. The many years of active duty as well have turned Fernando Ribeiro into an assure frontman that magnetized his crowd/prey. “Night Eternal” garnished quite a response that made Ribeiro say that it was obvious that they “relation” between the band and their Greek fans was mutual. Trying to check all of their “hits” at least, while promoting some songs from their latest album and sneaking in a couple of favorites, can be quite the task when like the ‘Spell, you got almost a dozen of albums out, but they did just that, with “Opium” and “Awake!” really firing up the crowd, and feeling quite natural next to “The Last of Us” and “Medusalem”. “Ruin and Misery” was another nice foray into the past, but it was “Luna” that seemed to be quite a highlight, since they got Mahi Nil (Jaded Star, Elysion etc) to join them on stage for it, and while quite a few people were hopeful they might also air “Scorpion Flower” that wasn’t meant to be. A series of songs from “Wolfheart” followed the also recent “Malignia”, like “Vampyia” for which Ribeiro donned a big red cloak, “An Erotic Alchemy” and “Alma Mater” that closed the normal show in a fabulous fashion after Fernando once again professed the band’s love for and appreciation of their Greek fandom, with only “Ataegina” sandwiched between them, being not a pick from the particular album.
The encore begun with a track from “The Antidote”, it’s leadoff single “Everything Invaded” and continued with one of the better songs from their most recent effort “Extinct” in the form of “The Future is Dark” an omen not too hard to believe as a self-fulfilled prophecy… lastly “Full Moon Madness” took the crowd and profoundly shook it, with the band thanking the crowd as well as their brothers and touring partners in Rotting Christ and Septic Flesh.
All in all, a great night and an enjoyable gig took place on that dump and dark night that left all Moonspell fans impatient for the next time... sweet.
So between semi-casual conversation and with the anticipation building, the fifth and possible final part of the “Road To Extinction” tour stop in Athens, begun with Eleine a band who’s synonymous with their scantly clad frontwoman. They were a perfectly professional band, with high production values, but largely uninteresting songs, rather uninspiring vocal melodies and while they can’t be faulted, praise is not something that could be bestowed upon them either. Female fronted Symphonic Metal has far superior bands that are quite rightfully far more popular than these Swedes. They were trying hard to impress, with their frontwoman even dancing seductively, but ending up with a performance that didn’t quite come across as classy cabaret or anything of the sort but rather cheesy and cringe-worthy.
The Italian sextet of The Foreshadowing were up next, with their style being something between Saturnus, Novembre and Katatonia, an interesting sort of change in pace and style, to a more doomy and gloomy mode, that also performed quite well, giving great emphasis to their most recent release “Seven Heads Ten Horns”, which got quite few of its songs aired.
Following a somewhat lengthy but not unscheduled changeover, so as a “goat scull” could be constructed in front of the drumset, out of foam models and doing multiple soundchecks, Moonspell did take the stage shortly after ten if memory serves correctly and for the next hour and a half just delivered a well-balanced setlist, to the best of their ability to a really appreciative crowd with a pre-recorded intro leading straight into the 1-2 of their album with “Breathe (Until We Are No More)” and “Extinct” that got the crowd warmed up, but not going crazy (just yet). The multiple soundchecks paid off greatly, with Moonspell having and exemplary live sound, with enough space and a real volume and dimension that didn’t suffer, no matter where in the room you might have been. The many years of active duty as well have turned Fernando Ribeiro into an assure frontman that magnetized his crowd/prey. “Night Eternal” garnished quite a response that made Ribeiro say that it was obvious that they “relation” between the band and their Greek fans was mutual. Trying to check all of their “hits” at least, while promoting some songs from their latest album and sneaking in a couple of favorites, can be quite the task when like the ‘Spell, you got almost a dozen of albums out, but they did just that, with “Opium” and “Awake!” really firing up the crowd, and feeling quite natural next to “The Last of Us” and “Medusalem”. “Ruin and Misery” was another nice foray into the past, but it was “Luna” that seemed to be quite a highlight, since they got Mahi Nil (Jaded Star, Elysion etc) to join them on stage for it, and while quite a few people were hopeful they might also air “Scorpion Flower” that wasn’t meant to be. A series of songs from “Wolfheart” followed the also recent “Malignia”, like “Vampyia” for which Ribeiro donned a big red cloak, “An Erotic Alchemy” and “Alma Mater” that closed the normal show in a fabulous fashion after Fernando once again professed the band’s love for and appreciation of their Greek fandom, with only “Ataegina” sandwiched between them, being not a pick from the particular album.
The encore begun with a track from “The Antidote”, it’s leadoff single “Everything Invaded” and continued with one of the better songs from their most recent effort “Extinct” in the form of “The Future is Dark” an omen not too hard to believe as a self-fulfilled prophecy… lastly “Full Moon Madness” took the crowd and profoundly shook it, with the band thanking the crowd as well as their brothers and touring partners in Rotting Christ and Septic Flesh.
All in all, a great night and an enjoyable gig took place on that dump and dark night that left all Moonspell fans impatient for the next time... sweet.
