Live - Samael & Diabolical in Berlin

It's been one week since my first metal concert and I am still feeling pumped. Chris and I went to see Samael and Diabolical live in Berlin September 23rd, my birthday present to Chris this year. Samael was one of the first metal bands I've been introduced to back in 2004 when Chris and I met. The 1999 album Eternal was played frequently and The Cross was one of our favourite songs. So when I saw that Samael was touring their 1996 album Passage this year in September and October, I jumped on this opportunity. 

The concert took place at the ORWOhaus - self-proclaimed loudest panel building in Berlin. So our journey took us to Marzahn. I wasn't sure what to expect as to the size of the location, so I was really surprised when we arrived and everything was really familiar. We parked our car and the first thing we saw was the parked tourbus in front and the musicians from Diabolical standing in front of the building. Fangirl moment #1. 

The entrance was round the back and it was basically one huge hall on the ground floor. Toilets to the left, merch stand to the right, entrance to the stage and through there to the left was a bar. I am  not good with numbers, but I guess when Samael finally got on stage there were around 200 people there and the space was not crowded. It was very relaxed.

Next up was Halphas, starting at 8 PM. By then I had gotten a beer and felt settled enough to go to the front of the stage and have a close look. While Halphas was setting up stage and doing their soundcheck fangirl moment #2 occured. Vorph stepped out from the backstage area and was literally only 2 metres away from me. Of course I could not bring myself to go and talk to him, so I stood and watched others go getting his autograph and a picture.

Halphas, a traditional black metal band from Germany, founded in 2014 played with their new vocalist Berith and their set comprised 7 songs from their two studio albums Dawn of a Crimson Empire (2017) and The Infernal Path into Oblivion (2019). With a vocalist, two guitarist and a bassist the small stage front was bordering on crowded.

Diabolical played in long black hooded robes, used fog and passed on spotlights. Although I was only standing a couple of feet away, the faces were not visible during the performance which created a gloomy atmosphere, very fitting to their grooving melodic death metal / blackened death metal style. Their live sound was good although the vocals drowned a little bit. I very much enjoyed their gig and I am glad I was introduced to this band by chance.

After Diabolical the stage was cleared of everything unnecessary like - the drums for example. Samael did not set up their instruments on their own, they have their crew for this and Carl from Diabolical was around as well. Seeing Xy's drum computer being set up was really cool, my anticipation was rising.

By now there were definitely more people in the front row. The audience in general was my age or older, there were many people between 35 and 50 I guess. Some were younger, but those were exceptions. There were definitely more female metalheads than I would have expected to find at a black metal concert. I was in good company. Only drop of bitterness this evening was a group of around 7 people that was really loud and ruthless and apparently had the need to film the complete concert, so there was always a mobile or a huge camera somewhere floating around. Of course those people chose the spot right next to me, so that became rather stressful the longer the concert went on. I could have gone back a few rows but was determined not to. Who knows when I will make it to the first row again.

A little after 10 pm the lights finally dimmed again and the intro started. Samael took their time to get up on stage and the crowd was cheering by then. As this was the Passage tour the first song was of course Rain and it was definitely my highlight of the evening together with the later encore of Baphomet's Throne from the Ceremony of Opposites album.

Samael absolutely delivered. They played the entire Passage (11 tracks) and time went by so fast, no breathers in between. When A Man in Your Head ended, I was really sad because I thougth that was it. A short break and an outfit change of Vorph and the guys came back with an encore of eight more songs. They played one song from Blood Ritual (1992) and a best of from their albums Hegemony (2019), Lux Mundi (2011), Reign of Light (2004) and Eternal (1999). So I guess there was something for everybody. I did not know each song and there were one or two songs that were a little bit too industrial for me, too experimental. But overall - it was a great show. Samael is an extraordinary good live band and they manage to deliver on stage what you know from the album. You are not disappointed. Vorph and Xy both have great energy on stage. Just look at Xy jumping on his drums in the Baphomet's Throne video. And of course Vorph has the best man bun of all 😈.

After the last song picks were thrown into the audience. I could have caught it if I weren't me (instead the guy next to me picked it up) and at least Drop and Ales jumped from the stage to shake hands. This is when the group next to me totally lost it and nearly pushed over the barrier fence and me, so I am not sure if Vorph and Xy came down as well.