Mandatory Peak in the Sacred Walls
Rivers Of Nihil, Black Crown Initiate, MØL, Orbit Culture
Where Owls Know My Name EU|UK Tour 2019, Arena Wien – Kleine Halle, Austria 20190924
The last stamp of the DeeCRACKS Sweet Sixteen Fest might be not even completely gone, when entering the Arena again, yet for another musical style. Instead of pure Punk, Death Metal awaits the willing concertgoer inside the sacred walls.
Many already check out the merch and the sellers are very helpful. The statement of one customer, that he wants to come back after the concert, because he first wants to see the band live, earns a high surprised “Whaaaat??!” Right after this funny situation, Orbit Culture get the motivated “Let’s go” of the audio engineer. Singer Niklas asks “Are you awake?” and sings mainly clean during the first song, sounding similar to Hetfield. He then changes to growls, and luckily the sound gets crisp quickly and a group in the front bangs frenetically already.
MØL from Denmark are the second in the line-up. Cool, solid and likeable they put more emphasis on atmosphere and melody. Their fronter Kim Song takes a chance and jumps down and rages right in the audience. Despite strong changes and brutal parts, their music appears catchy and rousing. Black Crown Initiate, who return to Vienna after about three years, then bring in their idea of Death Metal. Starting beautifully slowly and with breaks, they then quickly change to fast songs. Characteristics are the six-string bass and eight-string guitars plus the falsetto of Andy.
The attunement shows its effect and the crowd hasn’t got enough after those three great bands. Rivers Of Nihil not only got wonderful record and clothing designs (“Monarchy” still is the favorite). Also not only their records sound big. The sceptic of the beginning now can learn that they are magnificent live band too. And the guy who reacted with “Whaaaat??!” plays an amazing saxophone. The mood in the small hall is like the sound gorgeous, luckily for the visitor it is not sold out so there is space, and in the sacred walls, the wall of death is the obligatory peak of a Death Metal show.