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THE ARCHIVES
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Morrigan's Pit has closed down as of November 2006. The site and its articles will stay online as an archive until September at least, but probably longer.
The Archives
2002-2006
» CD REVIEWS
» INTERVIEWS
» LIVE REVIEWS
» SPECIALS
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NEVERMORE - DEW-SCENTED - MERCENARY
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Zeche - Bochum (D)
September 27th 2005
http://www.nevermore.tv
http://www.dew-scented.de
http://www.mercenary.dk
I had just been in the Zeche two days ago when it had been very crowded in there. Now there weren't as many people, perhaps due to the fact it was still early on a work day. But gigs are starting rather early in this venue and so the first band started playing at 7 pm. Up until then I was believing Dew-Scented were the opening band but I once again had to accept that positions on billings are made regardless of my personal wishes. And so I was quickly being thrown back into reality when I saw the first guys of MERCENARY entering the stage. I rushed somewhere to the front and shortly after the intro already blasted out of the speakers. The band started their set with "ReDestructDead" and the guys had like no space at all to move on stage. They had no other choice than staying on the very spot they were standing on and bang their heads. Despite that fact, Mercenary again kicked some serious ass even though the setlist naturally was pretty much the same as the last few times I saw them. The Danes have been playing together live for quite some time now and it definitely shows. When during "Seize The Night" Mike experienced some problems with the drums keyboardist Morten tried to fix it but it seemed they decided to just ignore the problem ;) Mercenary didn't waste much time (they didn't have) with chit-chatting in between the songs, it actually took Mikkel  four songs to say a little more than songtitles (a few thanks to the other bands and crew and some praise to German beer, hehe). I'm really happy these guys made it onto this tour with one of their favourite bands and I'm pretty sure they are able to raise interest among the Nevermore fans that don't know them yet. Right before the final song even some "Mercenary" screams could be heard from somewhere in the back - more of that! ;) So yeah, final song was once again the hit "11 Dreams" and then it was already time for Mercenary to clear the stage.
setlist Mercenary:
ReDestructDead
Firesoul
World Hate Center
Seize The Night
11 Dreams
When DEW-SCWENTED came on stage the venue had filled some more and so the band played to a significantly bigger audience. For Dew-Scented it must have been like coming home since the band is coming from the area around Bochum but according to vocalist Leif it was the first time for them to play in the Zeche. I had seen Dew-Scented a couple of times before but it has always been at open air festivals. I always kinda liked their shows but in the long run I find their thrash too monotonous and I must say that I miss some more melody too. With that in mind it's worth pointing out that I still somewhat enjoyed their show that kicked off with "Unconditional". The guy hehind the drums didn't seem to fit into a band of long-haired thrashers and some time later Leif explained that this guy had only been stepping in for the regular drummer. Most of the songs on the setlist were taken from either the current release "Issue VI" or the last regular album "Impact" and in between the songs Leif kept saying thanks to everybody for coming - and the good response.  Because the crowd was banging their heads almost as much as the guys in the band themselves - and they did an awful lot of it ;)
setlist Dew-Scented:
Unconditional
Bitter Conflict
Turn To Ash
Cities Of The Dead
Processing Life
Rituals Of Time
New Found Pain
Destination Hell
Never To Return
Soul Poison
And then finally it was time for NEVERMORE, the "masters of metal" as Leif said before Dew-Scented left the stage. I sacrificed the prospect of a better sound for a place on the side somewhere in the front and one of my initial thoughts was "f***, that's loud and heavy": the first song "Born" really almost blew me away. Drummer Van had "Kill Fuck" written with some white tape on his black shirt but just a few minutes later letter by letter dropped off. Again, watching him play I thought he makes everything look so easy. And even with the risk to annoy loyal Nevermore fans, I still don't like Warrel's appearance on stage (or interaction with the fans) much although I cannot really explain why. In between I also had to grin here and there, so perhaps I am starting to get used to his character. But with frigging great music like Nevermore's it's easy for me to see past this. Masters of metal indeed. Warrel actually didn't say anything until he was to announce "Narcosynthesis" "from our sell-out record" - something he repeated later on that night. Bassist Jim again just loved to stand above the white spotlights on the edge of the stage and he keeps doing so for a good reason: it looks great. During "Beyond Within" Warrel wanted the fans to sing along at some point but I'm afraid the crowd failed here. Instead, the first fan entered the stage to stagedive but was sent back by a security guy before he could even try.  The last time I had seen Nevermore, the second guitarist Steve Smyth was only helping them out. In the meantime he had become a full member and now officially shares all the guitar duties with his counterpart on the other side of the stage, Jeff. Both of them let not only their hair fly but in between all the shredding and soloing they also did backing vocals. For "The Seven Tongues Of God" Steve gestured that he wanted to see a circle pit and the crowd went really wild. Then during the next song "The Learning" Warrel saw himself faced with a broken microphone but the problem was quickly solved as a second mic was already waiting to be used. "Sentient 6" that I found to be the "heart collector" of the current album gave me goosebumps and right before "The Sound Of Silence" Warrel simply said "kill it, Jeff" ;) I had witnessed better (more emotional) versions of "The Heart Collector" than this one although it is still always a highlight to be part of a crowd singing along to the song as loud as possible. Warrel didn't accept lots of applause though and shouted "Silence!" which was almost immediately followed. He seemed satiesfied ("You are very obedient") and grinned. He obviously asked for silence because he wanted to announce the last song, "Final Product".
But after a short break the band luckily returned for an encore and yes, it was time for the title track of the current album. "The Godless Endeavor" in all its glory along with my favourite line "tell me when, tell me why, tell me what this fucking life is for". After that song, Warrel pointed out a fan in the front row who was wearing a Backstreet Boys shirt, hehe. I thought it was friggin' funny but Warrel looked bewildered at the shirt, was muttering something of "you should burn it" and then used it to announce the last encore. "Backstreet Boys - they are the enemy", and so "Enemies Of Reality" marked the end of the show. What a band!
setlist Nevermore:
intro
Born
Acid Words
Bittersweet Feast
Narcosynthesis
The River Dragon Has Come
Beyond Within
Dreaming Neon Black
The Seven Tongues Of God
The Learning
Sentient 6
The Sound Of Silence
The Heart Collector
Final Product
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This Godless Endeavor
Enemies Of Reality
submitted by Cora 28.09.2005
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