ENSLAVED & DARK FUNERAL
BB KING BLUES CLUB & GRILL NYC, 1/10/07
review & photos by Stefan Raduta

LINKS:

enslaved.no

darkfuneral.se

Norway’s Enslaved started as a mystery to me. I’ve never quite gotten into them since the beginning, although I did buy every single album as they came out. I guess 13 years ago my plate was already too full with the likes of Mayhem, Burzum, Emperor, Immortal, Satyricon, Gehenna and so on, and that I didn’t give these guys a fair chance. Their blend of mid-tempo/pagan metal was too slow for me at the time. I was riding a very fast train already. It all changed with the release of Eld in 1997, when I realized the potential this band had. It’s like my ears had never been ready for them until then. So up until today I’ve paid a very close attention to their progress, hoping that one day I would see them live. This desire grew even stronger after the release of their last albums, Isa and Runn, both of which I find to be spectacular, so mature in sound yet still having the same core that made them unique all these years.

 
Needless to say, everyone present that night had been waiting for years to see these Scandinavian bands play live. Enslaved went on stage before, in front of a packed audience ready to go crazy at the first note. It didn’t quite happen like that, since for some reason there was no moshing allowed (I’m not even gonna comment on this one), but at times the crowd just lost it and the bouncers would find themselves thrown around like peanuts, what a delight!

First song was "Path to Vanir," a perfect starter for a night that would turn out to be unforgettable. Everyone was surprised by how tight they sounded, how concise, playing everything by the note, yet they also put on a great stage show, being relaxed and really offering genuine entertainment. Just like Abbath of Immortal or Ihsahn of Emperor, Guntle is the soul of this band. He’s always been the essence of Enslaved, so naturally the crowd’s expectations were high, and man, what a great show he put out: banging his head all the time, running around, playing face to face with Ice Dale…

 

 

 

 

Runn was the album they played most songs from, such as, "Fussion Of Sense And Earth," "Essence," and the title track, all sounding absolutely fantastic. "Isa" was the third song of the night, and it was one of those rare moments when everyone went berserk. I fucking love this song and I must admit, I had been blasting it on my headphones for a week in a row, so you can imagine how excited I was to see them perform it live.

Seeing yet another cult Norwegian act rocking out BB King's made me feel so good. I probably see about 40 shows every year but there’s only about a handful that really stand out, and Enslaved is bound to be one of my highlights for this year. I’ve talked to some of my friends who’ve seen them in Europe a few times before, and they were in awe, saying that they never sounded like this. The sound was literally perfect and the show was not a joke at all, it was phenomenal.

One by one they went down through their discography, playing about a song from each album. From Isa they also played "Bounded By Allegiance" and "Return to Iggdrasill" - which was stunning also, it’s such an Enslaved piece--slow, meditative, introspective if you will--and then it just explodes in your face.

The last 2 cuts were from Eld("Slaget") and Frost("Jotunblod"); every old school fan had to feel his flesh burning on these, as it totally felt like we were in the mid nineties when black metal was at its pinnacle. They went through with such a sheer force and aggression, it wasn’t even funny. Mindblowing!! It was the perfect proof that Enslaved can still do it the old fashioned way, but they just choose not to. Later on Grutle would tell me that it’s always the old stuff that people love the most, but I’ll return to that at the end of the review.


 

 

   Enter Dark Funeral. I must admit, I was a little scared when I first found out that they were going on last. I’ve known this band since their very beginning, and they never fucked around when it came to music. If some bands mellow out and change their style with the passing of the years, Dark Funeral do the exact opposite; they become meaner, heavier and more ruthless. While I was getting my vinyls signed, I had a chat with all of them backstage. They’re truly nice guys, even when they wear corpsepaint. Ahriman used to send me tons of promo materials back in the day when I had my zine, as he was working for No Fashion, a label which turned out to rip them off really badly. We talked about a lot of stuff, and amongst other things, I must admit I was so relieved when I heard the truth about Kvarforth of Shining. Anyway.

After a long intro that pretty much made everyone wonder if they’d actually be able to handle what was to come, they went on stage and launched into King Antichrist, the starter on Attera Totus Sanctus. Talk about a fucking explosion of senses, this was it! If we were going to survive this song, we were gonna make it till the end. So rumors are true for once, Dark Funeral is nothing short of an unparalleled carnage on stage, their songs seem to cut through flesh and thought. They are unbelievable. Add the leather armors they were wearing, the corpsepaint, Baphomet flags and the huge backdrop behind the drum kit, and this was the perfect setup for the apocalypse which was just unfolding in front of our eyes.

 

If it was relatively easy for me to comment on Enslaved’s performance, Dark Funeral really left me speechless, because there’s nothing much to say about something that just sweeps you off your feet and turns you into beast. That’s what they stand for, revealing those primal instincts we all hide within ourselves, unleashing those wolves inside, against everyone and everything. They’ve always stood by their Satanic roots and it really fits the overall image. They’re not to fuck with, and I truly believe that they’re one of the very few bands out there that really have something serious to back up the AntiChristian message they’re spreading. They will never sell out and always stand their grounds. That to me denotes character, and it’s something to admire and take as an example.

Caligula’s voice (his real name is Masse Broberg, the first Hypocrisy vocalist) is by far the most intense voice I ever witnessed live. He’s a really tall guy. His presence can’t be overlooked on stage, and to be able to keep such a high pitch for over an hour seems both unreal and insane. And talk about insane, I thought I was gonna have a heart attack when during their performance, I stood by Matte’s drum kit. For those who don’t know, he’s also the drummer in Defleshed. I’ve seen a lot of drummers perform in my life, but standing 2 feet away from him is something that’s gonna stay with me for a while. I kinda felt the same thing when I was standing by Trym. However, Matte’s blast beats are totally relentless. He practically doesn’t take a break to catch a breath. Everything he does is so intense that he had to have a guy watch him every second, to make sure the drum kit didn’t break into pieces, I guess. His hands are not moving at all. It’s only his wrists that are moving with a surgical precision, and I could have sworn I’d seen him hold the sticks with only two fingers. Amazing!
Back in the crowd, everyone seemed to be stunned or high. I’m not kidding, there were practically no breaks in between the songs, and they kept pouring and pouring. They played the best songs from their last two albums ("666 Voices Inside," "Attera Totus Sanctus" – which is absolutely sickening live – "Diabolis Interium," "Hail Murder") and then they went on to their older stuff, "Vobiscum Satanas," "Ravenna Strigoi Mortii"). They even played both "My Dark Desires" and "The Secrets Of The Black Arts" from their second opus.
I truly think that this was the best set list they could have come up with. Brilliant choices.

What can I say about a complete savage performance that took me by surprise? I thought I was prepared but I really wasn’t. I had had high expectations from both bands, and they both blew me away. People that had seen both before were thrilled to admit that they had never sounded like this….if only the BB Kings security would have allowed people to manifest themselves, it would have been perfect, in every way. Of course there were a few songs during the Dark Funeral set when fans lost it and mayhem was everywhere, like in a matter of seconds the whole floor was a pit, but it wouldn’t last for long. I hope it’s not gonna happen too often, it hasn’t always been like that, I certainly remember some crazy nights when Suffocation, Vader, Behemoth, Kreator, Messuggah and so many others simply tore the place down.

 

 

 

 
Towards the end of their set I found myself relaxing at the bar, talking to my friends about what a phenomenal night it was, and how it just got better and better. And just when we thought we were done, I spotted Grutle, got him a beer and asked him to join us. Without realizing it, the conversation lasted over an hour. We closed the venue down. Turns out Grutle has been to Romania a few times, and knows a lot of things about our history and homeland. Me and my best friend were radiating. We were so happy to talk to this guy, who remembered 5 (!!!) Romanian beers, and had such a vast knowledge on just about everything. My friend is a history major so conversations got pretty deep, to a point where we were discussing what kind of mushrooms the Berzerkers had to eat to get so drugged up that in the end they’d kill each other…

Hanging out with Grutle was the perfect ending to such a special night. Heinekens were pouring, pretty soon Ice Dale joined us. It was just perfect.

Time to wrap it up. Hope you enjoyed reading this, please catch these amazing bands on the road if you can. They’re gonna give you an unbelievable show, and to be honest, nobody knows when they’re coming back.