Because of the 25th anniversary of Vader I went to the Patronaat in Haarlem to see them play, together with Inactive Messiah, Devian and Sceptic Flesh. When I entered the venue, Inactive Messiah just played their last song and after a drink and a short wait I started the night with Devian.
When I just started with Metalrage, one of the first CD-reviews I did was the review of Devian’s debut Ninewinged Serpent. I really like what I heard and therefore I had high expectations for their show tonight. Unfortunately I must admit I was a bit disappointed after their set. Legion was very energetic and he did his best, but they never reached the level of their debut-album. The band did what they were asked to do, playing some blackened death metal songs, but the real power wasn’t there. They closed their performance with the title track of their debut record, which is a great track, but it wasn’t good enough to give me an overall positive feeling about it.
Shortly after Devian left, the Greeks from Sceptic Flesh entered the stage. I had never heard of this band before and therefore there were no high expectations, contrary to Devian. When they started the venue was not full, but there were enough people to build a nice party and so they did. Sceptic Flesh did a great job by entertaining me and the rest of the audience. Most of the songs played were from the album Communion, like ‘Anubis’, the impressive title track of this release and ‘We, The Gods’, and especially the melodic parts worked out really well. I will definitely go and see them again if I have the opportunity; they were really impressive and convincing!
Vader then finished this death metal party in style. For me this was the third time I had the honour to witness a Vader-show and the first time in a venue. At the two festivals where I saw them before I really liked their performance, but I don’t know any of their albums, or songs in general. When this tour was announced they promised to play a special set with songs they’ve never played live before and many other surprises. With my knowledge of Vader I therefore can’t tell you which songs were played and which one were really special, but I can tell you that they did great on stage. The sound was good and the band played very tight, as usual. On the other hand: the fans are already satisfied when they enter the stage and it doesn’t matter what they’re doing there. I think if they would have sucked each others cock the moshpit would have been of equal size as when they played some nice and heavy metal. All in all a great show, but special because they are celebrating their 25th anniversary? No.
