On the 3rd of December there was this gig at Electrowerkz in London, Shining were headlining.
Before Shining, we could hear special guest bands.
First band was Vatigal Surrd, band from London. Very good. The music is good, good Black Metal, the sound was OK, easy to understand what the musicians were playing. No stressful situations, Kristian is a nice frontman and a nice vocals. All of them very united, very good atmosphere. Just the red light on the ceiling was too low, which became sort of fun when Kristian's hair got stuck on it.
Following band, Premature Birth also from London. Sadly they played a very confusing and noisy sound. Looks like the two guitars don't work very well there with them, and the two singers even less. They sound not only confusing but confused. Thankfully there were the keyboards to guide us and to let us understand the tones, the tunes, the melodies, otherwise it would have been impossible to understand anything.
Third band, Scutum Crux from London too, with Polish musicians, was very good indeed. Nice music, nice Black Metal. The only problems were really the problems with the sound of the guitar. They managed to sort them out, and to keep going with the show, which only shows that they are ready to play live and ready for any inconvenience that can happen. So even if they had technical problems (which also included hair of the bassist stuck in the guitar), their attitude was good and professional. Still, was easy to understand the music, which is good music, very nice vibes, nice corpsepaint, good stuff.
Next band was Sterbhaus, Swedish Thrash Death metal band. Incredibly boring. Hard to say more than this. The tracks all sounded like the same, as if it was a neverending track.
Crest of Darkness cancelled their appearance. Which was sad, since they were one of the bands Lachryma Christi was really looking forward to see.
And then there comes Shining and Niklas Kvarforth, bringing two bottles in his hands, of which seemed to be Jack Daniel's. People were finally reacting very positively, very happy to see Shining, even though the venue wasn't packed. Niklas started the show caressing one of his musicians' hair, which he did a few more times during the gig. Very entertaining show, very dramatic, very full of expectation and thankfully nothing weird happened. Apparently the red light on the ceiling also had an important role for Niklas, since he spent almost all night holding it, even though it was obviously very hot. This only made the show even more intense, more theatrical and passionate. Sound was nice, songs were what the public wanted to hear, apparently.
And there must be something really weird with that room at Electrowerkz. Rotting Christ a few weeks or a month ago played in the same room and Sakis asked with gestures, for a moshpit, which is very unusual. Kvarforth did exactly the same, which is even more unusual. Public obeyed though.
They didn't play last song until the end, sadly, but anyway, from beginning to end, it was good, musicians are really talented.
It was the first time Lachryma Christi had the chance to see Shining live, and even after reading all the interviews, all reviews and hearing opinions of people about Niklas Kvarforth (which are not usually positive), and even though he was a bit rude to some people in the crowd, it was a very good show, emotional, powerful, and Niklas Kvarforth performed his role with perfection.
