In The Academy Dublin for a Norwegian take over in the form of Black Metal heavy weights Mayhem supported by Dark Ambient/ Industrial Rock band Mortiis, all courtesy of DME promotions.
The Stage is decked out in a lot of side and backdrops with projections on to the back and the sides are printed, Mortiise’s keyboards and drums sit in the middle. An intro starts and Mortiis front man who goes by the name Mortiis (Håvard Ellefsen) takes the stage alone for a number of tracks just played on the synth before being joined by the bands drummer, where the drums add another dimension to the Mortiis sound, a real tribal element comes into it.
The band played a forty five minute set with no talking between songs, just Mortiis giving the crowd the odd single or double sign of the horns.
Stage strip down and its waiting time for the main event. I knew this one was going to be a difficult one to photographing knowing the band like to play using a lot of low lighten and heavy on the reds and strobes, well don’t most Black Metal bands? and through to form the band arrive on stage in a blanket of red and a large backdrop with the cover of that last album on it. Three band members are just dressed in black, as is Teloch but he has his ghoul face paint on. Lead singer Attila Csihar has his face painted also and is wearing a large priests robe and waving a bone cross about .
Without hesitation its full on overdrive metal from the band with Attila at times looking either possessed / full on threatening or as if he is presiding of his flock and conducting a ceremony.
Right from the start a large enough mosh pit has formed in the centre of the crowd and its brutal judging from my vantage point over looking it, tonight’s not for the faint hearted.
After maybe just under forty five minutes the band leave the stage and arrive back all dress in large black monk rode’s, Attila has ditch the cross for a large skull and its full on again for another fifteen minutes were they leave again and this time come back and all the robes are gone. Teloch and Attila still with faces painted only this time Attila is leather cladded and we can see how vicious and intimidating he can actually look sporting what can only be describes as a twenty century monks hair cut.
Each time that band left the stage the backdrops were changed.
Another thirty minutes brings us to the end of tonight’s metal onslaught with no encore the band leave the stage.
Set List.
Falsified and Hated
To Daimonion
Malum
Bad Blood
My Death
Symbols of Bloodswords
Voces Ab Alta
Freezing Moon
Pagan Fears
Life Eternal
Buried By Time And Dust
Deathcrush
Chainsaw Gutsfuck
Carnage
PFA
