08-11-2018 Wolfheart

[schema type=”event” evtype=”MusicEvent” name=”Blacklight Constellation Above Europe Pt. 2″ description=”Bands: Wolfheart, Omnium Gatherum, Nothgard” sdate=”2018-11-08″ street=”Kaiserkeller” city=”Hamburg” country=”DE”]

An evening full of melodeath and metal horns was awaiting the fans in Hamburg…. The Finnish metallers Omnium Gatherum brought Wolfheart and Nothgard on tour with them. 

Nothgard was maybe not a name many have heard of but they have gained a solid fanbase in Germany over the years. Formed in 2008, the band has a few albums in their pockets, with the latest one, “Malady X”, released this year.

One word to describe the Nothgard show would be… epic. This was maybe a bit tough to hear in a small venue but it was obvious from the overall atmosphere in the songs as well as the technical aspect in the band’s performance. That being said, the riffs and the drums were the instrumental focus of the show. A show like this definitely needed some headbanging and moshing but our impression was that the  audience needed more warming up despite the frontman Dom C. Crey hinting them to come closer… So this turned out to be a show everyone enjoyed in their own ways, without some action.

It was time for some winter metal after Nothgard. Wolfheart was the main reason why we were there and it’s been a while since our last encounter with the band so the anticipation was high of course. They have been formed by the mastermind Tuomas Saukkonen in 2013 and has been going strong with a few releases and many shows. Their latest record “Constellation of the Black Light” was released recently so it was a great time to celebrate this.The setlist was colorful much to our surprise; the band delivered some new gems such as the first song of the show “Everlasting Fall” as well as “Breakwater” and “The Saw”. But the old songs like “Zero Gravity” and “The Hunt” were also not forgotten, so it was a diverse mix musically, not only for the hardcore fans but also for the ones who are maybe not so familiar with the band. </td

What always makes Wolfheart shows special is the total death/winter metal atmosphere the audience experiences; dark and at times atmospheric melodies mixed with the total death metal madness… reminding us of the dark&cold Finnish weather. This was the case in this performance as well; the new as well as the old songs showed us the great development of the band’s sound over the years.

This doesn’t mean that the band’s attitude is cold as f*ck though; the interaction of Mr. Saukkonen with the audience was amazing as always as he showed his gratitude to the audience in Hamburg and finally, there was some moshing and headbanging which added that extra awesomeness to an already great evening. To make things even better, the band ended their set with one of our favorites, “Ghosts of Karelia” and even though the crowd wanted more, Wolfheart said their goodbyes with the promise to come back to Hamburg next time.

Omnium Gatherum at last… Even though the band wasn’t our focus of the evening, they took us back to a few years back when we saw them live with Ensiferum and even had the chance to interview them. Comparing their performance from a few years back to their performance in this show, not much has changed; it was all about the interaction and the metal horns of course! The crowd was definitely into it as we saw many headbanging and singing along so a great synergy was there.

Like Wolfheart, OG also had a quite diverse and colorful setlist; the band released the latest record “The Burning Cold” back on August so the new songs were celebrated… but the old ones such as “New Dynamic”, “The Sonic Sign” and “Luoto” were also included.

Since it was all about melodeath that evening, it was interesting to see both bands – Omnium Gatherum and Wolfheart- showing us their own interpretation of the typical Finnish death metal sound; Wolfheart with the cold&dark atmosphere in their sound vs. Omnium Gatherum with their dynamic sound. The crowd’s highlight was definitely Omnium Gatherum but our own highlight was Wolfheart. It is always a great feeling to experience that cold dark Finnish winter metal. What can we say? Hamburg is already looking forward to a next time!

Links:
Wolfheart Official
Omnium Gatherum Official
Nothgard Official

Text: Basak Günel
Photos: Heavy Harlequin