09-02-2019 Chrome Division

The evening started with the Norwegian rockers Virginia Hill. The band’s debut album “Makin’ Our Bones” was released on October 2018 and so it was the perfect timing to celebrate this release! Even though the venue was not fully packed (yet), the band managed to impress the crowd with their dynamic show as well as their sound consisting of a great mix of sleaze and rock’n’roll .

Crossplane is a name many of the fans within the genre are familiar with. Formed in 2009, this German band has gained a strong fanbase in the country over the years. Surprisingly, my first encounter with the band was when they supported Chrome Division back in 2013 in Düsseldorf, so it was a great and interesting opportunity to see them in Hamburg 5 years later and to experience what has changed…

Chrome Division at last… With five albums and a career that started as a ‘side project’ of Dimmu Borgir‘s Shagrath in 2004, the band has secured their place as a ‘doomsday rock’n’roll’ act over the years. With this tour being the last of the band, there were surely many highlights… but one big highlight was seeing Eddie Guz  on stage back again with the band! Surely this must have brought a lot of excitement and nostalgia for the die-hard fans in the audience; as a matter of fact, the audience cheered Eddie’s name a few times, making him blush and smile. So even though the band as a whole shined the whole night, it was Eddie who shined a bit more with his awesome talent and stage persona.

Since this was the last tour of the band, they promised to play songs from each album. Some songs like “Trouble with the Law”, “Breathe Easy”, “The Boys from the East”, “Bulldogs Unleashed” and “Serial Killer” got the audience going, sweating and headbanging. However, one big highlight was definitely “Chrome Division”, as, according to Eddie, this had been the song that started this whole project: Back in 2004 when Shagrath formed Chrome Division as a side project, he contacted Eddie to record just one demo with him… Well, one demo became 3 songs and 3 songs became 5 songs, leading to the release of the debut album of the band. This was also appreciated and celebrated by the crowd as everyone sang along to the chorus: “We are the Chrome Division”. Apart from this, some other highlights were the amazing interaction between the band and the audience, the impressive guitar solos played by Mr. Damage in-between and the jokes and stories told by Eddie. Personally, it was maybe a bit sad to see Chrome Division for one last time and I can imagine it to be a bit more tough for the die-hard fans in the audience but this nostalgia combined with the great rock’n’roll mood in general formed a great ‘last ride’ for everyone involved. Personally, I also found it hard to compare this show to their show 5 years ago; surely both shows had their highlights but this show will probably be a highlight and maybe even the best Chrome Division show for us fans.