And when it is time, please bring me
To the Allfather's hall...
Valkyria ~ Amon Amarth
Come one and all, back to the safe confines of The Art of Caesura!
We're going to abruptly shift gears this week from our look at Hellboy: The Board Game over the past few weeks, to a metal gig that I attended this week. I've attended a few awesome gigs already this year: Flight of The Conchords and The Decemberists. Somehow, I missed cataloging them here - which is a real shame because they were some amazing experiences and I am often trying to expand the blog's breadth. So, I wasn't about to let this one slip by.
When I first heard that Amon Amarth were coming to Limerick (a mere two hours away from me), I was pretty much sold. When I heard that the gig was in King John's Castle - the deal was sealed.
Let's take a few steps back. Amon Amarth, for the soon-to-be converted, are a melodic death metal band from Sweden. Their name comes from the Sindarin name for Mount Doom from The Lord of the Rings. With songs like "Mjolner, Hammer of Thor", "Valhall Awaits Me" and "With Odin on Our Side" they rightly deserve, though reject, their classification as "viking metal".
I had seen them before many years ago and was very keen to see them again.
The other half of the double-header, and first to the stage, was the Polish "blackened" death metal band, Behemoth. I wasn't as familiar with them, though my brother assured me they were awesome. He was not wrong.
And did I mention that the gig was in a castle!?
King John (yes, that King John - the lion in the Disney version of Robin Hood)'s Castle (well one of them) is in Limerick and provided a superb backdrop for this gig. With over 2000 metal-heads crammed into the courtyard it really felt like a Viking celebration after sacking a castle.
I was actually reflecting on this during the concert! I was thinking that the gig, with its collective story-telling, song, drink, and revelry was totally a modernization of the Viking saga tradition. Humans, as a species, crave kinship and there is something really primal about a lot of metal music: the double-kick bass drums and droning virtuosity of the guitars combine to create magic. Especially when you're actually there, with thousands of other like-minded people.
To the Allfather's hall...
Valkyria ~ Amon Amarth
Come one and all, back to the safe confines of The Art of Caesura!
We're going to abruptly shift gears this week from our look at Hellboy: The Board Game over the past few weeks, to a metal gig that I attended this week. I've attended a few awesome gigs already this year: Flight of The Conchords and The Decemberists. Somehow, I missed cataloging them here - which is a real shame because they were some amazing experiences and I am often trying to expand the blog's breadth. So, I wasn't about to let this one slip by.
When I first heard that Amon Amarth were coming to Limerick (a mere two hours away from me), I was pretty much sold. When I heard that the gig was in King John's Castle - the deal was sealed.
Let's take a few steps back. Amon Amarth, for the soon-to-be converted, are a melodic death metal band from Sweden. Their name comes from the Sindarin name for Mount Doom from The Lord of the Rings. With songs like "Mjolner, Hammer of Thor", "Valhall Awaits Me" and "With Odin on Our Side" they rightly deserve, though reject, their classification as "viking metal".
I had seen them before many years ago and was very keen to see them again.
The other half of the double-header, and first to the stage, was the Polish "blackened" death metal band, Behemoth. I wasn't as familiar with them, though my brother assured me they were awesome. He was not wrong.
So awesome, in fact, that the mayor of Limerick tried to get them barred from playing because of their Satanic themes! You can read all about it here.
I really liked Behemoth's shamanistic influences and vibes, with touches of Middle-Eastern nuances. The band members' names are also sick: Nergal, Inferno, Orion, and Seth. Nergal, their frontman (shown above) is also recovering from leukemia post-bone marrow transplant!
Behemoth were wicked, but having not been too familiar with their stuff pre-gig (and too bogged down with work to check it out post-gig) I'll just show you some pictures of them from the gig. I should preface this by saying that all of the photos in the post are from the gig that I attended, but due to my crappy phone, none of them are mine. I've taken them from Amon Amarth and Behemoth's facebook pages.
When I was trying to describe the gig to my airbnb guy the next morning I described Behemoth as "basically, what a non-metal enthusiast would imagine when they think of metal music".
 |
| Nergal |
 |
| Orion |
When I was trying to describe the gig to my airbnb guy the next morning I described Behemoth as "basically, what a non-metal enthusiast would imagine when they think of metal music".
 |
| Inferno |
And did I mention that the gig was in a castle!?
King John (yes, that King John - the lion in the Disney version of Robin Hood)'s Castle (well one of them) is in Limerick and provided a superb backdrop for this gig. With over 2000 metal-heads crammed into the courtyard it really felt like a Viking celebration after sacking a castle.
I was actually reflecting on this during the concert! I was thinking that the gig, with its collective story-telling, song, drink, and revelry was totally a modernization of the Viking saga tradition. Humans, as a species, crave kinship and there is something really primal about a lot of metal music: the double-kick bass drums and droning virtuosity of the guitars combine to create magic. Especially when you're actually there, with thousands of other like-minded people.
The pageantry and spectacle of the whole thing was also on epic proportions. You've seen the incredible pyrotechnics in the photos on this post, but Behemoth also had about 5 different costume changes and Amon Amarth had 5 different backdrops, as well as two guys dressed as vikings who would battle during some of their songs. They also had a massive warhammer what Johan Hegg (the front man) wielded, and every time he would strike the stage, sparks were cued to fly everywhere. For their finale (Twilight of the Thunder God - one of my faves!) a massive inflatable sea monster rose from behind the stage, wrapping around the huge viking helm that Jocke Wallgren, the drummer, was perched on. It was all quite epic.
I'll leave you with some of my favourite that they played on the night, just to give you a little taster (for a quick link to their full latest album see my "listening" section below):
The Pursuit of Vikings
Fafner's Gold
Twilight of the Thunder God
Oh, and I even managed to score some sweet (event exclusive) merch!
A rousing time was had by all. Thanks for joining me, I'll see you this time next week right here on The Art of Caesura!
Listening: Berserker Album - Amon Amarth
Drinking: Thomond Red Ale - Treaty City Brewery
Next Week:
A spot of indigestion...
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