KATAKLYSM has recently pumped out their latest album, "Epic: The Poetry Of War", which puts them back to their old level of skillmanship.

I was anxious to see if they were able to deliver the same grandeur on stage, and thankfully they were. Even though the stage show wasn`t very spectacular (vocalist Maurizio wasn`t allowed two microphones on stage) the set was heavy as fuck, and not just the old songs ("The Orb Of Uncreation", "Sorcery", "The Awakener") but also the songs from the latest two albums were received with anticipation by the audience.

Judging by the reactions of the crowd, Kataklysm has indeed regained their once-lost status, and with a brutal violent sound as shown tonight these guys will have a bright future.

DYING FETES, on the contrary, didn`t give us a surprising set at all. Not to say the set wasn`t good, but the music sounded bland, most the songs were a bit the samey and the vocals were not top-notch. Thankfully, they played some of the old classics, so there was no lack of headbanging material, but from such a famous death-band I expected a whole lot more.

CRYPTOPSY, however, had luck on their side tonight.
Now that they have a new vocalist, and this tour being his baptism of fire, they had to win over one other obstacle: a Cryptopsy shows stays or falls with the sound. If the sound isn`t mixed properly, the shows turns into a unbearable wall of sound. On the other hand, if the sound is mixed the way it should be, Cryptopsy delivers one of the craziest shows ever. Tonight was such a night. Whirling through their set of (mostly) new songs and some old ones, they showed Metropool that they might as well be one of the fastest and technically gifted bands around.

Curiously enough, the reaction of the audience to the new material was no different from the reaction to old material, something rarely seen during live-shows. Worth mentioning is the drumming, which is just unbelievable. Cryptopsy is a band that you should not miss if they are in your neighborhood. Watch and be amazed.

VADER`s show I didn`t catch quite much of, due to a discussion with Cryptopsy. I can`t really say I`m sorry to miss most of it, because of from what I heard they gave away their usual high-quality set of moshpit slammers. I`ve never seen a bad Vader show, and even though that can point out a lack of originality from their side, you`ll never be disappointed paying your money to go see them. Playing songs from Litany, Kingdom, Black To The Blind and my favourite album De Profundis, I saw only happy faces leaving tonight`s gig.

(Review & Pics: Xander Hoose)