Although it was a Wednesday night, quite a few people, I realized, had come out to see a three-band package headed by Krzysztof Drabikowski’s Batushka. When I arrived, the first band had already finished and there was a short break taking place with a lot of the audience circling around Batushka’s merch table and the bar. While I absolutely welcome shows starting early, it was not possible, with job and family obligations getting in the way, to make it to the venue in time to see the first band, Norwegians Uburen. Their take on Viking-themed black metal would have to wait for another opportunity to be investigated.
Like everybody else, I headed to the bar and then gave the merch a look. Buying band merch is part of the fun of going to a show, after all. Batushka had a lot of different and good T-Shirt designs, but 25 € a piece was a tad too much. A little figurine of an orthodox monk with a guitar looked excellent, yet was even more expensive. Kanonenfieber charged 20 € for their shirts which was quite OK, but the bright orange design with death in uniform feeding his human cannon fodder into his gigantic weapon was not exactly something I could wear to work or to the parents’ evening at school. My usual all-black attire is frightening enough. Uburen, apart from the usual, sold beer cups that looked like they were made from horn, but I had no use for those. So, no merch bought this time.
In front of the stage, the best positions were already taken and a crowd was noisily waiting for the show to continue. Kanonenfieber’s debut album Menschenmühle (a mill to grind people in) had received good reviews in general, including from us, you can read the piece here, and I was expecting a good show.
From when they entered, dressed in replicas of German soldiers’ WWI uniforms, complete with trousers, shirts, boots and caps, the singer sticking out wearing a “Pickelhaube”, a spiked helmet, the band made an effort to keep the audience entertained. They served mainly blackened death metal, but actually much more than that. Changing costumes and scenes during the show and including some theatrical elements, they got their anti-war message through to an audience the majority of which probably wasn’t speaking German. As faceless soldiers, with black masks over their faces, with lyrics “based on factual reports, letters and other documents from surviving and deceased soldiers” (quote taken from the band’s bandcamp page), with thunderously-loud riffs and drumming mimicking gun fire, the band managed to portray the horrors of war despite the language barrier.
Kanonenfieber played material from their debut album, but also new songs from the recently released EP U-Bootsmann the cover of which features again death in uniform, this time standing in the sea and fishing for a submarine with his net. Maybe there is a submarine themed album in the making? In any case, the band already have got the uniforms to go with it.
My favourite part of the show was an acoustic piece, the last track of their debut album, titled Verscharrt und Ungerühmt, involving only acoustic guitar and vocals, performed sitting down, stressing the tragic end that awaited and awaits numerous soldiers – being buried hastily, in an unmarked grave, unsung.
After a longer break, needed to set up elaborate stage decorations, Batushka were on. The Batushka of Krzysztof Derph Drabikowski, that is. Unless you are new to the band, you will know the drama that played out around it.
Into a darkened venue entered hooded figures, walking two-and-two, procession style. They were dressed in robes that resembled those of Russian-orthodox monks, but featured slightly different imagery. Like priests entering a church, they were carrying and waving around incense in a thurible the smell of which was quite intense, and I’m glad they put it away after a while, because it made my stomach turn. The stage decorations involved a coffin, covered with a white cloth and adorned with a skull. Numerous icons were placed around it. Apart from that there were quite a lot of thin, stick-like candles that were lit before the show started. It’s a good thing that Croatia is in the Schengen Area now, because getting the stage decorations through customs might have caused a spectacle. In Serbia, the band was banned from playing after protests from the Serbian-orthodox church.
The now famous and well-known mixture of liturgy-style singing and the black metal template soon filled the venue as the unholy mass commenced. The band members, hardly moving throughout the whole show, looked like apparitions, their faces made invisible by black masks. Apart from some priest-like gesticulation, fake scripture reading and hand movements that mimicked those of holy figures featured on icons, the band members played their instruments more or less glued to their spot. Which was in character, of course, but quite a lot to be standing on your feet through for one-and-a-half hours.
While Derph’s Batushka have a good thing going, and while the atmosphere of their shows is really special, as well as their strife for authenticity and their attention to detail, once you have become acquainted with their routine, the performance becomes somewhat less exciting. The difference between the two bands I saw couldn’t have been greater and I must say that on this evening, in this moment of time, I was more excited about Kanonenfieber’s anti-war, egalitarian massage.
If you want to see more colorful images taken with more expensive equipment, you can head to the venue’s site on facebook. Enjoy!
(Review & Photos Slavica)
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=6381197845318480&set=a.6381214778650120
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