Author: Rok Klemše
Photos: Nina Grad
Location: Vienna / Arena / Austria
Concert date: 06.12.2008
Attendance: 800
Ticket price: 23€
The 2008 concert year had a ton of great stuff on offer, from the spectacular Iron Maiden Somewhere Back in Time tour to excellent metal shows on home turf, mostly under the baton of Dirty Skunks, to name just a few treats of the year that’s winding down. This year, now in its last gasps, was also the year of reunions and a handful of really good releases. The Swedish champions of progressive death metal put out their swan song Watershed, while the legendary pioneers of progressive metal, the Americans Cynic, released an incredible follow-up, Traced in Air, just a year after reuniting and fifteen years after the cult album Focus. On top of all that, in the last month of 2008 the two bands hit European stages together and played the concert whirlwind of the year. The tour stop closest to us was the Austrian capital, and Vienna was the only Austrian date, so no wonder the show sold out a whole month in advance. Plenty of other sold-out shows on the run also prove how successful and in-demand this tour was.
So on Sunday 7.12.2008 a crowd was already gathering in front of Arena an hour before the show, impatiently waiting to get into the hall. It stands in an old industrial zone of the city and looks from the outside like a factory from two centuries ago, but inside it hides a huge, modernly equipped room with excellent acoustics. That Arena is a truly fantastic venue for this kind of show was proven by the opening act The Ocean, who come from Berlin. The Ocean actually go beyond the limits of a band and have grown into a collective of musicians from all over Europe, who record together for months at a time in the band’s own studio. The latest result of their work is last year’s album Precambrian. On it, The Ocean pretty successfully mix genres ranging from hardcore to experimental metal that at times borders on sludge and ambient. In a good half hour The Ocean did a decent job of warming up an already nicely packed Arena, though for most of the hall they weren’t exactly their cup of tea.
But when the legendary Cynic took the stage next, the place really boiled over for the first time. Cynic don’t need any special introduction for fans of progressive metal/rock: the band’s name alone, plus the names of its leaders Paul Masvidal and Sean Reinert, makes ears prick up, and people utter them with reverence. Cynic made their name with cult demos released between 1988 and 1991, with Masvidal and Reinert’s work on the cult Death album Human, which steered Schuldiner and Death into more technical waters, and finally with the 1993 progressive metal milestone, the debut album Focus. Cynic broke up far too soon after that, and the dream of everyone who ever held Focus or Human in their hands and was born a bit too late was to see Cynic live… Mine too. The dream came true last year when Cynic got back together, and we finally got them in Vienna. Masvidal, Reinert and the two new members, guitarist and growler Tymon Kruidenier and bassist Robin Zielhorst, kicked off the set to thunderous applause with a live rendition of the new album’s opener, Nunc Fluens. Just as naturally, a good half hour of ethereal, mystical, esoteric vibes flowed out, the kind only Cynic can conjure. Already with The Space For This Paul proved that his vocals sound far better and more convincing without the vocoder from Focus. Paul’s calm, gentle voice carries you off in passing into the mysterious spheres of Eastern philosophy, mythology and religion, while Tymon’s growl nails you back down to earth in a phenomenal way. It rounds out the band fantastically, he fit in perfectly as the newcomer and more than decently replaced Tony Teegarden. Evolutionary Sleeper sounds downright spectacular live and, with its breathtaking riffing, surely ranks among Cynic’s best songs. The band’s tightness and chemistry are at a level any band would envy, especially once you hear the devastating drumming of the octopus that is Reinert, proving again and again that he’s one of the best drummers around. Or, as Buco put it so vividly: “Reinert eats metronomes for breakfast!” With How Could I… Cynic took us back to the cult Focus, and with the closing trio from Traced in Air the guys proved that the new record is probably the best release of this year, one that, as incredible as it sounds, easily outdoes even the great Focus in maturity. The only bad thing about Cynic’s set was how short it was, since they played just a good half hour, and sadly they cut two Focus songs from the setlist that they’d played on earlier tour dates. But no matter, with Cynic quality always beats quantity, and in half an hour Cynic give you more than many bands do in an hour or two. And the reborn Cynic promise they’ll stick around for more than one album this time. “We Claim This Space!”
And for a fantastic finish, one of the biggest metal bands of the last few years, the Swedish masters of progressive extreme metal, Opeth. They went in uncompromisingly right from the start with the killer Heir Apparent, off the new album Watershed, probably the band’s most successful record so far. In an instant Opeth created a hellish, demonic atmosphere, which a good light show only took up a notch. And then, with no mercy, straight into the crushing The Grand Conjuration. Live, Opeth are surely the definition of perfection: everything is played with Swiss precision, and the swap of one of Opeth’s key past members, Peter Lindgren, whose guitar spot was taken by Fredrik Akesson, doesn’t show at all. Quite the opposite, Akesson has slotted into the band more than excellently. Behind the kit, Martin Axenrot has been successfully filling in for the great Martin Lopez for a second year running. But at an Opeth show all eyes are on the band’s mastermind Mikael Akerfeldt, who stands in as vocalist and guitarist. It’s truly astonishing to watch Mikael switch so effortlessly between brutal growls and calm, melancholic clean singing. On top of that, Mikael is a proper stand-up comic who can easily have even a huge hall roaring with laughter. Akerfeldt won the crowd over with this exchange between him and the audience; Mikael: This song is about love and… / Crowd: “The Drapery Falls!” / Mikael: “No, that song is about buying hot dogs. As I said, this next song is about love.” or this one; Mikael: “I used to dance on Scorpion’s songs with my chicks…Yeah, that’s right, I said chicks, not chik. I had many of them, back when I was still young and handsome…” / Someone from the crowd: “You still are!” / Mikael: “Yeah, I know, I just didn’t want to say that for myself.” Opeth proved that the songs from the new album sound fantastic live, especially The Lotus Eater, which is a unique one to hear mainly because of the clean vocals backed by blast beats. The calm Hope Leaves from Damnation conjured up a gorgeous, romantic atmosphere in the hall, and the demonic closing trio proved that Opeth take extreme metal very seriously indeed. Sadly, at barely an hour and a quarter, Opeth were fairly short too, but luckily, just like Cynic, they pack a ton into such a short time.
To wrap up, just this: Cynic combined with Opeth was the concert highlight of the year, and for me at least Cynic was also the best show of my “concert career”. Go see them (Opeth too) the moment they’re anywhere near you! P.S.: Thanks to my better half for everything 🙂
Photos: Nina Grad
Setlist
Cynic setlist: 1.Nunc Fluens 2.The Space For This 3.Evolutionary Sleeper 4.How Could I… 5.Adam’s Murmor 6.King of Those Who Know 7.Integral Birth Opeth setlist: 1.Heir Apparent 2.The Grand Conjuration 3.Godhead’s Lament 4.The Lotus Eater 5.Hope Leaves 6.Deliverance 7.Demon of the Fall 8.The Drapery Falls
Photo Gallery
