Saturday night, pouring rain while queuing in front of the location and a chilly wind. What a great start to the gig which was once more presented by Redback Promotion who slowly became a great constant in the live metal scene not only in Germany but worldwide. Fortunately it stopped raining when I got inside. Well done. First of all I had to check the merchandise and found some cool Marduk shirts (my favorite one in dark gray). A huge choice of shirts from all bands with fair prices. Great.

After that I found my place by the stage and waited for Doodswens from the Netherlands to start. Well, it took a long time and with about a 30 minute delay they started playing. But first of all, their vocalist / drummer had to pet the skull and lit some candles which took some time. I guess candlelight dinner might be a whole evening with her. But then the show started with a lot of smoke. The trio played really harsh but melodic black metal without any experiments and it was nice to hear. Some Scandinavian vibes here and there mixed with a bit of typical Dutch black metal trademarks (more dissonant) turned out very well and satisfied everyone in the sold-out Resonanzwerk. Apart from presenting songs from their full-length Lichtvrees they also offered all songs from their demo and two new ones. Cool shit and another proof that the black metal scene is a really great pool for amazing music.

Setlist: Intro (Luzifers Abschied) In Mijn Bloed / demo I / Ijsheiligen / Het Zwarte Waterland / demo II / demo III / demo IV / Devils Stone / Vlaamse Vloek / Outro

After Doodswens came US-brutal tech-deathers Origin took the stage and with them a total contrast to the other two bands. I had my doubts that this would work but vocalist Jason Keyser gave some orders to the audience, a lot of them obeyed and a mosh- or circle-pit started spinning. Although this kind of music absolutely isn't my cup of tea I have to confess that the guys send out a lot of energy and power. The show was really some kind of inferno and if you are into this kind of death metal, this probably was the right thing for you. But obviously there also was at least one guy who didn't like them, otherwise I cannot explain why the singer had a full cup of beer thrown at him. Stupidity is everywhere these days, I guess…

And now everybody was waiting for legendary Marduk. I never saw them live with their "new" vocalist Mortuus but the last time must have been in 1995 or so. So I was pretty curious how they would deliver and I must say that they did a fantastic job. But before that happened, everybody had to wait a long time again. A liturgical intro that seemed to be endless was played and after about 15 minutes the Swedes entered the stage. With the first notes the Swedes played, the slight frustration because of the long wait was completely blown away but also because it was 'On Darkened Wings' from their stunning 93 album Those Of The Unlight which is still a work of reference when it comes to black metal. The sound was very good and all the guys were impressive but Mortuous especially was very striking on stage because of his gestures and acting. Surprisingly they also played a song from their debut Dark Endless, namely 'The Funeral Seemed To Be Endless' (although I personally would have preferred 'Still Fucking Dead (Here's No Peace'). And another surprise was that they didn't do any song from their personal "Reign In Blood". I guess you know which album I mean, don't you? But Panzerdivision wasn't the only one that didn't find any consideration on the setlist this evening. Also Heaven Shall Burn… and La Grande Danse Macabre were spared for some reason that no one knows. But the other songs also had a great impact on the crowd and I was really happy to get 'Wolves' , another song from Those Of The Unlight. After that the show was over after about 80 minutes and I must say that they didn't lose any of the power they had back in 1994. Great show!

Setlist: On Darkened Wings / Equestrian Bloodlust / Shovel Beasts Sceptre / Souls For Belial / The Funeral Seemed To Be Endless / With Satan And Victorious Weapons / Wartheland / Blood Of The Funeral / The Levelling Dust / The Sun Has Failed / The Blond Beast / Throne Of Rats / Wolves