Dimmu Borgir, Amorphis, Wolves In The Throne Room

26.01.2020, Wiesbaden, Schlachthof, Germany

All the fans were pretty excited about this package of bands that was touring right at the beginning of 2020: The mighty Norwegians Dimmu Borgir and the equally well known Finns Amorphis together with the excellent US act Wolves In The Throne Room were set to shake up the European venues……

So it was not a big surprise that many fans showed up very early in front of the Schlachthof to get the best spots.
When Wolves of The Throne Room entered the stage and opened their set with unbelievably dense and powerful guitar walls, they spread a dark and menacing atmosphere right into the farthest corner of the Schlachthof. The musicians could hardly be seen on stage, because the light was sparse and the impenetrable fog did its part. Musically, the Americans were completely convincing and were fully in their element. The audience cheered the performance loudly and celebrated Wolves In The Throne Room. Unfortunately the band had to say goodbye to the Wiesbaden audience after only half an hour and received once again a lot of applause. Respect !!

The following stage reset break was enormously long, but when Amorphis entered the stage after what felt like an eternity and opened with “The Bee” from the “Queen Of Time” album, any feeling of unrest quickly ebbed and the fans celebrated the Finns from the first note. The mood was rising every minute of playing time and the material of the last two albums was presented convincingly. They had to rely on samples in many places, though, which is of course due to the arrangements on the album, which otherwise could not be presented at a live show.

Amorphis are masters of their trade and the songs sounded so brilliantly that the fans supported the band unconditionally. You can notice more and more that Amorphis have been touring a lot and thus have gained a lot of experience: Starting with the stage acting by frontman Tomi Juotsen up to the precise and powerful drumming of Jan Rechberger – everything fits perfectly together and the audience receives a full service. After 75 minutes playing time a huge “Thank you Amorphis” was offered to the guys from Finland after a brilliant and convincing show. Thumbs up !!!

Setlist AMORPHIS:
The Bee
Heart Of A Giant
Bad Blood
Silver Bride
The Four Wise Ones
Thousand Lakes/Into Hiding
Against Widows
Sampo
Wrong Direction
The Golden Elk
Sign From The North Side
House Of Sleep
Black Winter Day

The following stage changeover did not last extremely long and then came Dimmu Borgir to crown the evening….
The men around frontman Shagrath started their set with the brutal “The Unveiling” from the current longplayer “Eonian” and created a very special gloomy mood, which in combination with the majestic compositions felt indeed absolutely epic and captivated everyone.

The selection of songs was very broad. Only those who had speculated on older material were disappointed. And I personally found it very unfortunate, because stylistically some older songs would have rounded off the set quite well. Anyway, Dimmu Borgir still found better and better access to the fans, which is not really typical for BM, although the atmosphere was colder and more reserved than with Co-headliner Amorphis – which of course was clearly due to the music. Dimmu Borgir played a flawless set and rounded it off with the majestic Mourning Palace. Fantastic show of those Norwegians !!!

Setlist DIMMU BORGIR:
The Unveiling
Interdimensional Summit
The Chosen Legacy
The Serpentine Offering
Gateways
Dimmu Borgir
Puritania
Aetheric
Council Of Wolves And Snakes
Kings Of The Carnival Creation
Progenies Of The Great Apocalypse
Mourning Palace

Text: Hanzi Herrmann
photos: Katja Gessner