In the early 2000s, I had a short period where I listened a lot to EBM acts like SUICIDE COMMANDO, VNV NATION, and of course COMBICHRIST, before I dedicated myself entirely to metal music. COMBICHRIST‘s new albums have surprisingly found their way to industrial metal music, and the band has started to grow on me once again. When it was announced the band would make a stop in Helsinki, along with RAVE THE REQVIEM, I knew I had to be a part of it.
RAVE THE REQVIEM really surprised me with their latest album, and after interviewing these guys, and only being able to watch part of their show at Rockfest, I knew I had to make up for it this time, by arriving on time to be able to see a full set, and I didn’t regret at all. We were able to enjoy a dynamic show, with a lot of energy, especially from the bass player, who was basically just jumping around the whole time. Due to COMBICHRIST‘s setup, the band had very little space on the already quite limited stage of Virgin Oil, but this didn’t limit them in the slightest at all.
The band play a lot of songs from the album such as “Are Yov Happy Now, Fidelio?”, “Crack The Sky”, “Saint Jvdas”, and also a lot of old songs, they finally closed with the epic “Aeon”, and really pulled off a great act. The only unfortunate thing about their performance is that the sound was a bit off. Because the sound of the drums was so loud in the mix, a lot of important elements in their music wasn’t really audible, namely the electronics, which is such a huge aspect of their sound. I also had trouble sometimes hearing the vocalists, but towards the end of the set that got somehow fixed. Nevertheless, an energetic show, that really hyped up the audience right on time for COMBICHRIST to start their performance.
COMBICHRIST entered the stage on the intro of “This Shit Will Fuck You Up”, already pumping up the energy in the audience. What first was an enthusiastic audience, that was a bit reserved watching the opening act, turned out to become an outrageous dance party, there as no one standing still from the first minute until the last. The band continued kicked off their show with “Hate Like Me”.
The party continued with surprisingly little songs from their newest album “One Fire”, but with a lot of COMBICHRIST classics, and strobe lights everywhere. After three songs, I found myself getting a headache out of the lighting situation, so I decided to go back a bit, which turned out to be the right choice. From here, it was easier to witness how the band easily riles up the audience, gets them excited and almost commands them to party along with them.
All-in-all both acts really put a lot of effort into remaining energetic throughout their whole show, quite impressive when you think about the heatwave in Finland, and how hot it actually was in Virgin Oil, the great atmosphere in the crowd, consisting out of devoted COMBICHRIST fans, definitely made this event worth the while! If you have a chance to see a show of both bands, I highly recommend going to see their concert!
