Live Show: Dark Tranquillity, Moonspell, Wolfheart, Hiraes
Place: Sala Salamandra, Barcelona, Spain
Date: November 13th, 2024
Live Correspondent: Kostas Boudoukos
A trip to Barcelona, walks on La Rambla, Sagrada Familia and of course an amazing live show that I couldn’t miss since I was in the area. With a quartet of bands of melodic extreme sound on fire. And at a very affordable price…
I arrived at the legendary Sala Salamandra a few minutes before the start of the set of the German Melodic Death metallers HIRAES who stand out for the dynamic female vocals of Britta Gortz. I arrived at just the right time to enjoy the new blood of the German metal scene as HIRAES were formed in 2020 and have two full length albums with ‘Dormant’ , their latest album, being released at the beginning of 2024. Their set was short but enough for someone to understand their style, even if one of their guitarists had to return home. Pure, dynamic and aggressive Melodic Death Metal (probably more death and less melodic) without many surprises. The truth is that the Spanish audience didn’t seem to be excited on the one hand because 99% of those present didn’t know them and on the other hand they were holding their energy for what would follow.
Setlist
01. Through The Storm
02. About Lies
03. Under Fire
04. We Owe No One
05. Undercurrent
Next in line were our beloved WOLFHEART of Tuomas Saukkonen and Vangelis Karzis with Tuomas’s characteristic and terrifying microphone dominating the stage early on. As with HIRAES, the feeling I got here is that the Spanish metalheads didn’t know much about WOLFHEART, yet their clearly more complex and refined style really draw the attention of the audience and we also had the first mosh pit. As for their performance there isn’t much to say. We are talking about a band always ready for live performances where everyone participating in the interaction with the audience, first and foremost Lauri Silvonen, who took over the main communication with the audience, but also Vangelis Karzis, who dominates the stage with his appearance and energy. Their set had a little bit of everything with an emphasis of course on the excellent “Draconian Darkness” that was released a few weeks ago. I hope they return to Greece soon so we can enjoy them with a full set.
Setlist
01. Strength And Valor
02. Zero Gravity
03. Burning Sky
04. The Hunt
05. Evenfall
06. The King
07. Grave
I’ve been chasing MOONSPELL for a while, although I’m not a big fan of them. But I knew from friends that they are one of the best bands of the genre in live performances. And I quickly understood why. They were had the home advantage, since the audience showed the greatest enthusiasm . After all Portugal is in their neighborhood and their Mediterranean temperament (although they come from Brandora which faces the Atlantic) was more suited to the warm-blooded Spaniards. Their singer and founder Fernando Ribeiro gave everything he had on stage as did Pedro Paixao either with the keyboards or with his guitar. The fact that they haven’t had a new album for 3-4 years gave them the opportunity to dive into their rich discography for a “best of” set focused to “Irreligious” from way back in 1996. The metalheads in the arena raved and the absolute hightlight was “Alma Mater” from their debut album ‘Wolfheart’ (1995) causing massive sing-alongs. We got the same reactions for other anthems too like “Finisterra” or “Breathe (Until We Are No More)” but also for the one that closed their set, “Full Moon Madness” which could describe the atmosphere in the venue. At the end, the audience gave them their warmest applause!
Setlist
01. Opium
02. Awake!
03. Extinct
04. Night Eternal
05. Finisterra
06. The Southern Deathstyle
07. Everything Invaded
08. Breathe (Until We Are No More)
09. Mephisto
10. Alma Mater
11. Full Moon Madness
Right where MOONSPELL left off, with the audience thoroughly excited, the experienced DARK TRANQUILLITY of the multi-talented Mikael Stanne picked up. It seems that this guy is touring 12 months a year with either DT or his other project, THE HALO EFFECT. And don’t forget his third project, CEMETERY SKYLINE that is picking up the pace too. DT is one of those bands that will never let you down in their live shows and you always know what to expect from them. Impeccable performance, well prepared sets, good communication with the audience from Stanne mostly and full of energy. With their new album “Endtime Signals” dominating the set with 6 songs such as the catchy “The Last Imagination” or “Shivers And Voids” with which they opened their show, they focused, as expected, on their discography from the new millennium, from “Damage Done” onwards. Surely, I missed some of their classics but let’s not forget that basically the tour is for the promotion of “Endtime Signals”. Besides, they’re always on the road so I imagine I won’t have any trouble catching them again in the near future at a festival. The crowd responded fully having picked up a good rhythm from the previous bands as well and a satisfied Stanne continued to thank the fans for another sold out on their route. Of course, we never found out if the Catalan mosh pit surpassed that of Toulouse, which until then was the best, as Stanne informed us.
Setlist
01. Shivers And Voids
02. Cathode Ray Sunshine
03. Unforgivable
04. Terminus (Where Death Is Most Alive)
05. Atoma
06. Neuronal Fire
07. What Only You Know
08. Empty Me
09. The Last Imagination
10. Not Nothing
11. Final Resistance
12. Hours Passed In Exile
13. Our Disconnect
14. Phantom Days
15. Identical To None
16. Misery’s Crown
All in all, it was a great night that could be described as a mini festival with 4 top bands for their genre. The Sala Salamandra Club is ideal for this type of event both in terms of capacity and facilities. Some differences that I noticed compared to the lives in Greek venues were of course the complete lack of smoke and the excellent ventilation (my shirt smelled like new when I left the venue) but also the much larger consumption of beer compared to the Greek lives (I also got souvenir glass from the club). The European leg of their tour continues in central and northern Europe until early December so if you can catch them somewhere don’t miss the opportunity.
Live Correspondent: Kostas Boudoukos
Design & Editing: Kostas Boudoukos
Photographs: Kostas Boudoukos
External Links: DARK TRANQUILLITY – Official Page
MOONSPELL – Official Page
WOLFHEART – Official Page
HIRAS – Official Page
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