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Charon/After Forever/Nightwish : Cattle Dressed As Bats

Unlike some of their fans, symphonic power metallers DO know their classics.
04 september 2002, 013, Tilburg (NL)

Tekst: Vinodh Lalta

Publicatiedatum: 11 oktober 2002

September 4, 2002. An ordinairy Wednesday evening. Or was it? People who ventured into the center of Tilburg got the fright of their life. As far as the eye could see, there were grim-looking, raven-haired people (most of them leather- or velvet-clad), crawling across practically every outdoor café, restaurant, and bar.

What happened? Did these unfortunates stumble onto the film set of Invasion of the Night Creatures? Was the city taken over by ancient warriors from long-forgotten times? No, the answer was much simpler: There was an evening of metal planned in club 013.

The first band on the bill was the Finnish band Charon. While their name probably won't ring any bells in this part of Europe, this quintet has established quite a reputation in their own country. Charon combines elements of some other Finnish bands, such as Sentenced, To/Die/For, and HIM into a well-balanced mix of melodic and melancholic goth rock.

The band played an energetic set of half-an-hour. In that time, it became obvious that these guys are no rookies to the stage. Unfortunately, their music wasn't appreciated by the Nightwish fans, who had obviously chosen to be deaf and blind to anything other than their revered idols. Still, Charon is definitely a band to keep an eye on in the future!

The second act for the night was the Dutch band After Forever. Since the release of their debut album Prison Of Desire, this dark metal band has become an established name after successful shows at practically every major festival in Holland. Last year, their second album Decipher came out, and their popularity has only grown ever since.

This could clearly be seen from the response by the audience in 013. From the very first second the band started to play, the crowd went wild, and that didn't change for the rest of their gig. Well, there was one instant: Half-way through their set, the band did a cover of The Evil That Men Do by metal gods Iron Maiden. At that moment, most kids around me turned silent, with a look in their eyes only slightly more intelligent than the average cow. It's downright pathetic that kids these days call themselves metal fans, but don't even know their classics!

Around ten o'clock, the headliner of the evening finally entered the stage. In their own country, Nightwish has gained an enormous popularity in the past few years: They sell thousands of records, but not only to the underground crowd. Their symphonic power metal even reached the top of the charts in Finland ! Lately, this madness has begun to spread to the rest of the world, as well.

That evening, the Finns proved that their reputation is well deserved. For over 90 minutes, they played a selection of their finest work. As could be expected, a large part of the set list consisted of songs from their latest best-seller Century Child, but classics like Beauty And The Beast and Astral Romance weren't forgotten either. Sadly, this was the case for their second album, as the band only played Sacrament Of Wilderness off that record. Such a shame, since Oceanborn is their best effort so far.

Like the previous band, Nightwish also included a metal classic in their set: Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne. And as if by magic, the bovine looks reappeared in the eyes of the audience! Surprisingly enough, the vocals in this song were not performed by Marco Hietala, but by the newbie from another band: Bas Maas, the replacement of guitarist Mark Jansen in After Forever. Bas did a great job on this song and was clearly enjoying his place in the spotlights. Hopefully, he will be able to continue that in After Forever, or perhaps in a side project.

What else is there to say? The band was in as good a shape as ever, with lead singer and eye-catcher Tarja Turunen singing as fabulously as always and the rest of the musicians going wild behind their instruments. The addition of new bass player Marco Hietala has proven to be a wise choice, as Hietala is also a decent singer who sounds better than most of the lead singers in today's German power metal scene. His powerful but crystal-clear vocals add some variety to the Nightwish's sound, which used to be dominated heavily by Tarja's voice.

But like all good things, the evening of metal also came to an end. The musicians from the three bands traveled on to their next performance, and the night creatures invaded the sleeping city of Tilburg again . . .

http://www.kindamuzik.net/live/nightwish/charon-after-forever-nightwish-cattle-dressed-as-bats/1941/
Meer Nightwish op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/nightwish