Avatar - Holy Moses - Obituary @ 013 Tilburg, January 4th 2008

Being asked to do a review just a short time before the gig I didn’t have time to prepare for it. Also there weren’t set lists available so i’m gonna do the review out of my thick skull.

The venue was the 013 at Tilburg. A great venue for metal gigs with a great acoustic sound!

The first band to play was Avatar – a Swedish melodic death metal band.

The band played about six songs The songs they played were mixed between very melodic and super fast. Singer Johannes Eckerström had a clear voice and the sound was well balanced. Not a very interesting band but great to get the audience a little warmed up.

Next in line was Holy Moses – An early Thrash Metal pioneer from Germany with vocalist Sabine Classen. One of the few grunting woman in metal. When she grunts it’s hard to tell she’s a woman.

They opened with the Bob Marley ‘Holy Moses’ intro. Then they started thrashing for about an hour. With classics like ‘End of time’ they really slammed the crowd. Sabina Classen was very great by voice and grunted like a lioness. The band interacted very good with the crowed. And when it was “time to thrash” for finished with the dogs Sabina became Moses herself by dividing the crowd in two halves af is it were the red sea. Then at her sign the divided audience ran back into the other half in true Brave Heart style (though not as bloody). A great fucking thrash gig if I say so myself..

At the end a few fans were allowed to join the band on stage in a grand finale. Great gig if I say so myself. It was my first Holy Moses gig!

Than came headliner Obituary. The classic Florida Death ensemble from way back in the 80’s. The band is promoting their latest album The Xecutioner’s return ( a reference to their first band name Xecutioner). Although Allen West is no longer the lead guitar player, Ralph Santolla does a great job replacing him. They played classics songs like Chopped in Half and Turned Inside Out from the Cause of Death album and ‘By the Light’ from the Frozen in time album. ‘Find The Arise’ from the Slowly we Rot album. Singer John Tardy had a good voice though he didn’t interact as much as the crowd as Sabina Classen from Holy Moses. Drummer Donald played a drum solo. A few songs came from the new album I missed the classic Celtic Frost cover Circle of the Tyrants but the band made up for it ending with Slowly We Rot. It was a good gig with a great soundmix but not as good as I expected. Maybe the band is tired after already having played a full US Tour.

Review: Michel Bakker
Photos: Silvana Breur