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beastinblack Backstage, Munich, Germany
18th November 2019
Beast In Black - “From Hell With Love” tour - Support: Myrath

Munich on a Monday evening, a sold out Backstage, a support band that had shaken Wacken this summer… “Great things to come!” so I thought. Nearly one year ago I saw BEAST IN BLACK live for the first time as support for NIGHTWISH in Helsinki and they really rocked Hartwall Arena. In March 2019 they sold out Backstage Munich during their headliner tour and played an amazing gig and promised to come back as soon as possible. In May I saw them at Metalfest in Pilsen and it was no surprise for me that they really rocked Metalfest. BEAST IN BLACK kept their promise and came back in November and Munich was ready to rock.

When I arrived at the venue, there was already a long line outdoors and again many people asking if someone had a spare-ticket for them. Some even were wearing their MYRATH shirts making no disguise of the fact that they had come for the support. I entered the “Werk” and the air was already hot and stale, and it was even worse the further I proceeded to the stage. This time the merch table was in its usual place, but many items were sold-out or only available in a few sizes. I was a bit disappointed that the tour-shirt had the same front-print as in March and decided that I don’t need two shirts with the same front-print. The pit was full, when the lights went dark and MYRATH came on stage and the ranks immediately filled up, backstage was packed to the roof for the support and this implicates that expectations were really high. Would MYRATH be able to rock Munich?

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Myrath

MYRATH are a Tunisia based Metal band and was formed under the name of X-TAZY in 2001, then changed the name into MYRATH. In 2006 the band got the chance to open for ROBERT PLANT (LED ZEPPELIN) and ADAGIO. Kevin Codfert, ADAGIO’s keyboarder, became their producer and released their album ‘Hope’ in 2007. The critics praised the album and the Metal scene received it well and soon the band started playing festivals all over Europe. The band created kind of their own genre that combines Tunisian folklore with Metal music. The follow-up album, ‘Desert Call’ released in 2010, won the band more fans and promoters and media showed increasing interest.

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Soon after the album ‘Tales of the Sands’ was released and the band toured a lot, often as support for big names like W.A.S.P, HIM, TARJA OR HIM. In 2016 the album ‘Legacy’ was released and the band got a slot in the ‘Symphony X Tour’. In 2019 the album ‘Sheili’ was released and the band managed to find a perfect balance with what seems to be a focus on Melodic Metal, with Arabic influences and orchestra sounds and a well-balanced dose of Progressive elements. This summer the band was invited to Wacken Festival and their gig was very well received. https://www.myrath.com / https://www.facebook.com/myrathband

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Music & Performance
From the first second on stage MYRATH had Munich’s attention and after the first song Munich’s devotion. To be honest, they were the heroes of the evening. Vocalist ZAHER ZORGATIS apologized for being not at his best due to suffering from a cold. If he hadn’t told us, nobody would have realized it because he effortless managed the highest tunes and entertained us with his basic German skills and telling us jokes. The whole venue back to the last row near the merch burst into laughter. What I really appreciated that they had a keyboarder on stage, for I always appreciate that if a band uses keyboard sounds and synthies they openly show it on stage. MYRATH played an amazing set and you could see many head-bangers in the front rows and raised hands and fists all over the venue. I rarely saw Munich rocking out so dedicated for a support band.

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One thing that I found astonishing was that on the album the voices are not as high and balanced as during the live shows, I really hope that the next album will show more of the fantastic range of voice of the vocalist and the other band members. At the end of the show the band announced that they would play a headliner-show in Munich in March 2020 and bring some magic and dancers and give us the feeling we had in Wacken during their show. A very loud cheering and applause followed and then a thing that is really rare for Munich happened - the crowd demanded an encore form the support band. Unfortunately there was no time for this because BEAST IN BLACK had a lot of equipment and stage decoration with them that had to be set up.

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Just to remind you, we are talking a Monday-evening… In my books, MYRATH were not only a support but a worthy headliner.

Setlist
01. Born To Survive
02. You’ve Lost Yourself
03. Dance
04. Darkness Arise
05. Wicked Dice
06. Monster In My Closet
07. Believer
08. No Holding Back
09. Beyond The Stars

Rating
Music: 10
Performance: 10
Light: 10
Sound: 10
Total: 10 / 10

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Beast in Black

‘Berserker’, BEAST IN BLACK’s debut album, was released in November 2017. Right after the departure from his former band BATTLE BEAST, BEAST IN BLACK’s founder Anton Kabanen recruited new companions in the way of high-pitched vocalist Yannis Papadopoulos (WARDRUM), bassist Mate Molnar (WISDOM), guitarist Kasperi Heikkinen (U.D.O.) and last but not least drummer Atte Palokangas (THUNDERSTONE), who officially replaced Sami Hänninen in early 2018. BEAST IN BLACK released their chart topping record, ‘From Hell With Love’, on February 8, 2019 and started their first European headline tour. Several shows outside Finland were sold out. Now it was time for the crew to get the stage ready for BEAST IN BLACK, the decoration and background were the same as in March and everything seemed to be ready, when I realized that the guitar tech obviously had a problem with one of the guitars. It seemed to take him ages and the crowd a little annoyed until finally the lights went out and the band came on stage. https://beastinblack.com / https://www.facebook.com/beastinblackofficial

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Music & Performance
Drummer Atte Palokangas was the first one to enter the dark illuminated stage and greeted frenetically by the audience, then the rest of the band appeared and started the show with ‘Cry Out For A Hero’ the energy the band shows on stage immediately transmitted to the audience and the party got started. Compared to their show in March, the mix and the sound was better but although this time there were no problems with Yannis’ microphones and he seemed not to suffer from a cold, he couldn’t match the high vocals you are used to from the album and also failed to manage a balanced clear singing. This time there were no excuses for this, maybe one can hold the fact that they are constantly touring for over one year now in his favour.

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My two favourites in this band coming to interaction with the audience are drummer Atte, who threw his sticks in the air and caught them just in time to continue his unique and very intriguing groove, or hitting his head instead of the drum heads occasionally, he always shows a “love my job attitude” and guitarist Kasperi who always entertains the front-rows with grimaces and the whole venue with gestures and posing solo or with bass-player Mate. Guys please never stop! A thing that BEAST IN BLACK really are perfect with is, that they manage to drive the audience hot during the first songs while posing for the photographers at the same time. Many bands can do only one of these things at a time, but BEAST IN BLACK are a perfect example of multi-tasking.

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After the first songs Yannis greeted the audience telling us that the whole band was surprised that they sold out the venue on a Monday evening and thanked everyone for joining the party tonight. The setlist was a good mix of songs from the debut-album ‘Berserker’ and the new album ‘From Hell with Love’, it resembled the one from earlier this year with the addition of ‘Blood of a Lion’ and ‘Oceandeep’. The encore was shorter but the regular setlist longer. I missed ‘Ghost in the Rain’ that had been removed from the setlist and been replaced by ‘Oceandeep’. The performance of ‘Oceandeep’ was good and gave us the chance to catch some breath while the dark venue was only illuminated by lighters, smartphone-flashlights and indirect blue light on stage but there might have been space for both ballads on the setlist.

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The overall performance seemed routined maybe a bit too routined, until suddenly a person with a fantasy plush-devil costume appeared on stage during ‘Crazy Mad Insane’ it seemed, that the band was surprised by this appearance, too. The little devil distributed drumsticks by throwing them to the crowd, then disappeared again. A really nice gag obviously planned by the crew for the final gig. The Munich crowd was always ready to bang their heads, party, raise their hands and having a good time, but somehow it seemed to me that people rocked out more dedicated during MYRATH’s performance. ‘From Hell With Love’ marked the end of the regular setlist and the crowd immediately demanded the encore.

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When the band was back on stage, Yannis giving a short speech telling us that they were on tour very long now and that they would be missing their crew and that this was an incredible moment for them still and that they would be trying to move forward because looking back you start become melancholic and start crying and all of that and they will try to avoid that. Then BEAST IN BLACK delivered a kickass-performance of ‘Sweet True Lies’. ‘End of the Wold’ marked the end of the show, Yannis giving all his voice could give and delivering a perfect performance. It was a wonderful evening at backstage and I hope I’ll make it to the final gig for 2019 in Helsinki, because with BEAST IN BLACK you always have a good time.

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Setlist
01. Cry Out For A Hero
02. Unlimited Sin
03. Beast In Black
04. Eternal Fire
05. Blood Of A Lion (New)
06. The Fifth Angel
07. True Believer
08. Heart Of Steel
09. Born Again
10. Repentless
11. Oceandeep
12. Die By The Blade
13. No Surrender
14. Crazy, Mad, Insane
15. Sweet True Lies
16. From Hell With Love
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17. Blind And Frozen
18. End Of The World

Rating
Music: 10
Performance: 9
Light: 10
Sound: 10
Total: 9.3 / 10

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All pictures by Munich Vampire

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