>> CARNIVORA <<
Carnivora’s releaseparty kicked off with
what I feel is their best song to date; “I’m the light”, so it was a hell
of an opening, on a hell of show with a hell of a song! A song that has it all
as it is melodic, it’s got a crunchy and “fat” riff, great arrangement and
musical performance so its definately a Rocker of the best sort.
Mr. Moren was at his peak this night performancewise, and having seen the man at
least a dozen times or so, I can honestly say I have never seen him wear a
bigger smile on stage than he did this night. I believe I have said it all about
Tore in the Judas album review. Since Hellhammer was on tour with Mayhem the
band had a stand-in on drums but I can do nothing else than acknowledge Truls
Haugen (Circus Maximus) on his performance as he mastered it all quite nicely.
Rune Torsteinsen was another new face in the lineup this evening at
Carnivora’s first gig, fullfilling the secondguitar duties with ease. Bjarne
Torud pumped out his bassnotes in the exact way we would want him too, and
proved to be quite a showman on stage as well. Michael Eriksen is one man I can
guarantee that we will hear a lot about in the future! I was very pleased with
his performance on the Carnivora-album Judas, so I was full of anticipation to
check out what he was like live. Not that there ever was any real doubts, but
this man absolutely exceeds all my expectations. “Frekkin’ ” tremendous!
It really came as no surprise that these songs sounds even more brutal live as
most bands tend to do that, but this certainly brought more to the picture. Even
more in your face than on record, without losing their melodic nerve and I
honestly think that this is the sound that the band should aim for on the next
record. I’m also glad to say that some of the songs that I’m not too happy
with on the record like: “Don’t make me laugh” and “Galaxy within”
work’s far better in a livesetting. As “State of fear and hate” blasted
out of the PA we’ve got tonight’s guest vocalist Nils K. Rue from Pagan’s
Mind. He also guested on the same track on the album helping his Ozzmosis (Ozzy
Coversband) bandmates (Bjarne and Tore), with a stunning performance and
there’s certainly no questioning this man’s stagepresence!!! Before Nils
left the stage returing the microphone to Michael, the band graced us with a
version of the Saxon classic “Princess of the night”. A very unorthodox
choice really, but it’s absolutely a great tune that definately brought no
shame to Carnivora’s own material. On the setlist this night was also a
version of the Jorn song “Abyss of evil” which Tore wrote together with Jorn
for the latter one’s first soloalbum “Starfire”, but it wasn’t included
this night unfortunately. I for one would have liked to have heard Carnivora’s
version of this tune as it is most complimentary the bands style and sound, and
to have heard how this song would have sounded in a livesetting, with a
different band and singer could have proved to be interresting. But there will
be other times and opportunities I guess...!?!
Let’s hope the lineup stabilizes so that the Metalworld can be laid at their
feet.
So if Heavy Metal no hold barred is up your street, go see Carnivora as this is
a raw liveact to look out for. And even if some of the material they have
recorded to disc so far is better suited for gigs than on Cd I really see no
reason why you shouldn’t check ‘em out!!!
Setlist, highlights marked with * :
I’m the light *
Where innocence end
Don’t make me laugh
The Galaxy within
Judas *
Soaring on *
Instrubrutal
State of fear and hate
Princess of the night
Staring into darkness *
The Masters and their slaves *
Photos and picture by Roar Kleven
