This Spring, Poland’s Black/Death metal band Behemoth returned to North America with special guests, Denmark’s one-woman black metal act, Myrkur. Behemoth has a soft spot in my heart because they were my first professional band to ever photograph, back in 2008 when they toured with Cannibal Corpse. That was the first time ever seeing Behemoth live, and this time – I knew to expect nothing less than a striking and theatrical show full of fire, blood, and satanic imagery.
The Gothic Theater in Englewood, CO filled up fast on May 3rd, and with no local supporting acts, Myrkur hit the stage with a quiet, melodramatic piano introduction to “Den Lille Piges Død” with vocalist Amalie Bruun singing and playing ever so beautifully. Dressed wonderfully, adorned with tree branch antlers, the crowd seemed shocked at her entrance and fell totally silent. Myrkur was able to win the attention of Relapse Records from just a single EP release, and although I hadn’t listened to the band before last night, I will absolutely be following this woman closely from here on out. She has the range of a classically trained opera singer to the harsh vocal style of traditional black metal, and although the project’s name translates to ‘Darkness’ from Icelandic, the music is far from it. It was absolutely beautiful.
Between songs, drunk (and stupid) men from the crowd thought it would be funny to yell out obscenities to Amalie, and while she snapped back with a quickness to shut it down, I was utterly appalled at the Denver crowd for the things coming out of the mouth of the men. A lot of people argue that sexism doesn’t exist in the metal world, and that women are treated as equals, but that was proven to be wrong for me last night, as I can’t even bring myself to type what was shouted to her. Kudos to her, however, for standing up to the idiots and shutting them down so quickly. After a Bathory cover, the band exited the stage as quietly and modestly as they entered, with another beautiful piano outro, and it was time for Behemoth.
Behemoth had a massive stage setup, with two projection screens and massive iron-worked microphone stands. Drummer, Inferno took to the stage on his huge, elevated kit, followed by bassist, Orion, and guitarist, Seth. As the lights lowered, Nergal walked out slowly, holding two lit torches. They opened with “Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel”, followed by the entire ‘The Satanist‘ album in order. As if that wasn’t enough, the band finished with two encores; first, playing older tracks “Pure Evil and Hate”, “Antichristian Phenomenon”, and “Conquer All”. The second encore however, had my personal favorites, “At the Left Hand ov God”, “Slaves Shall Serve”, and “Chant for Eschaton 2000”.
All in all, this was a fantastic night, although it was ruined by Denver pigs in the crowd that thought it was okay to make unwanted sexual advances towards Amalie. As much as I enjoyed Behemoth, I think Myrkur really won over the show. They were a perfect match to send out on tour together, and I am happy that I was able to catch Behemoth live again. The place was packed, especially for a Tuesday night, but both bands killed it and delivered one hell of a show. Please, don’t miss the opportunity to see either of these bands live!