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It's not every day that we get to see a Norwegian Black Metal band in Ottawa, hell, metal shows are pretty rare here. Having recently discovered this awesome band, I still couldn't believe they were actually playing HERE - I didn't believe it until I saw them on stage.

The show was a very good deal since for a more than reasonable ticket price, we got to see four bands: Blastfame and Nostradama from Montreal, Deämon from Ottawa and Tsjuder from Norway. Blastfame were first on stage, the first thing that struck me is that they were pretty young. I didn't really get into the first song and was afraid this was going to be a lousy set, but, quite the contrary, the songs that followed were actually quite good. The guys seemed quite comfortable on stage and the vocalist talked to the crowd between the songs, rather than just give the song names like some opening acts often do. Their live sound was also surprisingly good; not too loud so that it was easier to single out the individual instruments, I was very impressed, especially in such a small venue. Very good performance, I hope to see them live again sometime.

The second band to play was Nostradrama, and, quite frankly, that set bored the hell out of me. The songs just didn't seem to "make sense", I had the feeling they were just jamming or whatever. And I don't think that it was just the absence of their bassist. Anyways, maybe they were just having a bad night, I'd have to see them again to judge. The guys seemed cool enough, the singer talked to the crowd in between the songs, unfortunately he spoke in English and I think that he should have done like Blastfame's singer and talked in French, since his accent was so strong that I didn't understand most of what he said (hey man, it's Ottawa after all, most people are used to hearing people speak French.) Anyways, too bad that band did nothing for me. They only thing I found interesting is that they used both extreme and clean vocals.

Next came Ottawa's own Deämon, a Death Metal band well known in the region. It was the third time I saw them live, and I think this was their best performance. The guys were as tight as ever, seemed a lot more comfortable on stage than the other times I saw them, and the sound was also better this time. They played the songs off their End of Ages EP (voted #1 in the Top 10 demos/indies of 2000 in BW&BK magazine) and also a lot of new material, I just can't wait for them to release a full-length album, I'm sure it'll be one of the best Death Metal albums out there. Anyways, as usual, Deämon delivers the good and keep getting better. I would have been satisfied seeing just them for the ticket price (or more). Singer Cory Malone has his way with the crowd, not necessarily saying much but he always gets he positive response - I don't think those guys will ever be booed off stage, they just plain fucking rule. Excellent set.

Finally, the stars of the night, Tsjuder came on stage with Unleashed playing in the background (the weird sixth track I refer to in my review of their album.) One of their guitarists wasn't there, so they were only three. I think that actually saved my life. Fuck, did I get my ass kicked! The energy that they generate is absolutely unbelievable - they simply fucking destroy! Extremely tight playing, the drumming as destructive as on the album - except now I was able to see that drummer perform for real, simply amazing - some people were just staring at him. The "lonely" guitarist made up for the missing one, which also made for a funny situation when he broke a string - it only took a few seconds for the bassist/vocalist to realize it and stop playing, but the drummer still kept drumming like crazy, Nag (vocalist) had to scream in the microphone to get him to stop. While the guitar was being repaired, we were treated with a drum solo, which Nag later joined with his bass, so really there was no real "downtime" despite the incident. They redid the song from the start and continued thundering away.

Tsjuder are simply an amazing live band. Some Black Metal bands have a reputation of not being any good live, but it's not the case here. They have a presence and an energy on stage that I have rarely seen, and the output is as violent as the genre calls for. This is by far one of the best metal shows I've seen. All hails to Tsjuder, I hope I'll get the opportunity to see them live again.

Unfortunately they were out of t-shirts... I'm sad. The fuckers in Montreal and Quebec City bought them all, damn it!

Anyways, three words: FUCKING AWESOME SHOW!

Pictures (note to self: buy camera with zoom)