Happy new year! Time for the first show of this very fresh and unsullied year, and what better show than the opening night of the new album tour for Misthyrming. Having almost silently dropped one of the best black metal albums of 2022, Með hamri, in December, Misthyrming are doing a small tour through Europe. They are joined by Kringa, whose 2022 album All Stillborn Fires, Lick My Heart! should also feature high on the black metal 2022 lists, Ritual Death and  Nubivagant. As the candles are lit and the skulls put out on their little tables, we’re in for a good evening’s entertainment.

Opening the night is Nubivagant. The two-piece band have impressive visuals, with cowled hoods and a lot of fog. However, they give a distinct impression of not quite there yet. That’s alright tho, as the relatively young project only had its first release in 2020. The combination of Sabbathy clean vocals with more jagged black in the drums and guitars is an interesting concept, but in general, they feel like they need something more, an extra layer of guitars, some floating layers, or just a smaller stage. The doomy vibes are very much appreciated though and there is some definite potential.

Next, we get to see Ritual Death, who like any good black metal band, doesn’t play the commercial game at all. I swear, naming most of their releases Ritual Death over the years, has been done just to spite reviewers and those who like making lists. Toting some heavy hitters in the band, including the vocalist Wraath from Dervaza. The visuals are impressive, especially the masked vocalist who seems to have his mic mounted in the mask (or maybe he has a droplet mic like they use for musicals?). In any case, there was no mic in sight as he darts around the stage and simply screams at the audience under his skull mask. Sadly this visual flair does not extend to the rest of the band, which is a pity. Get them some masks too! Musically they feel more along the old punky roots of black metal, with a less complex and layered approach, and more in-your-face aggression. However, a distinct feeling of something missing stays with me. Later I found out what that was: about half the live band didn’t make the show, and they borrowed their drummer of Nubivagant so I’ll look forward to one day seeing them at full force.

The penultimate band of the evening is the Austrians, Kringa. Their latest album released in 2022 really piqued my interest, and they don’t disappoint live. The combination of windswept cold and desperate high-screeched wails and more deep screams and resonant evocations of the two vocalists, the layered guitars, and the drums work incredibly well. While their stage presence has surprisingly little theatre compared to some of the bands of the evening, the elevated mic stand of guitarist and vocalist Vritra makes for fine desperate theatrics, as he writhes and wails at some point struggling with the mic stand to the point it gets abandoned. As contrast the barefoot Berstuk on bass and second vocals, and the guitarist Neidr on the opposite side of the stage seem more subdued, immersed in their music. The sound mix and light are both surprisingly bright, and really let one appreciate the cold wails and layering the band uses. A memorable performance.

Finally, we get to the meat of the party, the headliner, and while the previous courses have been most excellent, the freight train that is the live experience of Misthyrming is one that can’t easily be equaled. We’ve had a lot of different styles of black metal tonight, and while Misthyrming has moved away from their raw and brutal all-out assault on their first album, they never lost that edge of aggression, even as they added more rock and roll vibes. Right away we get slapped in the face as the band doesn’t hold back and launches into the album’s title track Með Hamri (with a hammer) and what a hammer. D.G.’s imposing stage presence has not tamed down, even when Wraath joins them for a song midway through the set. Especially effective also are the simultaneous angry shouts in several songs the entire band joins into. New drummer M.S., formerly of Svarti Dauði, proves he adds to that feral edge of aggression the band has always had. There are no brakes on this beast as they pummel us for the entire duration of the set, and the crowd is clearly loving it. What a way to kick off a tour and the new year!

WORDS AND PHOTOS BY SUSANNE A. MAATHUIS