Pyogenesis

Metal Hammer Paradise - 2024

Text: Tobias Nilsson Photo: Lunah Lauridsen

We had been unable to attend the first day of Metal Hammer Paradise, but what did it matter, when day two was to be opened up by none other than Pyogenesis? Naught, I say!
Yeah, Pyogenesis was definitely one of the bands we were looking the most forward to seeing here, and having them kick the day off was certainly going to be a treat.

Straight off the bat, we could see that some changes had come over the band since our last encounter. Flo V. Schwarz was of course leading the troupe, and he had Malte Brauer by his side, but the second guitarist and drummer were new to me. While I haven’t been able to figure out just who the new drummer was, I do believe that the guitarist was one Alejandro García a.k.a. Alex Ripper (Zigur). The spirit of the band seemed to be intact though, and when they opened their show with the hard hitting Steam Paves Its Way (The Machine), it was done so with all the power and joy of playing that we could hope for! Straight from start, the energy of the band was dialled to 11, as they were going all over, across, and out from the stage in their performance!
Blaze, My Northern Flame came after this, and apart from being a true smasher of a song, it was also time for audience participation, as we were set to shout “hey”, while Schwarz inspected the rhythm first hand by climbing on top of the drums!

This pretty much set the tone for the show, and even though Schwarz was naturally speaking German, and that to a degree that my Duolingo lessons couldn’t keep up, the intent was clear for all - this was going to be the biggest party this festival had ever seen!
It didn’t take long for Schwarz to go out on the ‘don’t step on these’ speakers in front of the stage, jump down and go hang on the security fence while singing. His stage crew guy had his job cut out for him, doing his best to not let the chord from the mic get itself caught in things as it was constantly thrown or dragged around all over the place! Even when he was giving Schwarz a helping hand in getting back on stage, the vocalist reconsidered midway, and went back to the fence for the entirety of the song.

It wasn’t all about Schwarz either, if you mistakenly got that impression. Brauer and Ripper were both rocking hard, getting a good sweat worked up, and the drummer got highly enthusiastic with his sing-along for the end of Flesh And hair! I was impressed by Ripper’s ability to have his hair and glasses under control for all the rocking he was doing, but after a while, at least the glasses had to be put aside.
Schwarz was by no means finished however, and for the finishing track, Don’t You Say Maybe, he got himself into an inflated boat, the Floatopia, and sailed down the crowd with the aid of several strong arms holding him up, eventually landing him by the bar at the back where he promptly got himself a beer, after which he sailed back to the stage to finish the song.

I will admit that I was a bit concerned by the low attendance in the tent of the Maximum Metal Stage before the concert started, but the numbers increased rapidly in the last few minutes before the band hit the stage, and more people yet filed in during the show. It never got to be a huge crowd, but definitely big enough to make itself seen and heard. Lot’s of singing along, lot’s of shouting enthusiastically! A bit too enthusiastically at times, as for example leading up to I Have Seen My Soul, where Schwarz wanted to hear how loudly we could applaud, and when the crowd just started a shouting match instead, he had to reel us in and start over.
For Don’t You Say Maybe, shouting was the way however, as the characteristic “oh-oh oh-oh” travelled from side to side before settling at an all out warcry from the entire crowd. Heck, even after the show was over and done with, the “oh-oh oh-oh” could be heard long after the band had left and the lights were turned back on.

So, did Pyogenesis just deliver the best show of Metal Hammer Paradise? Remember, this was the first show we saw at the festival, but I’ll be damned if they didn’t do just that!
Everything, from start to finish, was absolute rock ‘n’ roll! Ok, so while I do enjoy Undead a lot, it did take a little bit of the momentum out of the show with its lower tempo, but apart from that, this was a clear 100%.

Setlist:

Steam Paves Its Way (The Machine)
Blaze, My Northern Flame
Every Man For Himself And God Against All
The Capital (A Silent Soul Screams Loud)
Flesh And Hair
Will I Ever Feel The Same
Undead
I Have Seen My Soul
Don’t You Say Maybe

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