There was a triple-headed hydra from Poland in town, and the head at the end of the main neck was Vader.
Vader, whom we basically always love, and have in turn shown Copenhagen a great deal of love as well, as they keep coming by every so often, was back again, and we were about to find out if their bite was as poisonous as it used to be.

“Denmark! Copenhagen! It’s good to be back. It’s time to die!”
- Piotr “Peter” Wiwczarek (vocals/guitar)

After a bombastic intro, Vader proved that they still had it. Grand Deceiver was up first, and from that moment, the band never let up. They let out song after song in a rapid tempo, much resembling the rapid tempo of the songs themselves, and the audience ate it up.
Interestingly, it was the older forces of the band, Peter and Marek ‘Spider’ Pająk, that delivered the most. Both James Stewart (drums) and Tomasz ‘Hal’ Halicki (bas) played tightly and aggressively, but their performance was more held back and a tad anonymous. Peter and Spider on the other hand, showed that they had full-on fun from start to finish, as they partied, posed, and kept a good connection going with the crowd. Hal opened up gradually through the set, but never reached the same level of insanity as the two aforementioned men.

I did mention that Vader is a popular band in Copenhagen, and most likely the rest of Denmark as well, and this night proved that once more. Hotel Cecil was a new concert hall for me, a cool place in the lower level of what from the street looked innocently like a regular café setting. The mid-sized hall seemed well-equipped and thought out for concerts though, and it was sold out in honour of this night’s main guest. Hate, who played before Vader, had seen a good increase of people on the floor, but when Vader came on, the place was packed. Heat was rising, and it came as much from the number of people, as it did the action that the music drew from them. It was of course mostly the front that was actively moving and moshing, but the rest happily threw their horns in the air, and shouted out their appreciation in the appropriate places.

To put it short, Vader levelled the place with their energy. What makes this band stick out from the rest can be hard to put an exact finger on, but the positive vibe they put out is certainly a big part of it. The music may be aggressive and mean, but the people it making clearly just love what they do, and have fun doing it. This, to me, is the most important part of why I keep coming back to Vader, time and time again.

Setlist:

Grand Deceiver
Sothis
Black To The Blind
Triumph Of Death
Tempest
The Final Massacre
Silent Empire
Epitaph
Despair
Carnal
Wings
Litany
Vicious Circle
Dark Age
Cold Demons
Sword Of The Witcher
Steeler (Judas Priest cover)
The Imperial March (John Williams song)