In a way, Vader is becoming more or less a household name here at The Rock; they do seem to pop around at just about every tour they play. Not that this is a bad thing in any way, I know there are several Danish metalheads who are more than happy to welcome the Polish death squad back as often as possible.

This night they came in the company of a Danish act called Divine Chaos and a Swedish troupe known as As I Drown, but there was no mistaken that it was Vader themselves who had pulled peoples butts out of their comfy-chairs this Tuesday evening for a little bit of hellraising.
Vader themselves came in the embodiment of Piotr ‘Peter’ Wiwczarek, the longstanding warlord of the band, and with him he had the (in comparison) new additions of Pawel ‘Paul’ Jaroszewicz (drums) and Tomasz ‘Reyash’ Rejek (bass). Finally, adding more shredding assaults was session guitarist Marek Pajak.

Vader have never (as far as my experience goes) relied on visual aids, they usually let the music create the right atmosphere all by itself. For this show though, Peter had had a great ribcage with spinal cord cast in metal which he used as a mic-stand, and it looked terrific!
Not that this meant they would let down on the other parts though; the energy was as high as ever (even far better than last time)! Ok, so Peter did sound a bit tired and at times unmotivated while announcing songs, but as a true professional he didn’t let it affect his or the bands performance whilst playing.
The rest of the band members where definitely at the top of their game as well, and their energy made direct contact with the audience which really showed why it is Vader should keep coming back after all these shows. There was no end to the moshpit, which only grew in intensity throughout the concert.

Vader started their set with three songs off of their latest album Necropolis, and to tell the truth this was probably the weakest part of the concert for me. Just to make it clear though, it wasn’t weak in itself, but when they then reached Sothis and Wings came in quick succession the victory was a fact! Vader now owned the stage and the crowd, and they held a tight grip on us all the way to the end which came with a song called Wojna, the Polish word for war. Was it This Is The War? I don’t know, probably, but I’m not sure…
Still, a single fact remains certain in my mind, as the ringing in my ear marks the end of the night; Vader definitely is a band best served live!

Setlist:

Devilizer
Rise Of The Undead
Never Say My Name
Sothis
Wings
Silent Empire
The Crucified Ones
Black To The Blind
ShadowFear
Death In Silence
Impure
Blast
What Colour Is Your Blood?
Dark Age
Carnal
Wojna