Dismember, Hatesphere, Fall Of Serenity, Worldescape - Europe Burns Tour

The by Dismember headlined Europe Burns Tour 2008 made me once again clear that Monday nights are not a success formula for concerts. A reliable line-up of bands in various genre’s (death, thrash and melodeath were all represented) didn’t attract enough people to fill more than half of the Willemeen-venue in Arnhem, a hall that isn’t even that big. Here’s our report.

Opener of tonight was Worldescape, a young band from Germany that nobody seemed to know in advance. They played melodic death metal by the book, but unfortunately on a very amateuristic, or should I say beginner level. It was too obvious that these guys hadn’t much live experience. The singer wasn’t able to get any reaction out of the public, while he had a bassist hiding behind him (fear of failure?). The other band members didn’t bang their heads at any time, and when one guitarist decided to act ‘metal’ and started shredding in front of the bassist, he didn’t respond. There was no movement on stage and that simply reflected on the audience. The predictable and easy melodeath was only becoming interesting when the drummer used his doublebass pedal, something that he did only a few times. A pity, but these guys just need to practise some more. (Mindsaver)

Also from Germany was Fall Of Serenity, a band that is certainly more experienced than their predecessor. They suffered from a weak sound at the start, but their enthusiasm and performance immediately made it a good gig, and while the sound became better during the show, more and more attending people seemed to like it too. Their charismatic singer John Gahlert was very convincing and also the rest of the band was in excellent shape. The most brutal tracks during their set came from their 2006 release Bloodred Salvation, while we were also treated with some new and more melodic tracks from the recently released The Crossfire. All in all a very nice show. (Mindsaver)

When the intro was played it looked like the guys of Hatesphere couldn’t wait any longer to enter the stage. After everyone left the band except for guitarist Pepe, many people may have thought it was the beginning of the end for this band. Tonight it was their job to prove those people were wrong. I think 19 year old singer Joller especially had something to make up for this night, because Jacob wasn’t someone you could overlook on stage. I’m a fan of their music and I tried to be critical about the show, but I can only tell you how they put down a really strong, energetic and professional performance including a nice setlist. If you didn’t know there had been so many line-up changes I think people wouldn’t have noticed it. The guys played like they had been together for many years already, they were having a lot of fun on stage. Joller also proved himself to be a great singer, without sounding too much like Jacob he could match the sound of Hatesphere perfectly. They may have lost a lot, but they also gained a lot. (Lukie)



After Hatesphere it was time for the headliner: Dismember. These Swedes were a big disappointment for me at the Masters Of Death Tour one and a half year ago, while I later found out that their sound during that show is just their common. All their albums sound the same in my opinion, and that was also what I thought of Dismember’s gig tonight. The groove was high, the show not interesting at all. The fact that a lot of the attending people already went to the back of the hall (while others even went home) made clear that I wasn’t the only one with these thoughts. The only ones who seemed to like it were some old school fans who all took place close to the stage, all playing air guitar while banging their long-haired heads, which was fun watch though. The band was having a fun time as well; doing some Iron Maiden and Judas Priest stuff including the high vocals. Boring but not too worse, let’s just say all's well that ends well. (Mindsaver)


Pictures by Metalshots