After visiting this place for many years now, I finally saw my name back on the guestlist. I’m talking about my only hometown venue, the ‘Gigant’, a concerthall were I’ve seen many punk/hardcore shows as well as the traditional Friday-metalnights. Now I returned as a reviewer, reporting about the Ancient Rites show, supported by Oceans Of Sadness.

I only knew Oceans Of Sadness by name when they entered the stage this evening. What I witnessed was a progressive/avantgarde act, a genre of which I confess that I don’t know much about. Although the lights were heavily circling around, it was a bit of a dissapointing performance, there was no need in watching at the stage. The volume wasn’t fully open, but due that fact it was very noticeable that Oceans Of Sadness wrote some pretty good songs which of course is a plus point. Regretful were the intonation of the keyboards which were either mixed perfectly into the music (and because of that you couldn’t hear them anymore), or the keys’ volume was even lower then the overall sound. They were only recognizable in the more dragging melodic parts. Conclusion: I saw some good musicians who truly made some decent music, but on the other side, a spectacle is something different.

Mainact Ancient Rites, just like their support is also from Belgium, is a band that has quite a history. Founded in 1988 they became known with their folk incluenced black metal. But also in this case, and yes, I keep confessing, I haven’t heard any of their music in my life. Well prepared, I know, I know. So when I think about black metal, I imagine some extreme fast noise. Unfortunately for me Ancient Rites couldn’t offer me that in their first part of the set, but when I thought that it was slowly becoming boring they began to play some more faster shit which I could definitely appreciate! Lesser points were the before mentioned folk incluences, something I really dislike. That’s of course more my problem because the audience was sure having a good time banging their heads and being active in the moshpit.

As far as it goes about enjoyment, I had a better time during the Ancient Rites show, maybe because I had some more beers, but surely because it featured faster metal. Judging on music only I would say Oceans Of Sadness because their songs in its completeness sounded a lot better.