Black Metal, Satan, and Protesters – Mayhem and Watain played Club Soda (photos, review)

Norway’s Mayhem and Sweden’s Watain are currently co-headlining the “Black Metal Warfare” tour, which included a stop at Montreal’s Club Soda on January 12th, along with Edmonton’s Revenge. The massive black metal bill had Club Soda packed to the gills with a wildly enthusiastic crowd, but was not without some controversy. A crowd of about a dozen protesters braved the freezing outdoor temperatures to protest the show, handing out pamphlets beside the venue highlighting Mayhem drummer Hellhammer’s past homophobic and racist statements, and urging show-goers not to support the band. Although 3 police cruisers hovered alongside the protestors, there were no disturbances, and the show went off without a hitch.

Watain may have stolen the show on this particular night, delivering an eerie and intense hour-long set of brutal, yet accessible black metal. Thankfully (or not) the band have toned down their infamous stage set-up in recent years, steering away from stages decorated with rotting animal corpses, and settling on a pair of (human) skeletons bracketing the stage. There may be some truth to the stories of the band storing their stage wear in rotten dirt, as the stench from the first few rows was apparently palpable, though nowhere near as overwhelming as the band’s notorious Foufounes Electriques gig a few years back, which caused both staff and fans to vomit throughout the venue.

After a lengthy hour-long set change, Mayhem took the stage, offering up a relatively stoic contrast to Watain’s aggressive presence. While Mayhem put on a heavily theatrical show, compete with frontman Attila Csihar’s creepy face-mask and ever-present human skull in his palm, they felt oddly sedate after Watain’s punishing set, which in many respects felt more like a satanic rite than a rock show, complete with a candle-lit altar and ram’s head. The crowd ate it up though, shouting the band’s name between every song break, but as a friend succinctly put it, “You just don’t follow Watain.”

Below are photos of each band’s set, along with a protest sign, courtesy of Jason Hughes (http://jasonhughesphoto.com/). Click to enlarge the photos in the galleries. Were you at the show? Were you swayed by the protestors on your way in? Let us know in the comments below!

Mayhem

 Revenge