Some concert reviews claim that ‘the venue shook’. Usually, that’s just a cliché. On Sunday evening at the Batschkapp in Frankfurt, however, that description hit the nail on the head.
Even the two support acts, 200 Stab Wounds (Listen here) and Sanguisugabogg (Listen here), delivered an uncompromising masterclass in death metal. Despite the summery temperatures, they transformed the sweltering Batschkapp into a madhouse within minutes. The fans were on their feet from the very first minute.
By the time Heaven Shall Burn (Listen here) finally took to the stage, the atmosphere was already at boiling point – and yet the band from Thuringia still managed to raise the energy level significantly once more. Although the band now regularly plays Europe’s major venues and festival stages, it was clear throughout that they were relishing the smaller club show. That said, ‘small’ was certainly a relative term in Frankfurt: more than 1,000 fans turned the Batschkapp into a seething cauldron. The proximity to the audience and the sweat-drenched atmosphere nevertheless made the evening far more intimate than the big arena productions.
For long stretches, the Batschkapp was one huge mosh pit. Time and again, the crowd parted to form a brutal wall of death, before crashing back into one another with full force. Anyone looking for a quiet spot that evening was definitely in the wrong place.
Heaven Shall Burn impressively proved that they’re not just at home on the biggest festival stages. It is precisely in clubs that their music unfolds with an intensity that is hard to beat.
