According to the dictionary of Cambridge, a siege is “the surrounding of a place by an armed force in order to defeat those defending it:” And I can’t think of better words to describe the concert that happened on October 12th in Alcatraz, Milan for the co-headliner tour of Arch Enemy and Behemoth, with Carcass and Unto Others as support act. I want to thank Jacopo Casati and Vertigo for their professionalism and collaboration!
Perfectly on time at 18:10, the heavy metal band from Oregon, “Unto Others” began their set. I was very delighted to learn that it was their first time ever performing in Italy, which made the concert even more special. They play a very precise and detailed show, and their tracks have a very sophisticated approach, both musically and lyrically. Guitarist Sebastian Silva was absolutely smashing the guitar solos, while vocalist Gabriel Franco was serving outstanding vocals and interacted quite a bit with the crowd.
It was soon time for the second band of the day (or night, if you prefer) to enchant Milan. Deathgrind masters Carcass, right from the British Isles, were welcomed with loud cheers and applause from the audience of Alcatraz. I had the luck of seeing them at Tuska earlier this year, but am personally not a big fan of this metal subgenre; nevertheless, they have a terrific power on stage, and the crowd was at their feet the entire time. Along with many classics of the band like “Heartwork“, the group from Liverpool delighted us with a couple of tracks from their latest album, like “Kelly’s Meat Emporium” and “Dance of Ixtab“.
After Carcass ended their set, a huge white sheet was hung between the stage and the audience while the sounds of an orchestra rehearsing played during the changing of the stage. So much so that I was starting to wonder if the following band, Behemoth, brought a whole ensemble to perform with them. That was not the case (unfortunately). Very punctual (like all the other bands of the night), at 20:10, their performance begins with a tape of “Post-God Nirvana“, where we see Nergal running endlessly in a white room singing the song and a reflection of Inferno. Then, the white sheet falls, and it reveals the whole band. They played a majestic performance and the audience was literally crazy: Milan just can’t get enough of Behemoth!
“PURE FUCKING METAL”. Sorry for the bad word there, I was just writing the words that were on the huge sheet hung before the last band of the evening, Arch Enemy. After their intro, the band went on stage, soon joined by their lead singer Alissa White-Gluz. I am sorry to say that I am not a big fan of melodic death metal in general, but their performance was sublime. Alissa engaged with the audience very much, thanked the band that played before them and was enthusiastic about being on stage. She was delivering fantastic vocals, making tricks with the microphone, interacting with the other band members and just having fun. This is what we mean when we say women rule the world!
