Date: 19 may 2000
The sun was setting when I came out of the underground to witness STONEHENGE drinking beer and waiting for the missing band-members. Fans were chaotically spread around the station looking for alcohol of any kind or for the location of the club that was about 10 minutes away. Finally SONEHENGE have gathered and we made a move towards the club. Most of the fans were already inside (‘cause the show was supposed to start already), others were drinking, speaking and looking at MASTER’S Alik Granovsky being interviewed by some strange TV program. I made a move inside…
I
can’t remember the names of so called Band #1 and Band #2 (actually,
ELYSIUM and SYMBOL – ED) but that should not bother anyone reading
this article because the bands were really crappy, nevertheless I think
that shit also needs comments: the first one played… something.
It really was not more and not less than “something”. They also had a sexy
looking chick on vocals and violin (who was not a very nice singer).
The second band was better. They played typical power metal that is played
by hundreds of clone bands with a quality that wasn’t good or bad (in
fact, more likely they deliver a boring mixture of heavy metal and alternative
crap – ED). It was the band of nothing, which was a little better
than the first band of something. So that gives me an idea that the
philosophy behind shitty Russian metal bands is: nothing is better than
something. Which is the opposite of the accepted statement that something
is better than nothing. Or, may be, it is only my opinion.
The mighty STONEHENGE played second with a bit unusual stuff. The “unusual stuff” means that their sound and music were really good, however a bit different to their former recordings. More gothic-sounding, you see. And what’s most important – much better than ever before! It is one of the few bands in Russia that play professional doom metal. Not much solos but great drive and powerful vocals. Vlad’s pronunciation is great. He roars but the words are easy to understand. On their previous gig they played in a company of power metal bands such as CATHARSIS and SHADOW HOST, which have clear vocals and Vlad was the only singer that could be understood. STONEHENGE was also the best band out of them all, although I’m more into power than doom metal. STONEHENGE is a great scene when they are on stage – it is really difficult to describe, so just go and see them live - you shall not regret (if you do, Herr Stalhammar will give you your money back which you spend for the tickets). The crowd (which mainly consisted of young metalheads who came to see MASTER) went mad. Vlad and Co were appreciated unlike Band #2 which played third: Kai (me again – ED) fell asleep on their second song and woke up with a headache which was gone (?) when MASTER began to play.
The entire crowd was obviously waiting for MASTER. The drums started to pound and the band appeared on stage. They were much more professional than others and played much louder. The stuff from the new album showed that MASTER was still musically growing and are still ready to kick ass. The new singer was not as good as Seryshev but fitted the band well. He coped with the old songs without a problem and the new songs were obviously made for his voice. The culmination of the show was when Mike Seryshev came out and they sang their old cult song – “Get Up And Overcome Your Fear”. Two vocalists sounded great but it was obvious that Mike was better. At the end of the show they played two covers by some old band like LED ZEPPELIN, but I didn’t understand what the fuck they were. Sorry.
So, MASTER still plays, Alik shows himself to remain the best Russian bass player, STONEHENGE rises, fans still go to gigs, its not that bad after all…