Dark Funeral live at ‘Teatrito’, Buenos Aires. March 11

A night filled with blasphemy and anti-Christian protests is the best way to describe how Dark Funeral invaded the Teatrito‘s stage in their comeback after 7 years. It was a long period that where extremely missed, and it seems that the Buenos Aires crowd was missed by them too.
The “Let The Devil In” tour brought Dark Funeral back to South America and after 3 shows in Brazil, Argentina was next to get the dose of occultism.

The concert date was on March 11, outside the venue everything looked pretty normal, but beyond Teatrito’s gates, Extreme Metal found its place to rise. Amazing opening acts from bands like “Exterminio“, “Dislepsia” and “Nuclear Sathan” hit the stage as the people slowly started to fill every corner of the venue. 

At 21:30, lights went off and, as the intro sounded background, 5 dudes in corpse paint and armor suddenly appeared between the fog (it was stage smoke, but “fog” sounded darker haha) walking downstairs. There was a huge logo of the band in the back, and pentagram banners at the sides.

The first song that crushed our minds with its infernal sound was “Nosferatu”, from their latest record “We Are The Apocalypse”; followed by “Atrum Regina”, a classic one which is now 20 years old and brought Dark Funeral to Buenos Aires for the first time with the world tour for that record (Attera Totus Sanctus).
“To Carve Another Wound” was next on the setlist, after a chant from the crowd, where Heljarmadr (the singer) told us how deeply the Buenos Aires crowd was missed by each one of them.
The show kept going with “The Arrival of Satan’s Empire”, “When I’m Gone” and “As One We Shall Conquer”. The stage was divided into two sides: on the left we had Chaq Mol (guitar) and Adra-Melek (bass) headbanging non-stop in every song on the setlist; and on the right, there was Lord Ahriman (guitar), the leader, just staring quietly at the crowd with a “bad guy” face (pretty scary with his corpse paint on and being tall as hell). In the back middle Jalomaah (drums) showed his solid skills, as he is the one who carries the songs with that speed tempos in which he plays blast beats, double strokes, incredibly fast fills, and every paradiddle that you could ever imagine. But don’t forget the darkest one: Heljarmadr. His voice sounds like Satan himself screaming at your face. 
Time to bring one of their massive hits: “Unchained My Soul”, which starts with such a powerful build-up, from 4 arpeggios of chords to the most intense ambient. 
The band always said that flashlights aren’t welcome in their shows, because Dark itself is like the sixth band member in every one of them. It was hilarious (and a little scary) seeing Heljarmadr walking down the stage to make a fan turn off the cellphone flashlight.

“Open The Gates”, Shadows Over Transylvania”, “My Dark Desires” and “In The Sign of The Horns” followed the setlist. The show wasn’t even finished and I knew, and maybe more fans around me, that this was easily one of the finest and prolixest Black Metal shows that I’ve ever seen. It’s at plain sight how perfectionists they are in every performance.

As the tour said “Let The Devil In”, so… it was next on the list, followed by an epic ending: “Where Shadows Forever Reign”. That was a huge surprise, that album is my personal favorite, and it ends with that same song in fade out. So, the show ended the same way the album did. Of course, it hadn’t a fade out, but it was, instead, more epic: as the eternal ending riff kept going, Heljarmadr grabbed a flag with the band logo and waved it as the crowd sang “Hey hey hey!” following the slow tempo of that part. Just amazing. It was like being part of a ritual. Maybe that crossed their minds too at the exact moment, I don’t know. But it felt fantastic.
After that, they left the stage for good and said goodbye to Buenos Aires, promising to come back soon.
And we’ll be there again to be part of the ritual, watching the stage as an altar, and them as the dark gods we invoke to bring chaos in the form of songs.

Photos by Eliana Fernandez

Review by Agustin Lopez

Produced by Icarus Music

Press Marcela Scorca