The day was Saturday, November the 6th and central Europe, especially Vienna, was expecting a doomed depressive night, as the Doom Over Vienna Festival was about to take place there.
So, the journey from Bratislava begun late in the afternoon to catch the train to Vienna. The sky became black and the atmosphere gloomy like signs of warning for the mourning that would follow. Finally, we arrived at Escape Metal Corner, the place where the festival would take place. As we got there, we could see the wonderful merchandise full of cd, vinyls, t-shirts and patches, not only from the bands appearing on the festival, but from bands of the whole doom metal genre. The place was crowded with metal heads, among them the band Isole which were drinking their beers peacefully while talking with people as well.
Suddenly, my eyes fell on Christian Linderson in thebackstage, waving his hands to me like he was inviting me in the backstage with him as well as with the other bands of the festival. I walked in there and I introduced myself to him in order to remind him who was I, and the great interview which he has given to our BlogSpot months ago. Greetings, hugs and beers with him followed, as well as with the whole Lord Vicar band and Daniel from Isole.
That was the reason why we missed the first 2 bands of the festival including Mael Mordha from Ireland and Vortigan from Austria. 
Nevertheless, we had time to discuss with Peter from Lord Vicar about the future releases and plans of Lord Vicar and Orne, as well as the good times back in 2005 where Reverend Bizarre appeared live in Thessaloniki. I have to mention that everyone was very friendly and polite, behaving just like proper human beings and not like rock-stars.
Anyway, the time has come for Isole to play and so we left the backstage and we
moved downstairs. After some few problems with their sound which were finally solved, they started their program with “Deceiver” from their first album and the whole place started singing and head banging with them, the best welcoming ever!!! By blood, Dreams, Hollow Shrine, Age OF Darkness and From the Dark followed. Unfortunately, the time available for them was up and they had to stop, but after the warm and active begging of the fans, they played “Moonstone” for the encore.
Excellent performance, with temporary different bass player this time due to Henka’s personal duties, powerful vocals and merciless riffing from maybe the most talented band in doom metal!
The next band appearing were Mirror OF Deception and the fans responded with excitement as their new album “A Smouldering Fire” is a sample of
how doom metal should be played nowadays.
The first riff of the song “Bleak” out from their first album started and a delirium followed. Mid tempo rhythm with many slow but skull crushing riffs, double guitar solos and nostalgic vocal lines are the main characteristics of this band, which gave their best and satisfied all of us. Their playlist was: Bleak, Ghost, The Riven Tree, Sojourner, Student, Entgleiten and Ship of Fools. As an encore they played Vanished.
At last, the time had come for Lord Vicar to “conquer” the stage and doom metal fanatics including me were crowded in the first lines surrounding Chritus. The band played songs from both their “Demon of Freedom” EP and full length album. Heavy riffs, nice melodies and the entire Black Sabbath feeling composed the thing that we call true traditional doom metal today and lead the fans as well as me to grab Chritus’s microphone and sing with him. The emotions were mixed as it is difficult to combine Peter’s riffs while listening to Chritus’s amazing voice. The whole pandemonium ended with “Funeral Pyre” but all the people wanted to play more and as a result the whole band found difficulties in leaving the stage, especially Chritus!! I have no words for this band, not only for their live performance which was more than excellent, but also for their behavior and kindness. Also, I can remember Peter watching with us all the bands played before him, as a way of supporting them, thing that has to be with everyone. Doom metal is a sensitive genre of metal and it is our duty to support it. Also, bands have to support and help each other because first of all we are doom metal fans and then musicians and the whole doom metal genre has no need for big mainstream industries and commercial supporting but only the melancholic and mournful melodies. Keep it heavy, keep it pure!
Father Alex
08/11/2010
