As from the very beginning I am truly in love (oink?) with Germany’s Desaster. They debuted in 1996 with A Touch Of Medieval Darkness. 1996 was a fabulous year when it came to Black Metal, with truly magnificent releases by acts like Sort Vokter, Mysticum, Profanum, Falkenbach, Judas Iscariot, Lugubrum, Sabbat, Hades, Blut Aus Nord, Paragon Belial, Troll, Lunar Aurora, Gorgoroth, Ungod, Summoning or Behemoth (back then still acceptable!), amongst tens of others. Glory days it were!!! But to my opinion, three albums specifically were just sublime in all aspects: Burzum’s Filosofem, Darzamat’s In The Flames Of Black Art, and A Touch Of Medieval Darkness, the debut of Desaster. I do follow this band very closely since then, and even though not one single effort did reach the superiority of the band’s debut (personal opinion, of course), they have maintained to impress me time after time.
Desaster are on High Roller Records’ roster for a couple of years now (the 2012-album The arts Of Destruction was a first result of this collaboration), and this co-operation continues with the release of this double-album. Live In Bamberg brings a live registration of a concert they did in November 2013 in, guess where… Bamberg indeed, a beautiful city in Bayern with a rich history, in order to celebrate their twenty fifth anniversary. More than twenty ‘songs’ with a masterly sound and an enthusiastic audience at the background, that’s what Live In Bamberg brings. …and not to forget: a splendid performance done by highly experienced musicians…
The performance is an overview from the whole history of the band, with old and newer songs, as well as some surprises. Such a surprise was the guest appearance of several former members, joining the horde to party! Before the actual performance, the band did ask their fans, via fuckbook (their definition of facebook, and who am I to disagree?) which tracks they would hear out of the throat of former ‘singer’ Okkulto, for example. Great initiative, I think. Also the performance of the Grind-attack Evil Arschloch (which was written for their tenth-anniversary album specifically, if I am not mistaken) is quite apart, but seen the joy…