It was November 2015 when I enjoyed an awesome night at Kind Diamond’s exhibition in Los Angeles. His Majesty Kim Bendix Petersen, born in 1956, promised to the audience, to be back soon with a reunited Mercyful Fate.
At that announcement, my heart stopped: the idea of seeing them reunited was too much to digest. It was a very big promise that almost forced me to call the paramedics on site…
Anyway, I was able to recover from the shock. I have waited several years when it finally happened, and not in an average day, but on Halloween night.
The location was the YouTube Theater in Inglewood, a concert hall situated in the gigantic Sofi Stadium area. SoFi Stadium is not just a place for football matches and Motley Crüe, but also “minor” entertainment events. A very clever idea for sure.
If it’s not sweet enough, we have the German band KREATOR opening, formidable thrash ensemble in which the singer Milla Petrozza, of Italian heritage, and drummer Jürgen Reil leading the band since 1982.
At lead guitar we find the Finnish Sami Sirnio and on bass the French Frederic Leclercq.
Curiously, playing in the same band is Marco Minneman, one the most respected modern-day drummers.
The opening band was MIDNIGHT, but unfortunately for a personal misadventure I couldn’t attend their show.
Let’s go then to take my place in that beautiful 6,000 seat arena, maybe a little small due the sold out few hours after the tickets were on sale and let’s see what Kreator has to show tonight, Teutonic band that just released their last album: Hate Über Alles.
First track is Violent Revolution of 2002, and we immediately realize what we are attending: no-mercy violent sound with our almost-Italian singer in beautiful shape, powerful voice and a train of sound that is severely shaking the place!
They keep on going with more recent songs and the brilliant Satan is Real. Now picture this: more than 6,000 people dressed for Halloween, appropriate imagery, ghosts everywhere and 120 db of PERFECT sound from the PA. The Halloween party is simply perfect; sure, you must be in envy, because if you weren’t there you must be jealous.alloween
Our slaughters propose Enemy of God and everybody loves them. Guitarist Sami is shredding like there’s no tomorrow with a great taste despite the song title.
Last track is Pleasure to Kill and they promised to come back as headliners next year.
We will not miss that opportunity.
setlist
Violent Revolution
Hate Über Alles
Satan Is Real
Awakening of the Gods
Enemy of God
Mars Mantra
Phantom Antichrist
Strongest of the Strong
Flag of Hate
Pleasure to Kill
Apocalypticon
Quick stage setup and audience is very well seasoned for the grill, when the intro of The Oath tells everyone that the recreation is over and the King is coming.
I am a big fan indeed, but I wouldn’t have any problem to professionally criticize the band in case it wasn’t good. Instead I have to declare with no hesitations whatsoever that the execution is simply PERFECT. The drummer Bjarne Holm sounds like a prog-rock musician on steroids, a killer time machine and a sound that is one of the best I have heard in a closed arena.
At lead guitar we have veteran Rene Krolmark (AKA Hank Shermann). He doesn’t jump like a frog on stage anymore but gives guitar a good name. Second guitar is Mike Wead that wants to compete in class and perfect execution, the duel is divine.
We still miss former bass player Timi Hansen that passed away in 2019 and we expect to see Joey Vera, but he is already on tour with his former band Armored Saint (ironically, they play in another location the same day) so the spot is all for the beautiful Becky Baldwin. Despite the angelic figure, she plays like an assassin and is immediately respected by the audience.
They say that during the “conclave” the Holy Spirit flies above the Roman Church of St. Peter, I am pretty sure instead the devil in person is flying over the SoFi area (please allow me to joke, no offense) and personally announce the song A Corpse Without Soul.
Let’s talk about the Danish King: his voice is way beyond powerful, it is clean, granitic, falsetto and normal with no effect tricks from the console (I am a navigated sound engineer, and I would figure it out).
No breakdowns and no rest until the beautiful Melissa played even better than on the original record. The last song is Come to the Sabbath in a satanic bordello that is demonic only from the entertainment point of view, as the clever Kim always said: nobody is going to sacrifice anybody or worship the devil, it’s just entertainment and music folklore.
A few minutes in the dark and the encore Satan’s Fall shakes the walls for the last 11 minutes that I wish were 6 hours instead. A show that everyone would be appreciate, even by an audience that don’t usually listen to this kind of music.
We leave the premise happily smiling, conscious to be part of a very special event with full grown musicians and an historic band.
setlist
A Corpse Without Soul
The Jackal of Salzburg
Curse of the Pharaohs
A Dangerous Meeting
Doomed by the Living Dead
Melissa
Black Funeral
Evil
Come to the Sabbath
encore
Satan’s Fall
Thanks to Earsplit PR
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