RUSSIAN CIRCLES / HELEN MONEY
VOX, Smoke the Fuzz Fest(Post-Mortem Edition)-Day 1, Athens, Greece
05.11.2016
Report: Yiannis Dois / Clicks: Jenny Doi
Third part for the Smoke the Fuzz Fest and Metal Invader wouldn’t miss it for the world. Post-Mortem Edition took place at VOX on Iera Odos, at the heart of Athens and probably was one of the year’s top events. It was a splendid weekend with our post-metal heroes Russian Circles and Cult of Luna along with their partners in crime, Helen Money and Julie Christmas, respectively. Dig in for more.
Everything went according to the timetable and we’ve got the American experimental cellist Helen Money and Russian Circles’ collaborator on their album “Geneva” on stage. She presented us her material in the neo-classical ambient style she’s known for with pre-recorded drums and electronic effects appearing now and then and accompanying her cello. She lacked some nerve on stage and was clearly not in a mood so much. It was an unfortunate opening act in my opinion without judging her musical output, but because her sound was far from the headliners’ and the audience wasn’t familiar with the artist. This fact became pretty clear when people kept chatting annoyingly throughout her set. A pretty rude thing to do, I must add.
A little time has passed and the power trio from Chicago appears on stage accompanied by the enthusiasm of the attendants. Russian Circles begin with the nostalgic “Asa” from their newest record “Guidance” and lure us in an oblivion state that breaks with the single of the album, “Vorel”. Anyone gets there that the band doesn’t mess around. They stand strong on their feet and punch you with their cement-like sound. Their drummer was the conductor and all together controlling impeccably their dynamics, controlled the space and all the feelings it imprisoned. Here I have to comment on the excellent choice of their set-list that compiled a good amount of songs from their new beloved record and also hits from their older releases. The highlight was “Harper Lewis” where the band climaxed their performance and earned the (for god sake) one and only mosh-pit of the two days. They kicked the “post” label and the mediocrity that it carries on and proved that they’ll stay to the top for much time longer.
P.S.: I can’t describe how much I expected to hear “Death Rides a Horse”.
Set-list:
- Asa
- Vorel
- Deficit
- 309
- Afrika
- Harper Lewis
- 1777
- Calla
- Mladek
- Youngblood