Primordial don’t play that many club shows in the Netherlands and so I only got to see them 5 times before in some 20 years. Now with a new album under their belt, they did a short tour in Europe starting in the Netherlands with two gigs. I went to Tilburg for the second gig. They brought two support acts along. And they promised a long set for each band.

The opening band was the German black metal band Der Weg Einer Freiheit. They had just started their first song as I entered the venue. Well this is modern black metal I guess. The songs are long, generally fast with slow section mixed in, drawn out and contain long sections of melodies consisting mostly of tremolo picking. Not really my favourite kind of style, particularly as the music lacks some serious punch or aggression. The music is well played but it all sounds a bit to decent and proper.

Moonsorrow was on next. They were allowed to play a full set of 75 minutes or so. And with Moonsorrow that means like 5 or six songs as lots of their songs are 15 minutes or so in length. I never really got into their pagan folk music. They came on stage covered in (fake) blood and war paint. The music is a bit of hit and miss. Some sections are pretty good, then they continue with parts that are a bit too happy sounding for my liking and mix that with the heavy use of keyboards, that generally don’t add that much. It wasn’t exactly a snooze fest, but 75 minutes is a bit too long for me.

After a quick change over it was time for the headliner Primordial. Singer Alan came on stage as ever, fully painted and wearing ragged clothes. The rest of the band appeared in a more mundane outfit. After the intro, they started with the opening song of their new album. I am not so enthused yet about the new album, maybe it is a grower though. The next one Gods to the Godless is a classic song. Singer Alan was as active on stage as ever, engaging the crowd into the gig, while the rest of the band solemnly played their parts more to the back of the stage. All in all four more songs of the new album got played. The set was filled out with a bit of a best of, including No Grave Deep Enough, As Rome Burns, the fast Traitors Gate. They concluded the set with The Coffin Ships, possibly their best song, however it sounded a bit rushed, and Empire Falls. A bit of a save, predictable set list. All in all quite a good gig.