10.08.2024 Saltatio Mortis

M'era Luna

Hildesheim (Germany)

After Hämatom I took a little break in order to eat something to be invigorated for the second part of the day. This should start with Saltatio Mortis who released this year their new album “Finsterwacht”. Of this there was performed the equally named title track as opener. The heat of the day slowly reclined but in order to not cool down the guys were turning up the heat even more. Directly from the start they were having a handle on the audience and there was a giddily atmosphere on and in front of the stage.
And yet there was also at Saltatio Mortis something not like it should have been. Someone was missing. And Alea directly provided the explanation for this. Falk Irmenfried von Hasen-Mümmelstein was not with them as he got father the evening before. From my end: Congratulations! Also, the Tambour would almost not have been with them as his flight had been canceled the evening before. Someone from the team of the band especially had trained the drum track but finally did not have to play as somehow it did work with the flight to the festival. Mainly they played along the last albums whereas with “My Mother Told Me” and “Valhalla Calling” also two English-speaking songs were part of that set. Consistently it was sung along loudly, arms were waving in the air and also one or the other circle pit was opened. Towards the end of the performance Alea was getting too warm and so he sang the last songs bare-chested. I have to say that he has started to train again because at the last gig that I saw he was significantly more swollen out.
Overall quite a good performance with lots of pressure although the stile has changed several times. In my opinion not always towards the positive. The Mallorca bawl along songs of the albums “Brot Und Spiele” as well as “Für Immer Frei” combined with the English-speaking Songs of the last as well as on “Finsterwacht” are still not able to convince me and are in my point of view clear regresses compared to a terrific album like “Zirkus Zeitgeist”. Musically, “Finsterwacht” is luckily a step back into the right direction but still has many ups and downs. Live these songs work perfectly like the FINCH cover “Keine Regeln” shows which also was confirmed by the great atmosphere during this gig. However, I wish that they would find the way back to the terrific lyrics of earlier albums. Because the more the commercial success increased, the more the niveau of the songs decreased. Generally, I am psyched for the success of the band but personally I am having a hard time with the latest albums.