Tsjuder & Ignominous concert report, 22/04/2026

Keeping it trve is playing blast beats for an hour and a half. 

I’ve never been the most punctual writer, and that’s a big mark against me when it comes to writing concert reports, the old adage of striking while the iron’s hot ringing true as ever in these cases. Yet, I find myself capable of evoking memories from shows, be they sounds or images, regardless of how long it’s been, not to mention that taking the occasional picture helps jog the memory a little bit. Besides, turning into a curmudgeon that hangs out in the back whenever I attend shows with my wife prevents me from concussing every single detail out of my head by thrashing myself silly in the midst of the crowd.

It’s been a month and some change, but I find myself looking back at seeing Tsjuder and Ignominous with relative fondness. It was yet another mid-week show for the season, and it’s no secret that I’m more than a little apprehensive about those, especially when the opener itself is playing for 20-30 people at best. The camera lens isn’t one to lie, the visual documents presented here showing the only people for whose existence I can safely vouch for: the band, the club’s staff, the few people hanging at the barrier, presumably reserving a spot for later, my wife, and myself. Besides that, it might as well have been empty. Truthfully, it was a deflating sight to witness, a local band playing to an unexcited audience that had it not been for the headliner, would have simply not even been there. I’ve talked about my stance on who should be at the barrier during a show in the past, and although I don’t expect people to maintain a similar level of

excitement for 3 hours straight, one could at least have the common decency to be a little more alive for whoever’s playing before the headliner. Most of these people barely make enough money to cover the expenses of showing up, and they still try to put their best selves out there, and in return they receive a 20% of the attendants’ energy. Tragic stuff really.

Unfortunately, the preceding paragraph was a little misleading, as Ignominous is a merely solid band to witness live, and their music doesn’t really go beyond “good”. Though the band is relatively new, having released their debut, Dawn With No Light in 2024, the members themselves are seasoned journeymen across a solid handful of bands, among them Yoth Iria and Prometheus. Yet despite boasting such a pedigree, we’re met with by-the-numbers black metal, with the occasional thrashy passage found on something like “Aurora Borealis”, or tinging the tremolo passages with traces of the melody endemic to the Greek scene on “Thelema Occulta”. Even then, for every agreeable moment there’s something to sour the moment, as seen on the sixth song of their set, as of yet untitled and part of an upcoming release, which featured some tuneless cleans that wouldn’t pass muster even during the Greek scene’s infancy. And I’d be remiss not to mention the weird passage that was eerily similar to the chorus of Dream Theatre’s “As I Am” tucked away in the midsection of “The Coming Fall”. At least “Beyond the Godless Flame” had some delightful sailing melodies, there’s some solace to be taken in that.

As for the members themselves, they gave it their all, although I can’t help but be a little amused when a vocalist who doesn’t play an instrument doesn’t know what to do with their hands, as Aggelos just had his arm dangle awkwardly off to the side throughout the set, seemingly unsure as to what purpose it served attached to his body. No beckoning at the crowd, no holding the microphone with two hands in

order to put his back into some of the screaming, it was just there, dangling as if grafted on as an afterthought. Given that the other members were busy throwing their bodies around while playing their instruments, it falls upon the vocalist to act as a hype-man and if not outright rile the crowd up, at least seem like he’s having a good time being there and not like he’s merely going through the motions. Oh well, they thankfully kept the streak of “weird little bassist” going. My guy was overdressed for the occasion.

After the quarter bowed out, I was somewhat pleased to see the venue gradually filling up, 45 minutes before Tsjuder was to take the stage. Disheartened as I might’ve been at the void in the midst of the venue at the start, it was reassuring to see it slowly fill up as time went on, to the point where it’s safe to say it was almost packed to capacity, the mass of bodies leaving little space for movement that involved bipedal locomotion. For all intents and purposes, you were stuck in place by the time the show started, at most you’d be able to bang your head. While I like being further up ahead a lot of the time, I did find myself appreciating the relative space and calm provided by being seated on a stool and having a table, or at least the illusion conjured up by those things, as it turned out to be the case later in the night.

Excitement mounted as the lights went out, a generic spooky ambient track setting the tone for what seemed like an eternity, all for the Norwegian trio to take positions on stage and make a proclamation as simple and direct as “We are Tsjuder, true Norwegian black metal”, and then immediately launching into “Malignant Coronation”. There’s no sauce to be found here, it’s an unfiltered show of force from a band that has mastered the fundamentals of its chosen genre and

has no desire to move beyond those confines. Not for a lack of skill mind you, but because it’s the only thing that suits their modus operandi as artists. There’s a fine line between sticking to your guns and stagnation, and it’s all about the execution of your craft, and Tsjuder fits firmly into the former category. There’s conviction behind every screech, tremolo, and blast beat played, and you don’t get that by being merely okay at what you do.

Things didn’t let up after that opening salvo, the rest of the set turning into an endurance test, both for the audience and the band itself. The throng of bodies in the pit was in a constant state of tumult for the whole show, which is quite impressive given that Tsjuder unflaggingly hauled ass through the whole set, even the midsection, featuring hits from Desert Northern Hell such as “Ghoul” and “Mouth of Madness” saw them viciously hacking away at the songs. In short, from 200-odd BPM they probably only kicked it down to a brisk 120 at most in order to relax a little. Even some of the less furious cuts featured, like “Gods of Black Blood” and “Antiliv” felt intimidating, the thunder produced in a live setting infusing them with even more adrenaline than usual.

The setlist wasn’t short on surprises either. Tsjuder’s catalogue isn’t exactly vast, but it does hide a good handful of gems that don’t get much attention, such as “I-10” off the sophomore Demonic Possession, in addition to “Possessed” from the band’s 1995 debut demo. Obviously there was a lot of crowd pleasing to go along with the deep cuts, Desert Northern Hell taking up a quarter of the setlist, and I’d

be foolish not to mention the two Bathory covers in “Woman of Dark Desires”, a personal favourite of mine, and “Sacrifice”, which capped the night off in a most explosive manner. Owing to their black metal credentials, they unsurprisingly ripped those songs apart, and the crowd went wild for them. I mean, what’d they expect when they asked “Do you like Bathory?”, hard to imagine anyone saying “No” to that (unless you’re talking to me about the band post-Blood Fire Death).

As we went out into the rain, I couldn’t help but think about the night as a whole, as well as the crowd. Obviously I’m glad they showed up with an appropriate amount of energy for the whole thing, but I couldn’t help but be frustrated at the fact that I couldn’t just sit back and enjoy the show while seated for once. As we’ve established, I turn into a curmudgeon whenever I go to shows with my wife, and my number one priority is hanging back and enjoying the music. Yet, despite us being at a theoretically safe distance from the pit, seated on some stools, the people surrounding the pit failed to do their “job” (at least in accordance to what I consider to be good concertgoing etiquette) in keeping the pit under control and not letting it spill out into the rest of the venue. This led to a most agitating balancing act, as enjoying the show had to be done in conjunction with making sure the furniture didn’t topple over. But hey, it is what it is.

In all, 2026 has yet another notch on its belt in regards to intense black metal shows, and Tsjuder really brought their A-game for their first appearance in Thessaloniki. There’s always a certain allure to attending an artist’s first show in your neck of the woods, and that is only further exacerbated by their living up to expectations. And given that my expectations were being blasted with a wave of frosty tremolo riffs and relentless skin-beating, it’s safe to say that they more than exceeded them.