After more than two long years, thanx to MOST OF EVIL - we finally had the pleasure to see once again SAMAEL and KEEP OF KALESSIN back to Bulgaria, this time in the company of MELECHESH and not two, but three support bands – the Swiss FLUXIOUS and MINKUS and the Italians DARK END. Therefore the event was called by most the fans – a "mini festival".

With a slight delay, the "mini festival" started soon after 8 p.m. in Rock Theatre, opened by the Swiss band FLUXIOUS, who were added to the line-up surprisingly in the last moment, because they weren’t officially announced in advance. Barely known for the metal audience in Bulgaria, Fluxious are Joana (vocals), Germain (guitars), Guillaume (bass) and Maxence (drums) and as we heard, are an interesting melodic combination between jazz and metal. About 40 minutes later the second band stepped on the scene. DARK END from Italy made an impressive set and maybe that was what the crowd needed - a lot of metal sound as a kick start of the night. An interesting requisite and good skills is what the guys from Italy showed us, together with a blooded sheet and art-looking long finger gloves that the vocalist Animae was waiving in the air, which reminded for a moment on Mortiis’s costumes.

MINKUS, lead by Gabi Varela, are a metal band coming from Lausanne, Switzerland. With over 100 concerts across Switzerland and Europe, the band is establishing itself as a major factor on the Swiss metal scene. Their style could be best described as alternative metal reminding on Rage Against The Machine, Korn and Guano Apes and maybe therefore many of the fans in Rock Theater weren't deeply impressed by Minkus, who presented songs from their albums, mainly accenting on their latest, which is to be released on 15 September 2011.

Meanwhile the atmosphere inside was getting hotter and hotter. Rock Theatre is a unique club with interesting interior decisions and good facilities. It also has a convenient location and offers a restaurant, a bar, a wardrobe, toilets and of course – a stage - unfortunately not as big as the one in Blue Box club, but sufficient for events with about 300-400 people. The club had enough place to situate the official merchandise of the bands and the fans were able to make their purchases as albums, T-shirts and other items. A big problem for most of the fans was the ventilation - no matter that the air-conditioning was working non-stop, it felt like sauna inside. But it is a problem of the club owners and we hope that in the near future this issue will be successfully solved, as it happened in Yubileina Hall.

The later it became, the more people were gathering on the balconies and in front of the stage, drinking and shouting "skoll"/ the Norwegian for "cheers"/ and "Eurovision", summoning the north power of KEEP OF KALESSIN. We saw the band on Bulgarian soil on 31 January 2009, again with SAMAEL. Keep Of Kalessin are one of the remarkable modern Norwegian metal bands showing high class of performance and exquisite behavior on stage. In 2010, they entered a song in the Melodi Grand Prix, the annual competition to select Norway's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest, which was hosted by the country due to its victory in the 2009 content, becoming the first heavy metal band to vie in the competition. The band performed their song "The Dragontower" from "Reptilian"(2010) in the first of 3 semi-final rounds and advanced to the Gold Final round, where the band finished on 3rd place overall through a combined viewer and jury vote.

"Kolossus" gave the start of the second glorious coming of the magnificent Norwegian four in Sofia. Thebon, Wizziac, Obsidian C. and Vyl started and closed their show with 2 songs from their previous album "Kolosuss". All the other songs performed that night were from their 2010 album "Reptilian". Truly devoted fans from the first lines of the crowd handed him pints with beer several times. In the end of the set there was a stormy pit in the left corner in front of the stage and a guy even tried crowd-walking. KEEP OF KALESSIN are high-class performers and we hope that next time they will have a longer set, because according to the comments of numerous fans, they came at the venue mainly to see KEEP OF KALLESIN and SAMAEL. Keep Of Kalessin are a very friendly and fan-opened band. After their performance, many fans stroke lucky to take pictures, talk, have drinks and get autographs from their idols. The same impressions we got also of the members of the other bands, who were to seen around the venue place during the whole evening, communicating with the fans.

MELECHESH, also in Bulgaria for a second time - after their first gig with NILE in January this year, started their set at about 11.10 p.m. Their show began with "Illumination: The Face of Shamash" followed by "Sacred Geometry", "Ladders to Sumeria" and "Grand Gathas of Baal Sin" shooting us back in time to the ancient times of Babel, Mesopotamia and Sumeria. After that was time for "Triangular Tattvic Fire", the "Ghouls of Nineveh" and "Rebirth of the Nemesis", which marked the end of their performance. A true feast for the ears of all devoted black oriental metal fans.

Finally came the time for the so long awaited SAMAEL second concert. Samael were for a first time in Bulgaria in January 2009 and created a remembering show in the Blue Box Club. Facing a lot of problems with New Music Agency in 2010, which resulted into a cancelled show without any previous announcement for both fans and media, this is the glorious return of the quarter back to Bulgaria. The night became very special for all genuine Samael fans who had a chance to take part in a historical event. Several hours before the start of the concert, the band –together with the fans, founded the official Bulgarian SAMAEL fan-club under the name "Samael United Forces - Bulgaria".

About half past midnight, in the darkest hour of the night, a red curtain fell down and covered the scene. All the stage was hidden in smoke and the crowd started summoning "SA-MA-EL! SA-MA-EL!". Mas, Marko and Xy dressed in black emerged on the scene followed by their charismatic leader Vorph – glowing in the darkness, dressed in scarlet red and the ritual began. Performing mainly songs from their latest album "Lux Mundi" released this spring, the Swiss formation also surprised the fans with some of their classics like "Baphometh's Throne", "Slavocracy", "Into the Pentagram" etc. "Soul Invictus" was dedicated to all the fans and especially to "Samael United Forces - Bulgaria". Covering all their albums from 1991 to now - except "Blood Ritual"(1992) and "Above"(2009), SAMAEL again were creating an inspiring and possessing concert that shall be long remembered, no matter that the fans were fewer compared to the concert in 2009. The official final was set with "Infra Galaxia", after which the band went backstage to appear for the encore - "Ceremony of Opposites", "Antigod" and "My Saviour" put the final seal to close the "circle" and finalize the "samelistic" ritual of "light". That was the end of the concert, and for the most eager fans the night continued at the after party with the bands in the Black Lodge Club until the early morning hours.

We would like to express our gratitude to the promoters from MOST OF EVIL for granting us the chance to become part of this unique event.

Gergana Ribarova