This February seems to be a bad time for tours. Like at the Pro-Pain gig only a disappointing amount of people showed up. Maybe 250 in the Batschkapp, which is well suited for 600 or more. Quite a frustrating sight even if the disappointing new Entombed album might be a valid explanation. The place was nearly empty when British metallers Kill II This entered the stage and turned out to be the crappiest band I've seen on stage since Einherjer last year. I can't help but wonder why a band with such uninspired and boring songs ever got a record deal. Riffing and choruses you have a heard a million times before, a singer who is unable to sing in tune as well as to sound heavy and aggressive -- what a bore. Kill II This might be a bit better on record, but to use Kreator's words: "no reason to exist".

Things improved dramatically with Skinlab. I only knew one of the songs off their debut album and always considered them as some lame Machine Head clones, but this turned out to be completely wrong. On stage the band acted like lunatics, wielded their guitars as if they were intending to split each other's skull open and visibly enjoyed themselves and their music. A damn good band with a breathtaking drummer. For a review of their new album, which hits the nail right in the head, please see CoC #38.

Entombed then stormed the stage and a hammer called "To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth" hit the fans right in the face, directly followed by "Demon" from _Wolverine Blues_. I was more than relieved by now, because their vicious downtuned guitar sound was back again and not gone as on _Same Difference_. Nicke Anderson's departure seems to have been the death blow for Entombed in the songwriting department; in the live situation, their new drummer proved to be a blessing. While I always had the impression that Nicke was more stumbling through the songs than giving the band a reliable backbone, I have to say that I've never seen this band so tight before. The definite highlights of the set were the fucking heavy "Damn Deal Done", "Hollowman", "Night of the Vampire" (!), "Crawl" (!!), and the awesome "Out of Hand". To play only three new songs definitely was the right decision for Entombed. "Addiction King" sounded allright, but the other two sucked. The crowd continued to rage and bang heads throughout the whole set, which reached its climax with the last song, "Left Hand Path", especially during this song's chilling, doomy ending. I thought Entombed had bitten the dust with the release of _Same Difference_. They proved me wrong and are definitely still a force to be reckoned with. Let's see what the next album will bring, but don't miss them on tour.