Report

Taake Takes Over A Trendy Nightlife Neighborhood In Prague, Czech Republic In TRVE Black Metal Fashion

Reviewing concerts in different cities is exciting and nerve wracking at the same time, especially if you don’t speak the native tongue. Tonight, I was in Prague, Czech Republic to see Taake along with opening acts Asagraum and Heimland. I’ve been told that Black Metal is a really popular draw here in Prague, and I was going to see if that was indeed true tonight. Tonight’s show was taking place the Futurum venue, located in a trendy nightlife area of Smíchov. This seemed like a perfect fit for an underground Black Metal show.

When I arrived, Heimland had already started playing. As I made my way past the ticket booth and down two flights of stairs into the stage area, I saw how Black Metal ranks in Prague. Unequivocally and without a doubt, it’s a popular draw. The place was already packed for the first band. I bumped my way through the attentive crowd to an open area off the side of the stage. I was able to catch about 5 songs of Heimland’s set. Without having ever listening to them previously, I would say they’re solid as musicians and as a live act. On a side note, some of their material did remind me of early Taake.

Heimland

Next up was Asagraum, whose popularity is starting to climb among the Black Metal faithful. If you don’t know anything about them, they are a mostly all female Black Metal band based in Netherlands but with some roots from Norway. They’ve been around since 2017 but after catching their whole set, they sounded like they’ve been around much longer. I thought they were good. They played with a lot of enthusiasm and were tight. They received a healthy response from a rabid crowd so that tells me that they’re well on their way to headlining their own tours soon.

Asagraum

I’ll be honest, Taake is one of my favorite Black Metal bands so if I read like a homer the rest of the report, you’ll know why. After entering the fog filled stage during their intro music, Taake started their set with “Hordalands doedskvad VI”, the instrumental track on “Hordalands doedskvad.” In fact, they plated the entire album tonight for its 20-year anniversary. I love it when a band decides to showcase important albums in their catalog. For Taake, this was hands down one of their most important albums during their historic rise within the Black Metal divinity.

Hoest from Taake

Taake didn’t play “Hordalands doedskvad” in the original album song order, but that didn’t matter. Their energy on stage was at peak performance and the crowd reciprocated that energy. Visually, Hoest is the person on stage that the crowd always focuses on and he didn’t disappoint. He egged the crowd on several occasions and the Prague audience lapped it up.

Gjermund from Taake

Taake included a few bonus songs in their set. There was a Darkthrone cover: “Over fjell og gjennom torner”, “Et uhyre av en kniv”, off of their most recent release, “Et hav av avstand” and “Nordbundet” from “Noregs Vaapen.” However, for the final song of the night, they played the fan favorite “Hordalands doedskvad II.”

I thought the setlist Taake put together for this tour was epic. I’m hoping that I’ll see their name pop up on some of this summer’s festivals because I would love to catch this exact set again. If and when that happens, I’ll be on the lookout for any nearby show announcements.

Taake