In our store, you can buy reissues of the legendary records “Schizophrenia” and “Thrash The Trash” on CD and vinyl, as well as the book “20 years of hard work / Fan Club”.

The mentioned forty already means something in the life of a band, especially when it comes to a metal group that, with exceptions, of such an age they don’t live. If we add to the fact that this is also a musically active domestic legend, it is an additional reason to celebrate and look forward to the annual concert.

Arakain spent all of last year performing with a commemorative program, and this year’s January concert was supposed to be the culmination of the anniversary celebrations. This is what his modified script looked like. It must be said up front that a full house came to this metal form, and even if it was only in a small way little boy, it is necessary that in our meadows and groves the mainstream is not a Czech affair. The evening was started by two parties of young musical blood – Pilsen’s Jacker’s, who were stylistically close to the main band, and the ever-growing multi-genre formation Černá, which gathers spurs on our stages with the excellent frontman Ferim Ciml. It was certainly not time wasted waiting for the main star, as is sometimes the case, for either band. At 8:15 p.m., Arakain took the stage and kicked off his set with the song “I’m a bit like”. It should be noted that the musicians had an incredible, by our standards, almost three-hour marathon ahead of them, during which thirty-two songs were played, which mapped the entire time of the group so far. Right from the beginning, the formation around the guitarists and founding member Jiří Urban stepped on the pedals. She recalled her thrash period, and thus songs from the two essential records “Thrash The Trash” and “Schizophrenia” were heard. After that, with the composition “Smell of blood” came a period of departure from an aggressive style. At that time, the band was aiming for the metal mainstream.

© Tom Jajo Rozkovec / musicserver.cz

Spectators could also count songs from the great one with a symphony orchestra. Although he was not present, it sounded from playback, but it still had that power. After the first third, singer Honza Toužimský was replaced by the lively Petr Kolář, who replaced Aleš Brichta at the microphone twenty years ago. He cut things from “Metalmorphosis” and also a duet with Toužimský “Strom života”, which replaced her in 2005 and, paradoxically, at that time he was a guest on the track on the album “Warning!” It must be said that Kolář sang it beautifully. At times, there was a collegial jab both with the guitarist Urban and with Toužimský, who guided him with a laugh when to start singing. A memorial set with Lucía Bíla and the introduction of former band members were indispensable. Unfortunately, Aleš Brichta, like Zdeněk Kub, refused to participate in the evening, which was a shame for the other musicians and especially for the listeners. Following the model of foreign concerts of big bands, there was also an unplugged set. In this case, I had a bit of a feeling that due to the frequent alternation of style periods, performers, guests or just the inclusion of the set without current the chain fell from time to time throughout the event. However, the band always managed to get back into the game. The whole evening was decorated with a successful dense sound and an impressive light park. For lovers of bonfires and the necessary confetti, there was everything to their heart’s content. The songs were accompanied by the covers of the records on which they are found, which connected the more, the less successful video projections.

© Tom Jajo Rozkovec / musicserver.cz

The final third of the concert was provided by the stage mainly recorded in the current line-up, with the exception of the newly joined bassist Marek Loučka. Compositions from the last fifteen years were interspersed with the song “Gate of Illusions” decorated with sound engineer Ondra Martínek’s guitar. The end was provided by Aksetov’s “Princess” and “Why”. Of course, you couldn’t go home without the symphonic “Winter Queen” and the necessary “Apage Satanas”, for which all three singers took turns, i.e. Lucie Bílá, Petr Kolář and Jan Toužimský. All in all: it was a wonderful evening. Yes, there were some technical issues here and there, the show lost pace here and there, but overall it was an above average experience. The band ran like a well-oiled machine and everyone involved gave excellent performances. Hats off to Jiří Urban, who, despite the adversity of personnel changes or musical directions, was able to gracefully pull the cart called Arakain on. All that remains is to wish him and the whole team around him a lot of strength for the next anniversary.