It was early September when I saw an announcement by Ankor on Facebook. A concert was going to take place in my most favourite location, Hellraiser Leipzig. So, just to remind myself to buy a ticket, I shared this on my timeline. Another musician I am friends with commented under my shared post where he highly recommended I should go and see them. He predicted I would like them. Well, he was absolutely right.
Ankor is an alternative metal band from Spain, formed in 2003 and currently consisting of Jessie Williams (vocals), David Romeu (guitars and backing vocals), Fito Martinez (guitars), Raphaela Tachenko (drums, backing vocals, keyboard) and Julio Lopez (bass, vocals).
When Stain the Canvas from Italy opened up, we were about 30 or 40 people. Unfortunately it was so loud that I went to the bar to buy some ear protection. Later when Elyne, also from Italy, entered the stage it wasn’t very much different. I was happy to have ear protection. The music though was good. And it wasn’t until Ankor started that I realised that their drummer Raphaela was among the audience taking photos.
When she entered the stage and took her seat at the drums, the audience appeared a little perplexed. I guess some people are only used to women as vocalists but not so much as instrumentalists. But this didn’t last long. When they realized that Ankor was about to start people couldn’t wait for it. When I took a look around, the audience had grown a bit, I estimate we were some 60ish people. I took off my ear protection to see if things would be different now and it was much more pleasant to the ears concerning the volume.
Ankor kicked it off with “Holy Wolf”, a song that starts easily and mellow, but just a few seconds later starts to kick butt. Slower and softer parts mixed with harder parts with harsh vocals, very energetic and partially almost danceable. Jessie clearly showed that as she whirled across the stage. David and Jessie also used every opportunity to interact with the audience. Their set was very energetic and explosive. People started to jump around and were clearly having a good time. And so did I. After the show the band members came out to have a little chitchat with the fans at the merch booth. All in all a very pleasant evening.
Setlist: 1. Holy Wolf 2. The Monster I Am 3. New Kingdom 4. Nana 5. Fences 6. Ghosts 7. Interstellar 8. Lost Soul 9. The Legend Of Charles The Giant 10. From Marbles To Cocaine 11. Hill Valley 12. Walking Dead 13. Bad Guy 14. Shhh I’m Not Gonna Lose It.
Metal Goddesses 