WATAIN Announces 'Agony & Ecstasy Over Europe' Tour For May 2023

Notorious Swedish black metal collective WATAIN has announced a tour named "Agony & Ecstasy Over Europe" which will take place in May 2023. Borrowing its name from WATAIN's most recent album, "The Agony & Ecstasy Of Watain", this live run mainly focuses on the Eastern and the Southern parts of Europe. Support bands will be BÖLZER and CONCRETE WINDS and the ticket pre-sale will start on Monday, February 6.

WATAIN commented: "The winds of darkness blow again! In May, we will head out on the 'Agony & Ecstasy Over Europe' tour, taking us into the South and Eastern regions of Europe as well as a few selected off shoots. The dates also include WATAIN's first show ever in Makedonia as well as in Rome, Italy. As special guests we have again invited the mighty Swiss power duo BÖLZER to set the mood with their serene invocations of primordial force. Furthermore we will also be joined by CONCRETE WINDS, a band that during the past years have taken the underground by storm with their mutant form of unhinged brutality, something that has to be heard and seen to be fully comprehended. 16 wild nights of Metallic ecstasy in honor of the Devilgod awaits, and we call for you all to join us!

"Tickets will be released on February 6th. Support us by getting yours early and by spreading the word about the tour in any way you can!"

"Agony & Ecstasy Over Europe" 2023 tour dates:

May 04 - DE, Leipzig, Hellraiser
May 05 - PL, Krakow, Kamienna 12
May 06 - SK, Kosice, Colloseum
May 07 - HU, Budapest, Barba Negra
May 08 - AT, Vienna, Simmcity
May 09 - RO, Cluj Napoca, Form
May 10 - RO, Bucharest, Quantic Club
May 11 - BG, Sofia, Tba
May 12 - MK, Skopje, Mkc
May 13 - GR, Thessaloniki, Principal Theater
May 14 - GR, Athens, Gagarin 205
May 16 - IT, Rome, Orion
May 17 - IT, Parma, Campus
May 18 - IT, San Dona Di Piave, Revolver
May 20 - DE, Essen, Turock
May 21 - NL, Hengelo, Metropool

In a recent interview with Tinnitus Metal Radio, WATAIN frontman Erik Danielsson was asked to elaborate on his previous comment that "metal should be written by people who live metal lives." He said: "I think that, yeah, I don't see metal as a thing that can be performed by anyone else [but someone] who's, like, deeply affiliated with this form of, not only music but subculture and lifestyle in general. Of course you can — of course you can rip off a [IRON] MAIDEN riff even if you're a skater boy — but to me, the metal that always struck hardest, the metal that always kind of shook my soul has always been written by liberated spirits, by outlaw, free-thinking real rock and roll men and women. And that's just how it is; there's no way around that. I mean, if I would be a young guy wanting to write a love song, I would probably wait to write that love song until I have been in love. And if I would write a song about death, I would probably wait until I had some kind of actual experience of it. And the same thing goes, but in a larger context, with metal music. I think it kind of demands a personal affiliation, a kind of deep-rooted compatibility between the artist and the music. That's my profound belief."

Earlier this year, Erik told Sense Music Media that WATAIN has "always worked with extremes" in its expression. "We have always worked near the borders of sanity, and the limits of what's being allowed and so on," he said. "All these different interpretations of what we do, all these misconceptions and so on, I think they serve the purpose of maintaining a well-needed and quite flattering mystery around the band, you know? I don't mind that at all. I actually like that people don't really know how to approach us sometimes. Ultimately, I think 90% of everyone that listens to WATAIN does that because they find what we do relatable, maybe in a musical taste sense, or they like the way our things look and so on. Everything is pretty elaborate and meticulously done and so on … I don't think most people see it as such a radical thing, in their lives, to be a fan of WATAIN, but I think there is definitely a general conception among people who don't like WATAIN, or that are not that well acquainted with our sound or our records or our live concerts, I think maybe it's more around those people that there's this general confusion or misconception about what we stand for and so on. That's fine by me. [Laughs] That's not really the people that we are playing to anyway, you know? I'm fine with being an elusive anomaly when it comes to trying to pin us down or whatever, in a larger context."

"The Agony & Ecstasy Of Watain" was released in April 2022 via Nuclear Blast.
Notorious Swedish black metal collective WATAIN has announced a tour named "Agony & Ecstasy Over Europe" which will take place in May 2023. Borrowing its name from WATAIN's most recent album, "The Agony & Ecstasy Of Watain", this live run mainly focuses on the Eastern and the Southern parts of Europe. Support bands will be BÖLZER and CONCRETE WINDS and the ticket pre-sale will start on Monday, February 6.

WATAIN commented: "The winds of darkness blow again! In May, we will head out on the 'Agony & Ecstasy Over Europe' tour, taking us into the South and Eastern regions of Europe as well as a few selected off shoots. The dates also include WATAIN's first show ever in Makedonia as well as in Rome, Italy. As special guests we have again invited the mighty Swiss power duo BÖLZER to set the mood with their serene invocations of primordial force. Furthermore we will also be joined by CONCRETE WINDS, a band that during the past years have taken the underground by storm with their mutant form of unhinged brutality, something that has to be heard and seen to be fully comprehended. 16 wild nights of Metallic ecstasy in honor of the Devilgod awaits, and we call for you all to join us!

"Tickets will be released on February 6th. Support us by getting yours early and by spreading the word about the tour in any way you can!"

"Agony & Ecstasy Over Europe" 2023 tour dates:

May 04 - DE, Leipzig, Hellraiser
May 05 - PL, Krakow, Kamienna 12
May 06 - SK, Kosice, Colloseum
May 07 - HU, Budapest, Barba Negra
May 08 - AT, Vienna, Simmcity
May 09 - RO, Cluj Napoca, Form
May 10 - RO, Bucharest, Quantic Club
May 11 - BG, Sofia, Tba
May 12 - MK, Skopje, Mkc
May 13 - GR, Thessaloniki, Principal Theater
May 14 - GR, Athens, Gagarin 205
May 16 - IT, Rome, Orion
May 17 - IT, Parma, Campus
May 18 - IT, San Dona Di Piave, Revolver
May 20 - DE, Essen, Turock
May 21 - NL, Hengelo, Metropool

In a recent interview with Tinnitus Metal Radio, WATAIN frontman Erik Danielsson was asked to elaborate on his previous comment that "metal should be written by people who live metal lives." He said: "I think that, yeah, I don't see metal as a thing that can be performed by anyone else [but someone] who's, like, deeply affiliated with this form of, not only music but subculture and lifestyle in general. Of course you can — of course you can rip off a [IRON] MAIDEN riff even if you're a skater boy — but to me, the metal that always struck hardest, the metal that always kind of shook my soul has always been written by liberated spirits, by outlaw, free-thinking real rock and roll men and women. And that's just how it is; there's no way around that. I mean, if I would be a young guy wanting to write a love song, I would probably wait to write that love song until I have been in love. And if I would write a song about death, I would probably wait until I had some kind of actual experience of it. And the same thing goes, but in a larger context, with metal music. I think it kind of demands a personal affiliation, a kind of deep-rooted compatibility between the artist and the music. That's my profound belief."

Earlier this year, Erik told Sense Music Media that WATAIN has "always worked with extremes" in its expression. "We have always worked near the borders of sanity, and the limits of what's being allowed and so on," he said. "All these different interpretations of what we do, all these misconceptions and so on, I think they serve the purpose of maintaining a well-needed and quite flattering mystery around the band, you know? I don't mind that at all. I actually like that people don't really know how to approach us sometimes. Ultimately, I think 90% of everyone that listens to WATAIN does that because they find what we do relatable, maybe in a musical taste sense, or they like the way our things look and so on. Everything is pretty elaborate and meticulously done and so on … I don't think most people see it as such a radical thing, in their lives, to be a fan of WATAIN, but I think there is definitely a general conception among people who don't like WATAIN, or that are not that well acquainted with our sound or our records or our live concerts, I think maybe it's more around those people that there's this general confusion or misconception about what we stand for and so on. That's fine by me. [Laughs] That's not really the people that we are playing to anyway, you know? I'm fine with being an elusive anomaly when it comes to trying to pin us down or whatever, in a larger context."

"The Agony & Ecstasy Of Watain" was released in April 2022 via Nuclear Blast.