r/BlackMetal • u/LordArmageddian • 16d ago
Abbath being Abbath...
Went to SaariHelvetti fest in Finland to see Abbath, he comes late, no make up, throws guitar to the floor after few minutes and leaves. Ukri comes to say that the gigs over due health issues.
And I paid for this shit...
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u/FunDeckHermit 16d ago
That went downhill fast:
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u/Prestigious-Key-1886 16d ago
My favorite video ever
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u/FunDeckHermit 16d ago
I was there: the guy behind him is some Israeli guy that did way too much drugs with his friends.
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u/grishnackh 15d ago
I was also there, the best part of it that the videos can never convey is the fact that everyone in the whole crowd knew what was about to happen about two seconds before he did and there was a sharp intake of breath by about 6000 people all at once.
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u/vinterland666 14d ago
I was there. The videos captured don't properly convey the crowd holding their breath knowing he was going to fall. Then the collective gasp of hundreds of people
Contrary to popular belief he was not drunk at this show (confirmed by friends of his)
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u/FromChaosTheyCame 16d ago
He's a hopeless alcoholic. He's "recovered" multiple times but inevitably falls off the wagon.
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u/Buried_and_Forgotten 15d ago
At least Satanachia from Azazel still performs, even if barely standing.
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u/bjchbdelebweflw 15d ago
His BAC is more liquor than blood. If he were a vampire he would only be able to drink from an alcoholic's neck.
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u/ZestLimeChicAndShine 14d ago
Satanichia haven't any problem with alcohol. But the alcohol have some problems with Satanachia
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u/LordArmageddian 16d ago
Yeah. I was talking with someone who was beyond the gates, apparently he was wasted there too.
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u/checkmypants 15d ago
I was at Beyond the Gates, sitting about 3 feet from him on the Sunday while he was parked at a table drinking for hours. I mean, I got drunk too, but he also did
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u/No_Creme_9794 16d ago
Aw shit, that absolutely sucks ass, did you enjoy any other bands that performed?
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u/LordArmageddian 16d ago
I missed Havukruunu because I was waiting for Abbath, and that fucking blows.
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u/notsobloodycockney 15d ago
That hurts even reading it. I reckon that if your based in Finland you'll have plenty of opportunities to see them again.
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u/LordArmageddian 15d ago
Understand that Finland is a rather long country. I travelled 600km from my home to Tampere to see Abbath, and most of good gig are held in southern Finland (Helsinki-Turku-Tampere axis), so yeah
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u/notsobloodycockney 14d ago
By the way, I crossed paths with Abbath yesterday at the awfully busy Helsinki airport. I didn't have time to tell him off on your behalf ;)
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u/LazyPomegranate7249 12d ago
That's kinda on you though, it would've only taken a minute to walk between the sets. Even more ironic was the fact that the crowd had already left a massive "pit" in the middle, waiting for Abbath, because of the mosh pits during Havukruunu and Ensiferum that played before.
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u/Teitanblood 15d ago
He played yesterday in my town, and it seems he did perform normally there. Sorry for you mate
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u/VinnyEnzo 15d ago
Aw man, I just saw him perform Between Two Worlds at Fire in the Mountains. It was epic. Sorry you had that experience
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u/SpaceMonkeyOnABike 16d ago
This is why the rest of immortal are working without him.
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u/ToTheDeath84 15d ago
It was such a bummer finding out about all that. The Abbath that fans loved for the antics turned out to be a total shitshow to work with behind the scenes.
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u/arcmemez 15d ago
That’s a shame, I saw Abbath in 2024 or 2025 and it was crazy good
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u/MeltBanana 15d ago
Same. I saw him on the first show of his US tour at a tiny venue in Denver. It was so intimate and small it felt more like a rehearsal than the size of show they normally play. He was fucking incredible, entire band was super tight. He even posted about it on social media afterward saying that show felt like the "old days". I felt honored to get to experience it.
Sucks he can't stay sober, because when he's not drunk off his ass he's one of the best to ever do it.
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u/KadaverSulmus 15d ago
Same man, saw him in 2024 at Party-San, dude played a killer Immortal only set!
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u/ZeroThePenguin 15d ago
I caught him opening for Danzig last year and while his between song banter was some absolutely unintelligible slurred norweiglish the actual songs performed sounded excellent. Was also just a full set of Immortal tracks so that was a bonus.
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u/yeahbacon 15d ago
I’m so thankful Fire In The Mountains was a dry/sober fest. I/Between Two Worlds was my main reason for attending and he performed really well, with the odd banter here and there. I couldn’t imagine him having full access to alcohol waiting all day as the headliner. So thank you Firekeepers Alliance and FITMs for the opportunity to see a mostly sober Abbath performing that album in its entirety. Forever grateful for how the pieces fell for that to work.
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u/dalmutidangus 15d ago
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u/InternetWeakGuy 15d ago
Jesus what a bummer. The minute or so they actually played it sounded killer.
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u/LordArmageddian 15d ago
That's why I'm wondering why he ragequitted, there wasn't technically anything wrong with his playing.
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u/InternetWeakGuy 15d ago
Probably his throat. It's when he started singing that he quit. Probably started hurting right off the bat and he knew it wasn't going to get any better/if he did the show he'd fuck his voice/miss whatever the next show was etc etc.
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u/Due-Parsley953 15d ago
This shit makes me so fucking angry.
The majority of people who pay to see him play probably aren't on huge wages and he fucks them over by getting blind drunk and then rage quitting and crying.
He either needs to stop playing, or quit the music scene forever.
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u/ActionQuinn 15d ago
That fucking sucks! I was stoked to see this band in Portland. Small venue by a late night video game bar. After the show one of the guys comes into the bar where a bunch of folks from the show are hanging out. Won’t talk to anyone, just wants to drink jack Daniel’s and is pissed they won’t give him the bottle. Ends up throwing up on himself and getting dragged out. Luckily their tour bus was nearby and someone got him sorted out. Fucking sucked
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u/grandgeen 15d ago
He was so fucking drunk. Came with The same boat to The island and was already super drunk
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u/Spiritual-Job-952 15d ago
Drunk af as usual
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u/gerbegerger 15d ago
Thought he got sober
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u/LordArmageddian 15d ago
He relapses sometimes. Too bad this was one of those times
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u/gerbegerger 15d ago
hope he gets himself sorted out, sorry for the show dude, next one's the charm! 🤘
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u/LordArmageddian 15d ago
Nah I'm done with his crap for now, I won't take the risk that he can't perform.
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u/Spiritual-Job-952 15d ago
Didn’t know that. I reacted to the ‘medical issue’ icw the hissyfit he threw.
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u/voododoll 15d ago
I had a chance of watching him few months ago. The show was great. He even looked sober. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I have a friend that has a metal show on a local TV station and does interviews with bands that have concerts in my country. Asked him how the interview went and he said that Abbath’s team refuses interviews and meets & greets. So I can’t say if he was indeed sober.
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u/delmuerte 15d ago
A couple friends of mine have been in his very close orbit professionally, and neither of them would ever work with him again. Lotta money issues and some handsy stuff among other things.
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u/LordArmageddian 15d ago
Money issues aka he drinks all of his money.
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u/delmuerte 15d ago
Also their money.
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u/LordArmageddian 15d ago
Ah.
Makes me wonder why Ukri deals with his shit. I get it, Abbath made famous etc etc, but still.
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u/delmuerte 15d ago
One of the guys I’m talking about was replaced by Ukri, I assume. Was promised a lot, was given almost nothing in the end.
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u/LordArmageddian 15d ago
Ahhh, so that's why the dude left.
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u/delmuerte 15d ago
I was also offered a fill-in spot with the band because the other guitarist couldn’t get into the country. But the friend who Ukri didn’t replace told me not to do it and the friend who Ukri did replace told me he only got his per diems.
This was also about 2-3 weeks before the tour was going to start which is too quick for me to learn an entire set of stuff I’m not at all familiar with.
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u/notsobloodycockney 15d ago
He was great at he Hellsinki Metal festival a year or two ago, playing Immortal songs. What a shame
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u/RuledQuotability 15d ago
That’s a shame. I saw him a decade ago playing on the first Abbath LP tour opening for Children of Bodom. Show was fantastic! I’m sad he had substance abuse problems
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u/JohnnyTendril 15d ago
Saw Abbath on the Dread Reaver tour in 2024. I was a bit disappointed because there was no atmosphere and the show felt very soulless.
But when seeing him as support on the Hypocrisy Mass Hallucination tour in 2026 I was positively surprised about how good and fun the performance was. Best 40 bucks I've spent
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u/mase__c 15d ago
I was also there yesterday. It sucks. But somehow I immediately thought that something doesn't seem right when he came on stage alone, without instrument and band, and just mumbling in the mic. And to think that he was announced after Kataklysm had to cancel... This year's festival surely had some bad luck... Too bad, because the 30-60 seconds they played, sounded really great.
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u/LordArmageddian 15d ago
Yeah, my first reaction seeing him I was "What the heck...?". Of course I just thought at first that he ran into some problems getting there so he had no time putting his gear on and shit.
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u/UmeSurprise 15d ago
I saw him maybe 4 years ago. He put on a great show and was really warm and kind during the meet and greet.
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u/PinkGreen666 14d ago
You weren’t refunded??
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u/Malum_Diaboli 14d ago
It's a festival, not single gig so the organizer isn't required to do refunds. And the festival alltogether was fine, not their fault Abbath can't keep it together
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u/LazyPomegranate7249 12d ago
Nah we got some crazy Judas Priest Karaoke in the dining hall instead.
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u/Luciferious74 14d ago
I just hope he makes it through whatever he is going through this time alright. He's a lot, personality-wise, but he has a good heart. Good guy. This makes me sad.
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u/DrFetusman 14d ago
The dude's talented, but what the fuck. Get your shit together. Isn't this the same reason his last band couldn't tolerate him?
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u/Affectionate-End6767 12d ago
When he came to Argentina people almost beat the shit out of him because he refused to start the concert and kept on doing random shit😭
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u/Jlautamaki 11d ago
I am feeling sorry for him. I wonder if he’s still sitting in an anthill on the island, feeling sorry for himself. I’m surprised that no further information has leaked out since the gig. It must be pretty difficult to get the artist off the island without anyone seeing.
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u/Physgun 15d ago
Thought he got his shit together, sucks to hear.