Reflections of Darkness - Music Magazine - Dreadful Shadows

Details: Written by: Sebastian Huhn; Published: 13 October 2007

Zeche Carl, Essen, Germany
11th October 2007
Dreadful Shadows

It was a very spontaneous decision for me, but I couldn't miss the opportunity to see this band. Actually I thought I would never get the chance because the band had split up; and so I was really surprised, when I read, they would go on a tour together again. When I got to the venue, there was already a mass of people, standing in line and waiting for the doors to open.

The DREADFUL SHADOWS were founded in 1993 in Berlin. Their style was initially counted to the Gothic Rock and Dark Wave genre, but later considered a part of the Gothic Metal. This is due to the constant development of the band by the time of the release of their debut album ‘Estrangement’ in April 1994, where they integrated elements of metal and modern electronic into their sound. The band unfortunately split up in 2000 and left a void in their fans hearts, but now about seven years after the split, the band returns for some special live concerts. It is not a re-union even though this was misleadingly published for several times. The band will return to the stage in the last-known line-up which consists of: Sven Friedrich (Vocals), Norman Selbig (Guitars), André Feller (Guitars), Jens Riediger (Bass) and Ron Thiele (Drums).

Music & Performance
After a waiting time of about 40 minutes, the band entered the stage with Sven as the last and started right away with the first song ‘Futility’ from their last album ‘The Cycle’. The spark initially went over to the audience which was clapping their hands some danced and some just nodded with their heads. This was - as far as I could see - limited to the front rows, while the rest of the crowd rather stood still and just listened.

Sven was the last one, who came on stage right in time for his inset. After the first song had ended, he welcomed the audience and told the little story that this club was one of the first clubs which actually played one of their songs and now they are back in this holy halls with a band that technically doesn't exist anymore. After he announced the next song, he was told the song wouldn't begin yet. “What not yet??? So much time and I’m usually not the guy who talks that much” so he turned back to the audience and asked them if they had something they wanna say. The situation was quite funny... for the band as well as for the crowd, but short after that the song finally started and the show continued.

The stage was well filled with Sven in the middle, who was always in motion, mostly in the nearer environment of the microphone. Many singers sound better on CD than live, but Sven doesn't belong to that category as he delivered great performance with his emotional and dark and sometimes aggressive chant. André and Norman, who were standing at the right and the left part of the stage next to Sven, were fully concentrated with playing their instruments, but always moving to the rhythm of the particular song and not just standing still. The band was also supported by Juliane Richter of the band EMINENCE OF DARKNESS, who did some backing vocals and also played an additional guitar on some of the songs.

But let's switch over to the setlist, which was very long and it contained several songs from every album, the band has released. There were for example such quite calm songs like ‘Sea of tears’ from their very first album ‘Estrangement’, where some people even put on some sparklers and lighted them. I usually got no problems with sparklers at all, but the air wasn't that good already and sparklers rather made the air even worse. During some of the more aggressive tunes like ‘New Day’ or ‘Dead can wait’, bass player Jens, who was placed a little bit more in the background of the stage, came to the stage rim to encourage the people and the crowd did as it was told and started to clap their hands or dancing in the limited space the had.

Again, this was just limited to the rows, close to the stage. When they played ‘Desolated home’ Sven forgot to sing or maybe he just forgot what to sing. He said after the song “Shit happens” and we moved on with the show. It was nevertheless a great concert and the band returned for three times to play to play some encores. When Sven announced ‘Funeral Procession’ would be the last song the crowd screamed “NO”, but he told them that they are not the youngest anymore… And so, a great concert came to its end. I was very glad that I had the chance to see this band live.

Setlist
01. Intro+Futility
02. New day
03. Drowning sun
04. Dead can wait
05. Sea of Tears
06. Dusk
07. Awakening
08. Vagrants
09. A better God
10. Vortex
11. Chains
12. Burning the shrouds
13. Desolated home
14. Craving
15. Figures of disguise
16. Everlasting words
17. Intransigence
18. Mortal hope
19. Condemnation
20. True Faith
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21. Cyber
22. Fall
23. Twist in my sobriety
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24. Lullaby
25. Ties of time
26. Beyond the maze
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27. Funeral Procession

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: 8
Total: 8.4