Live Review: Icon Of Coil - Bochum 2012

Written by Sebastian Huhn Friday, 13 April 2012 23:37

Matrix, Bochum, Germany
12th April 2012
Icon Of Coil, Komor Kommando, Substaat

Just two gigs they are playing around Germany. So I was pretty sure that all of those gigs would be pretty much sold-out. Expect my surprise when I got to the club and actually saw like ten people going in. I was sincerely hoping that at least a few more people would turn up.

Substaat

SUBSTAAT is a Norwegian project formed in 2007 by members already active in the local music scene. In 2010 they signed a deal with German label Danse Macabre for the release of their eponymous album. SUBSTAAT is Terje Vangbo, Jarle Hansen and Petter Norstrøm. In Bochum, the band was performing as a duo only. http://www.substaat.com/ / http://www.facebook.com/substaat / http://www.myspace.com/substatemusic



Music & Performance
Rather unknown to me, SUBSTAAT opened an evening of three bands with a dose of old-school electronics under melodic vocals. The performance however needs some fine-tuning: Two guys on stage, one performing the vocals; the other one clinging to his synth and looking overall uncomfortable being on stage. The mixing of the gigs sound was in a word: Horrible! If anything I could hear bass, bass and some more bass. How am I supposed to judge sound if I just get to hear the beat with a few bits of the vocals in-between which weren’t that bad to be honest... The few people who were already there at the time apparently enjoyed it, because the more songs would be played, the more they would applaud. As for me, the circumstances might have been the problem here, so I’m hoping to get another chance to the complete sound and the band maybe a better rating

Setlist
01. Grind it Down
02. Catch Me
03. Unstuck
04. Berlin
05. Burning Ground
06. Adrenaline
07. Refused
08. Drive Again
09. Guilty Pleasure

Rating
Music: 5
Performance: 4
Sound: 3
Light: 6
Total: 4.6 / 10




Komor Kommando

I guess you don’t have to be a philosopher to figure out who’s the man behind this project. So Sebastian R. Komor, most notable for his work with ICON OF COIL, has added another project to his varied musical work and the first output went by the name of ‘Das EP’. https://www.facebook.com/komorkommando

Music & Performance
Before the main project would enter the stage, Sebastian Komor was flying solo with one of his outlets called KOMOR KOMMANDO. If you thought the bass on the first support was a bummer, this one was even better. Almost made my heart stop, actually! On stage there was really nothing to see or miss. Mr. Komor gave a lacklustre performance standing behind a synth and a laptop, drinking one or the other beer and trying to motivate the crowd to something to no avail. Not even remotely a success. I for one was happy when it was over.

Rating
Music: 2
Performance: 2
Sound: 2
Light: 6
Total: 2.6 / 10




Icon Of Coil

In 1997 Andy La Plegua established the project, ICON OF COIL, which was primarily a concept built around a logo, graphic design and music. Andy was already involved in music before as a singer of the Metal / Hardcore band MY RIGHT CHOICE. When it became clear that music would be the most important part of that concept, Andy asked his friend Sebastian Komor to help him out as live member, but after the release of the first single ‘Shallow Nation’ in 2000, Seb became a fixed member. Surprisingly, the single was sold-out after a couple of weeks and as a result they got signed to the Norwegian Label Tatra Records, which also released their first album ‘Serenity is the Devil’ in 2001. A tour followed after the album was released in North America by Metropolis Records, during which the band found the time to write material for the second album ‘The Soul is in the Software’, released in 2002.



The third and to this date last genuine ICON OF COIL album, carries the title ‘Machines are Us’ and saw the light of day in 2004. ICON OF COIL is: Andy La Plegua (vocals & programming), Sebastian Komor (keys & programming) and Christian Lund, latter one being not present in Bochum. http://www.iconofcoil.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/officialiconofcoil / https://www.facebook.com/IconOfCoilOfficial

Music & Performance
No rebuilding needed for the reason the people had come here in the first place. Sebastian took his former place again and then there was Andy LaPlegua who in a minute achieved what Komor wasn’t able to do: Getting the crowd to move and party. The first song was ‘Thrillcapsule’ and its hard-hitting beats and the signature vocal were making the spark jump over. Andy had so much fun performing the songs it was almost literally flowing out of him while jumping and moving back and forth across the stage. ‘Shallow Nation’ was the second in line and heated things up even more and if you weren’t amongst the dancing people you were indeed dead enough for life.



Between the songs we were treated to a few humorous intermezzos which included a t-shirt that was on two bodies at the same time. Andy was just as confused as anyone else about that fact. The best bit came later though with him revealing that there might be a new album coming within the next ten years or so… Actually, they’re trying to get it out later this year, so let’s all hope that really happens. The arrival of ‘Regret’ made everyone freak out right away and sing-a-longs was to spot everywhere. ‘Mono Overload?’ was the most atmospheric and dark tune we’ve heard up to this time. The vocals were palpably drowning in twilight. With the erratic ‘Pursuit’, the main set ended way too early, so there had to be an encore right? Right! The first of two started with the highly anticipated ‘Dead Enough For Life’, seeing Andy and the crowd singing the chorus together. The second one treated us to a sweat-pumping cover version of the FRONT 242 song ‘Headhunter’, leaving a crowd begging for more.



Setlist
01. Thrillcapsule
02. Shallow Nation
03. Simulated
04. You Just Died
05. Regret
06. Mono:Overload?
07. Shelter
08. Former Self
09. Existence in Progress
10. Pursuit
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11. Dead Enough For Life
12. Floorkiller
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13. Headhunter (Front 242 Cover)

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 8.6 / 10



All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.black-cat-net.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/vorndranphotography / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)