Matrix, Bochum, Germany
19th December 2012
Iced Earth, Evergrey, Steel Engraved & Dead Shape Figure
Wednesday evening presented a fine Metal package at the Matrix. Headlined by ICED EARTH, all in all 4 bands were there to make people sweat. Starting was really early and doors opened at 18:30. So the crowd was quite manageable, especially when the first band started already 15 minutes after doors opened…
Dead Shape Figure
Melodic Death Metal band DEAD SHAPE FIGURE from Finland were opening the evening. The band was founded in 2003 and consists of Galzi (vocals), Juhani Flinck (guitar), Silver Ots (guitar), Mohkis (drums) and Neissu (bass). A first EP, ‘Tomorrow Changes Nothing’, was released 2005, followed by another EP in 2006. After signing a contract with Season of Mist label, the debut album ‘The Grand Karoshi’ saw the light of day in May 2008. The second album ‘The Disease of St. Vitus’ was released 2010 on Dynamic Arts Records. The newest output is the ‘Devil Ride’ EP from 2011. http://www.deadshapefigure.com/ / https://www.facebook.com/deadshapefigure
Music & Performance
When the band started very early at 18:45, there was only a handful of people present. The first row was filled and some more people standing far in the back. Already after opener ‘Seraphim’, singer Galzi asked people to step forward. Later on he reinforced this request by stepping down into the pit and standing on the fence. The presented Melodeath did musically not totally fit to the other bands, but it was not bad at all. Even though there were not so many people present, the band showed a lot of fun playing and posed for the fans. At the end, Galzi even came down to shake some hands. First, the audience was quite reluctant, but finally for the last song, ‘Shrouds’, they joined in the clapping. The set was short, presenting four older songs but also two totally new ones, ‘Break while Speeding’ being one of them. While the light show was quite decent, the downer was the sound which was too bass laden and more than this, too loud.
Setlist
01. Seraphim
02. Break while Speeding
03. Hurtsong
04. Felix Culpa
05. Perdition Receiver
06. Shrouds
Rating
Music: 6
Performance: 7
Sound: 5
Light: 6
Total: 6 / 10
Steel Engraved
Some different style but also five people were entering next: German Power Metal band STEEL ENGRAVED from Bavaria which was founded in 2006. Quite a young band with young band members. A first demo EP, ‘Fuel for Live’, was recorded 2007 followed by first long-player ‘State of Siege’, being released 2010 on Stone Stallion Records. Both recordings are dedicated to 80s Heavy Metal. The latest album, ‘On High Wings We Fly’, was released 2012. STEEL ENGRAVED is Marco Schober (vocals), Andi Straehler (guitar), Chris Wende (guitar), Thomas Lang (bass) and Daniel Kieslinger (drums). http://www.steelengraved.de / https://www.facebook.com/pages/Steel-Engraved-Heavy-Metal/141134045907709
Music & Performance
When the five you Germans entered the stage after a speed-rebuilding of not much more than five minutes, the hall was already better filled, even though it was still just 19:20 what is really early for a concert at this location. STEEL ENGRAVED delivered Heavy / Power metal par excellence. Right from the start, the band had the audience on their side, especially singer Marco was encouraging people to scream and raise their hands through the whole show. Furthermore he impressed with his high screams and good voice. Just the sound was a little downer again. But music and fun on stage made up for this. It was a little sad that the band had only a playing time of 35 minutes just being enough for seven songs. With ‘I am the War’ and a final pose of the whole band, the bet farewell.
Setlist
01. Steeler
02. Pray for the Dead
03. Desert Uprising
04. On high Wings we fly
05. Solitary Mission
06. Godspeed
07. I am the War
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 5
Light: 7
Total: 7.5 / 10
Evergrey
Progressive Metal band EVERGREY is heading from Gothenburg, Sweden. Founded in 1993, the band released its debut album ‘The Dark Discovery’ 1998 at Noiseworks. Soon, the band was compared with i.e. DREAM THEATER. 2001 album ‘In Search Of Truth’ was released by German label InsideOut Music. After several more releases and various tours, where the band was i.e. supported by ICED EARTH, EVERGREY released its latest album, ‘Glorious Collision’, in 2001. The line-up varied over the years. The band now consists of Tom Englund (vocals and guitars), Rikard Zander (keys), Marcus Jidell (guitars), Johan Niemann (bass) and Hannes Van Dahl (drums). http://www.evergrey.net / https://www.facebook.com/Evergrey
Music & Performance
The re-building break after STEEL ENGRAVED took a little longer, but finally at 20:15, EVERGREY entered the stage, first mostly hidden in smoke. To say right at the beginning, EVERGREY was my highlight of the evening. First because of the music. Music and lyrics are dark and because of that, then band itself calls its style often “Melodic Dark Power Metal”. Second reason was the performance. The band was in excellent mood and vocally top. The extremely professional prog metal was presented with lots of emotion and passion taking care for great resonance from the audience. The hall, which was really crowded by now, was screaming and clapping. I was in particular impressed by the great bridges between rude guitar driven songs and ballads with great vocals and softer piano sounds. Amazing! 
My musical highlights were ‘The Masterplan’ and ‘Recreation Day’ with its strong bass lines. It was a little sad that the sound still was not so good, especially it was too loud so some of the musical fineness was lost. When the set ended with ‘A Touch of Blessing’, the band bowed and waved a lot to the audience who rewarded them with loud applause and screams. I wish, the set would have been longer than the hour that was given them.
Setlist
01. Leave if behind us
02. The Masterplan
03. Rulers of the Mind
04. Blinded
05. As I lie here bleeding (Piano Intro)
06. Wrong
07. Frozen
08. Recreation Day
09. Broken Wings
10. A Touch of Blessing
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 8
Sound: 6
Light: 7
Total: 8 / 10
Iced Earth
American Metal band ICED EARS bear influences of Thrash Metal, Power Metal, Progressive Metal and Speed Metal. The band was already founded back in 1984 by Jon Schaffer under the name PURGATORY. After moving to Florida and re-naming, the band signed its first record deal with Century Media, followed by the self-titled debut album. The beginning of the band was marked by various changes in line-up. Singer Matt Barlow joined the band in 1995. His vocals were highly appreciated by band and fans but after the terror attacks of 9/11, he decided to help in real live instead being a rock star. A few years later, he left ICED EARTH to join the police department. In the following years, the line-up kept changing, also the vocalist’s job: after Barlow was replaced by Tim Owens, he returned to the band from 2008 to 2011 when he finally left. The new singer Stu Block entered the band for the latest album ‘Dystopia’, out in 2011. At the end you can say that ICED EARTH is only Jon Schaffer. All other members are replaceable. Currently, ICED EARTH consists of Jon Schaffer (rhythm & lead guitar, vocals), Stu Block (lead vocals), Troy Seele (lead guitar) and Brent Smedley (drums). http://www.icedearth.com / https://www.facebook.com/OfficialIcedEarth
Music & Performance
It was short past 21:30 when ICED EARTH entered stage for their 90 minutes lasting show. In the meantime, the hall was heated, anyone was sweating and people loudly welcomed Schaffer and his co-musicians. After great supporting acts, it would not be easy for ICED EARTH to keep up with them. But they managed quite good even though I think that musically, EVERGREY did the better job. Again, the sound was not the best, it was already loud during the first bands, but now it became unbearable to me so I left my place in front soon to watch the band from the back. Well, now I could not see that much anymore, but the sound was slightly better. Since the tour was named “World Dystopia Tour”, the band presented several songs from the latest album, starting with the title track ‘Dystopia’ and including i.e. ‘Anthem’ or ‘Dark City’ later. The rest of the set belonged to older songs being celebrated by the audience, which was with the band from the very start, celebrating them and reaching out their hands. 
The hall was energy laden and the band showed a lot of power and energy. All in all it was surely a great gig, but due to playing many new songs, surely some of the older gems had to be taken from the setlist…
Setlist
01. Dystopia
02. Burning Times
03. Pure Evil
04. Wolf
05. V
06. My Own Saviour
07. I Died for You
08. Invasion
09. Motivation of Man
10. Setian Massacre
11. Anthem
12. Prophecy
13. Dark City
14. Equilibrium
15. The Hunter
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16. In Sacred Flames (Encore Intro)
17. Boiling Point
18. Melancholy (Holy Martyr)
19. Iced Earth
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 6
Light: 7
Total: 7.7 / 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)
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