Live Review: Stahlmann - Bochum 2012

Written by Sebastian Huhn Saturday, 28 January 2012 08:33

PDF | Print |

Matrix, Bochum, Germany
26th January 2012
Stahlmann, Lord Of The Lost, Unzucht

STAHLMANN gained some popularity by touring with acts like SALTATIO MORTIS, DORO, and IN EXTREMO and in a little more than two years the German trio already released an EP, two singles and the self-titled debut album followed by a tour with EISBRECHER. Some popularity might be an understatement by now, admittedly. Considerable would be far more accurate I guess. In support of their recently released sophomore ‚Quecksilber‘, the stopped at Matrix club in Bochum this evening.

Unzucht

German band UNZUCHT first struck attention as the winners of the M’era Luna Newcomer Contest 2010 and had the honour to open the festival in Hildesheim. Ever since they’ve received a lot of media attention and soon will be releasing their first official EP ‘Deine Zeit läuft ab’The band consists of Der Schulz (vocals), De Clercq (guitar, electronics, vocals), Schindler (bass, electronics) and Fuhrmann (drums). http://www.unzucht-music.com / www.myspace.com/unzuchtmusic



Music & Performance
UNZUCHT were the first of two bands to get the audience in tune for the eagerly awaited STAHLMANN. Their most striking feature in my opinion was singer Der Schulz’s vocal performance. A guy who really hits the notes for a change! The band had in stuck a fusion of Goth rock and more prominently metal elements and occasionally the clean, melodic parts alternated with alienated, commanding growls of De Clerq. Apparently, the guys brought some fans along to the show that went crazy for their tunes and certainly won a few more over in the further course. To one of their early tracks, ‘Engel der Vernichtung’, the mood definitely reached its peak and after the title track ‘Unzucht’ had faded I think I even heard people calling for encores



Setlist
01. Allein
02. Meine Liebe
03. Schwarzes Blut
04. Deine Zeit läuft ab
05. Der letzte Tanz
06. Engel der Venichtung
07. Unzucht

Rating
Music:6
Performance: 8
Sound: 7
Light: 6
Total: 6.8 / 10




Lord Of The Lost

Before starting his own band with LORD OF THE LOST in 2008, initiator Chris Harms has been involved in various musical activities already. He started as vocalist for PHILLIAE, played live guitar for BIG BOY and worked with THE PLEASURES as well. Nearly instantly after its inception, LORD OF THE LOST locked themselves up in the studio, spending most of 2008 working on their debut album. The album’s called ‘Fears’ and has been released in February 2010, followed by the sophomore ‘Antagony’ in this year’s April via Out of Line. LORD OF THE LOST is Chris (vocals, guitar), Bo Six (guitars), Class (bass), Disco (drums) and Gared (piano, synth, percussion).. http://www.myspace.com/lordofthelost



Music & Performance
There’s one thing that you had to hand to Chris Harms ´: He’s got more than a healthy self-esteem and more importantly knows how to use it to control and entertain a crowd, and some of the ladies I think went totally nuts at the time he entered the stage to the opening track ‘We Are The Lost’, a highly atmospheric piece of metal-inflicted Goth Rock. Vocally it reminded me a lot of the HIM front man Vile Valo. Only that Vile probably never would do deep growling, which would be interesting to hear once. ‘Do You Wanna Die Without A Scar’ provided solid if not extraordinary catchy fodder to dance to. Already then, I noticed distortions on the vocal channel which led to the microphone getting swapped like 5 times during the show. ‘Fragmenting Façade’ pushed forwards with its marching drum rhythm and Chris did all he could to push the crowd even further. Once that was sorted, he could switch to more important tasks like dressing his keyboard player with a bra.



The worst thing happening during the show was a Goth Rock cover of LADY GAGA’s ‘Bad Romance’. Most certainly I’m not a fan of her but even I thought the original was way better, most of all vocally. A sweat-driven show found its end with ‘Sex On Legs’ and a confused writer who didn’t know what to make of it. On the one hand it had all a show can have; on the other hand I was not at all caught in the vibe of the music.

Setlist
01. We Are The Lost
02. Do You Wanna Die Without A Scar
03. Undead Or Alive
04. Fragmenting Façade
05. Prison
06. Bad Romance (Lady GaGa Cover)
07. Prologue
08. Dry The Rain
09. Break Your Heart
10. Son Of The Dawn
11. Sex On Legs

Rating
Music:5
Performance: 8
Sound: 7
Light: 7
Total: 6.5 / 10

Stahlmann

STAHLMANN kind of just started their career, founded in 2008 and already making a kick-start with their first release, which is the EP ‘Herzschlag’ that cracked into the German Alternative Charts on #20. Their tour credits already include sharing the stage with DORO, IN EXTREMO, SALTATIO MORTIS or EISBRECHER. The eponymous debut album has been released on 17th September 2010. Just the day before, on 20th January 2011, the band released its brand-new album ‘Quecksilber’ on AFM Records. http://www.myspace.com/stahlmannmusik / http://www.stahlmann.tv / https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stahlmann/138756019513864



Music & Performance
A few minutes past ten, the time had come for STAHLMANN to enter the stage in darkness. First thing to strike you odd was a different bass player than usual. Martin explained they’d invited each and every of the collective and that they’d be switching throughout the evening. ‘Wilkommen’ set the route for the show. Hard and relentlessly the beats were pouring out of the speakers while the gentlemen in silver blue were sunken in deep into their own world. Well, most of them did. Martin always kept close ties to the audience and early explained to those who hadn’t seen a STAHLMANN show before that they were a “Participation band”. He put it this way “Not only we are making fools out of ourselves up here; you’ve got to do something too”. The traditional bass drum chant for instance. ‘Marschieren’ and ‘Stahlmann’ provided some more kick-ass tunes to take off to. The tracks are pure adrenaline and passion.



Since there’s a new album out with ‘Quecksilber’, the next two tracks finally gave a good idea of how the new material sounds live. ‘Götter’ and ‘Am Grunde’ were just as much acclaimed as the band’s “old” ones, before the show went on with another one of those ‘Hass mich… lieb mich’. One highlight was chasing the next and the attending fans hardly received any time for a respite and faster than you knew the main set already reached its end with ‘Mein Leib’. Soon afterwards calls for an encore became louder and louder, but before the first bloc started there was a real nice drum solo first. The first encore had another, rather unpleasant surprise up its sleeves:  A little power cut. The band bridged the time until everything was up and running again with a few jokes. On ‘Engel in der Dunkelheit’, NEOPERA singer Nina joined the band on stage. Think that’s all? Wrong. There was even a second encore bloc, ending the show with a collaborative performance of all bands of a DIE TOTEN HOSEN cover version: ‘Hier Kommt Alex!’.



STAHLMANN know very well how to throw a party that’s for sure, and left an exhausted crowd who now slowly made their way back home.

Setlist
01. Willkommen
02. Marschieren
03. Stahlmann
04. Kaltes Herz
05. Goetter
06. Am Grunde
07. Hass mich... lieb mich
08. Herzschlag
09. Teufel
10. Spring nicht
11. Kokain
12. Tanzmaschine
13. Mein Leib
---
14. Stahlwittchen
15. Schmerz
16. Engel in der Dunkelheit
---
17. Diener
18. Hier kommt Alex (Die Toten Hosen Cover)

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: 8
Total: 8 / 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)