Amnistia

Driven by the wish to create music in their own style without any boundaries Stefan Schoetz and Tino Claus formed AMNISTIA in 2003 in Leipzig. Many performances and a lot of self-released CDs brought them forward in the following years before they signed with the Scanner label and released their debut ‘Neophyte’ in June 2007. The second long player ‘Blackguard’ sees the light of day in April 2008 and is a natural progression for the band’s sound. AMNISTIA is Stefan (music, production, lyrics), Tino (vocals, lyrics, music) and Jan (FX, keys). http://www.amnistia.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/amnistia



Music & Performance
AMNISTIA’s show started with the lights turning down and Stefan coming on stage playing a little with his machinery and creating a gloomy introduction for the first song of the evening. The style of the duo turned out being a mixture of old-school and modern electronic with a touch of Dark Electro. Singer Tino had lots of space to move and used that to the fullest while adding his slightly distorted vocals. One song that stood out was named ‘Komplex’ and had German lyrics for a change. It’s not that you wouldn’t get to hear German lyrics on an electro song once in a while; they’re just flat most of the time. Fortunately not in this case! The audience in the room, which wasn’t quite as filled as I expected, danced just a little but gave applause after every song. Was a nice introduction to the evening!

Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 6
Sound: 7
Light: 6
Total: 6.6 / 10






Reaper

The project was founded by Vasi Vallis, known through NAMNAMBULU and the follow-up project FROZEN PLASMA as side project just for the sake of fun. The harsh industrial club music he produces with REAPER is on heavy rotation in the clubs. His latest release is called ‘The Devil is Female’ and hit the stores in November 2007. The live line-up consisted of Vase (vocals), Gregsen (keys) and Gordon (guitar). http://www.reaper-music.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/reapermusic



Music & Performance
Vasi, the resting pole with FROZEN PLASMA, the mastermind in the background, and the stage hawk with REAPER! It’s always when performing with his other project that he literally explodes, and also did that soon after he entered the stage with Gregsen, the hyperactive keyboard player, and guitarist Gordon. The full package of beats came up right away with the set opener ‘The Devil is Female’. Now, already more people were in attendance than before and they were only too willing to dance wildly, especially when ‘Robuste Maschine’ was performed. Half of the attending crowd was in heaviest motion and the mood reached its pinnacle. Keyboard player Gregsen is a class of its own by the way. Don’t think I’ve ever seen a keyboard player rocking like him. REAPER ended their show with the yet unreleased song ‘Dirty Cash’ and left a partially exhausted crowd that now needed a little break.

Setlist
01. The Devil is Female
02. Twisted Trophy Hunter
03. Execution of your Mind
04. Memento Mori
05. Robuste Maschine
06. X-Junkie
07. She’s a Devil and a Whore
08. Dirty Cash (Unreleased)

Rating
Music: 6
Performance: 6
Sound: 7
Light: 7
Total: 6.3 / 10






[:SITD:]

In 2002, a new star arose on the firmament of the club landscape and its name was [:SITD:] which is short for “Shadows in the Dark” and a metaphorical expression for the music and lyrical content of the band. The band existed since 1996 though, but the big breakthrough came with the ‘Snuff EP’ with the hit track ‘Snuff Machinery’ which, from there on, couldn’t be missed out on any DJ Playlist and is now a real classic. The first album ‘Stronghold’ continued the path of combining club orientated beats with hymnal melodies and dark vocals and was the most successful band album in 2003. With ‘Coded Message:12’, [:SITD:] released their second album showing the band’s sound matured, containing several new club hits like the preceding single ‘Richtfest’ and the German-tongued ‘Wegweiser’.



The third album had to wait until 2007 aptly titled ‘Bestie:Mensch’; the album shed some light on the deepest abysms of the human soul, even more than that the band opened their sound to new influences such as the break beats on the instrumental track ‘Floating’. With a new album ‘ROT’, the trio soon will unleashed its next strike on the clubs in October. [:SITD:] is Carsten Jacek (vocals and lyrics), Thomas “Tom” Lesczenski (keyboards, programming, sampling and backing vocals) and Francesco “Frank” D'Angelo (keyboards and backing vocals). http://www.sitd.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/xsitdx



Music & Performance
Meanwhile, the room had filled sufficiently, though it was not as full as during the last time I saw [:SITD:] here in Bochum. Anyway, the waiting found an end quickly, so did the much needed break for some with the sinister undertow that is ‘The Insanity of Normality’. Tom and Frank entered the stage and took positions behind their tech towers and a few spells later, the first sounds of ‘Rot’ came across. Only seconds before the beat kicked in, Carsten appeared and was welcomed with loud cheers. Without loosing any further time, he started scouring the stage back and forth, heating up the audience even more. Strangely enough, the crowd was still a bit reserved and the dancing restrained. But after ‘Stammheim’ and ‘Pharmakon’, no trace of that could be seen anymore.



Following an excursion to ‘Rose-Coloured Skies’, where the entire crowd danced in ecstasy, and the musical and lyrical jackhammer ‘Frontal’, the time had come for Carsten to leave the microphone to Tom for a couple songs. The first one that was played is one of my favourite songs on the new album and I was so glad to hear the introduction to ‘Redemption’ now. The piano, the spherical layers and Tom’s voice atop the heavy beats made sure you could dance and drift away at the same time. Same goes for the following ‘Suffering in Solitude. Afterwards, Carsten could finally reclaim his job as master of the stage.



Within the next block we were offered a lot of classic [:SITD:] stuff with songs such as ‘Lebensborn’ and ‘Laughingstock’. The climax, however, was the closing ‘Snuff Machinery’ with Carsten taking a bath in the crowd who freaked out completely. Loud screams demanded an encore after the band had left the stage and they wouldn’t have to scream long until they came back to play two more songs, one of which being the duet of Carsten and Tom called ‘Herbsterwachen’. As crowning closer of the evening, we got to celebrate a sweat-driving ‘Richtfest’. Once again [:SITD:] set the audience in Bochum on fire and bestowed everyone one hell of a party which would go on for many on one of the disco floors of the club.



Setlist
01. The Insanity of Normality
02. Rot
03. Stammheim
04. Pharmakon
05. Rose-Coloured Skies
06. Frontal
07. Redemption
08. Suffering in Solitude
09. Kreuzgang V2
10. Lebensborn
11. Laughingstock
12. Wegweiser
13. Snuff Machinery
---
14. Herbsterwachen
15. Richtfest

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: 8
Total: 8.4 / 10



All pictures by Silke Jochum (http://www.silke-jochum.de/)

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