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Zeche Carl, Essen, Germany
19th April 2006
Suicide Commando, Insekt, This Morn’ Omnia, Painbastard

This evening’s line-up was something special with just four bands touring together. Headliner ‘Suicide Commando’ brought two more Belgium bands with them – the old-school EBM band ‘Insekt’ and the Ethno-Industrial band ‘This Morn’ Omnia’. Fourth band was the German Dark-Electro formation ‘Painbastard’; altogether a very promising combination. Especially I was looking forward ‘Insekt’ because I loved their show at WGT some years ago.


Painbastard

The opening slot was reserved for the only German band tonight – ‘Painbastard’ which is more or less the one-man project of Alex P. He started making electronic music back in 1997/98 influenced by ‘Leaether Strip’ and ‘Wumpscut’. First some promos and demos have been released until finally a record deal with “Accession Records” was signed in 2003 and the first album ‘Skin on fire’ saw the light of day. The year 2005 saw the release of the second album ‘Overkill’ as well as the EP ‘Storm of Impermanence’.
http://www.painbastard.de
http://www.myspace.com/painbastard



Music
The EBM music of ‘Painbastard’ reminds of the headliner of the evening: ‘Suicide Commando’. Due to massive vocoder use the voice was extremely distorted and when Alex was talking to the audience in-between the songs it was hard it understand. Most of the songs are marked by hard electronic beats and distorted aggressive chant. All in all they invite you to dance. For my taste the vocals were too distorted but people seemed to like it. The band only had about 30 minutes to perform and so they could only present a small part of their work and of their recent album ‘Overkill’. Heavy songs like ‘Nervenkrieg’, ‘Todesengel’ or ‘System Failed’ made the audience dance and celebrate even the first band.

 



Performance
The show was more or less a one-man show of Alex P. who was supported by his companion behind the keyboard. Alex P. was constantly moving across the stage never standing still and shouting into his microphone. The whole show was underlined by video projections showing George W. Bush, war or death. Smoke and dark lights supported the “end time mood”.

Rating
Music 6
Performance 5
Sound 7
Light 7
Total 6




This Morn’ Omnia

This Belgium band was formed in 1996 by Mika and was first only planned as studio project. The development to a very interesting live act came over the last few years. The band is incomparable to others and their live performances are very interesting and special.
http://www.hegira.be/

 

Music
Musical wise ‘This Morn’ Omnia’ is a mixture of ethno, trance-orientated techno, ritual music and impelling rhythmic industrial. Hard to imagine that a mixture of all those styles is possible but T.M.O. prove that it works. The songs did not really have vocals, they were pure instrumentals only interspersed with some vocal samples. Mika in the middle of stage was turning the tables and his both supporters on the sites were hitting percussion instruments for the right beat. In front of all is always the rhythm. And the beat really made you move. It’s quite surprising that you can create such intense music with such a minimalist gear.



Performance
The show is somehow simple with Mika standing behind his technique-desk, shouting into the microphone every now and then and dancing a lot while pushing up the audience with gestures. The percussionists are hitting their instruments in the meantime with pure hands or sticks. The whole show is underlined with visual effects on the video screen too. The live performance of T.M.O. is just a great composition of an electronic musical background, pushing live-percussions (acoustic and electronic) and the mentioned visual effects which create a non-day-to-day energy-exchange between band and audience. People at the venue really appreciated the show and danced, clapped a lot and screamed for more. Unfortunately the band did not have more time than only thirty minutes, so no encore could be played.

Rating
Music 9
Performance 8
Sound 7
Light 7
Total 8 (8.1)




Insekt

The co-headliner of the evening was no one less than the legendary Belgium EBM heroes ‘Insekt’. Erik van Wonterghem, who was active together with Dirk Ivens (‘The Klinik’) as ‘Absolute Body Control’ before, formed ‘Insekt’ together with Mario Vaerewijck in 1987. Since then, the band released several albums but then in 1994 both members felt that they need to do something different. So Mario contributes to ‘Lowpass’ while Eric set up ‘Monolith’ and joined Dirk Ivens in ‘Sonar’. After a live performance on the Belgian Independent Festival in December 2003 in Antwerp the two guys started to work on new material again and released the album ‘Ohrwürmer’. The upcoming album ‘Teenmachine’ will be released on 12th May 2006 on the NTP label.
http://www.insekt-online.com/
http://www.myspace.com/insekt



Music
‘Insekt’ stands for powerful rhythm-walls, poisonous synth-layers, samples, harsh and evils vocals as well as cold melody lines. The band not only creates pure EBM songs but also polished sound compositions that remind of ‘Nine Inch Nails’. The main focus of the set was on the upcoming album where from the songs ‘Isolated’, ‘Teenmachine’, ‘Pain Inside’, ‘Damage Done’ and ‘Bambifucker’ have been played. The remaining two songs ‘D.O.A.’ and the Depeche Mode cover version ‘Personal Jesus’ have been taken from the previous album ‘Ohrwürmer’. Mario’s chant was marked by distorted vocals – the whole show was somehow a journey into the past with the typical sound of the band – even though only songs from the latest two albums have been played.



Performance
The two guys entered the stage wearing sun glasses. Mario wore a hood, drawn deep into his face while shouting into his microphone and danced expressively behind and with his microphone stand. Eric in the meantime screwed on his machines. Several times Mario took place behind a drum set (with half back to the audience) hitting the pads like a maniac. Some-when in the middle of the set he stripped down the hood-shirt releasing his upper body wearing a tight black half-transparent shirt. Finally you were also able to see his facial expressions that have been very intense. As only band of the evening ‘Insekt’ did not use video projections and so the whole light show was a bit brighter… except of ‘Damage Done’ where Mario enlightened the stage only with two big flashlights holding in his hands. For me, the show of ‘Insekt’ was the best of the evening.

Setlist (without instrumentals)
01. Isolated
02. Teenmachine
03. Pain inside
04. D.O.A.
05. Damage Done
06. Bambifucker
07. Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode Cover)

Rating
Music 9
Performance 9
Sound 8
Light 7
Total 9 (8.6)




Suicide Commando

The history of the band is quite long and dates back to 1986 when the band – influenced by EBM legends like ‘Klinik’, ‘Skinny Puppy’ or ‘Front 242’ - was born. The Belgium one-man project of Johan van Roy released numerous club hits in the past – ‘See you in hell’, ‘Hellraiser’ or ‘Love breeds Suicide’ just to name a few. The live line-up is extended by two live keyboarders (Torben of ‘Lights of Euphoria’ and usually Johan’s girlfriend which was replaced this time) and a live drummer.
http://www.suicidecommando.be
http://www.myspace.com/suicidecommando 



Music
The music of ‘Suicide Commando’ has its steady place on the dance floors with the distinctive and aggressive mix of distorted vocals and tramping beats. Main issue of the show was the presentation of the recent album ‘Bind Torture Kill’ whose title track was also opening the show. ‘BTK’ is a concept album dealing with the serial killer Rader who bestially killed ten people. Musically the band dealt very well with that topic – dark sounds underlined the lyrics. Besides the presentation of the current album of course tracks from the past – like ‘Raise your God’ from the album ‘Mindstripper’ – had its place. A special gimmick was the cover version of Tommy Stumpf’s ‘Massaker’ also released on ‘Bind Torture Kill’. The live feeling has been raised a lot by the use of the drums. The sound was pushing forward, aggressive and distorted. Some songs sounded a bit too techno-ish like the spit out ‘F*** you bitch’.



Performance
The show started with video projection proclaiming the words ‘Bind Torture Kill’ written in deep red. The appearance of Johan was experienced as ever. He ran across the stage like a maniac showing different grimaces and his tongue to the audience every now an then. The whole show was supported by the use of video projections showing partly quite cruel pictures of murder, death, war and blood. The audience loved the energy of the show and danced a lot. The hymn ‘Hellraiser’ finished the show finally.

Rating
Music 8
Performance 8
Sound 7
Light 8
Total 8 (7.9)







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