Tivoli, Utrecht, The Netherlands7 October 2007
Paradise Lost, Eyes of Eden, Neurosonic
A warm October night. A Sunday night even but still many came to Utrecht and headed in the same direction, to Tivoli. It was quite busy for a Sunday night. But then again, for a band such as Paradise Lost that might not be so strange at all. They have had some time now to gather fans, and successfully did so. Three countries united in one tour. And that tour was ending in Utrecht on this very evening.
Neurosonic
A very young band; they have only been founded in 2006. In this short period of time many things have happened, they have released their first album, toured with Paradise Lost and they have even been suspected of being terrorists. It had something to do with their musical instruments and song-titles on their set list such as ‘So Many People’, ‘Until I die’, ‘Crazy Sheila’ and more. Fortunately they were set free again otherwise they would have been able to play this evening.
Music
My first thought was: heavy Britpop. It sounded fine, but why would they play as an opening act for a metal band. When the show progressed however it was pleasantly surprised by the power of this Canadian band. Jason Darr proved the owner of some nice screams. He and Jacen Ekstrom sound good together. But that wasn’t all, there were some very heavy moments in their music, grunts, rolling drums and raging guitars. They have got a wide musical vocabulary. Talking about vocabulary, no feminist would like theirs, first a song about a bitch, then a song about a whore. Luckily the songs sounded better then their announcements.
A very young band; they have only been founded in 2006. In this short period of time many things have happened, they have released their first album, toured with Paradise Lost and they have even been suspected of being terrorists. It had something to do with their musical instruments and song-titles on their set list such as ‘So Many People’, ‘Until I die’, ‘Crazy Sheila’ and more. Fortunately they were set free again otherwise they would have been able to play this evening.
Music
My first thought was: heavy Britpop. It sounded fine, but why would they play as an opening act for a metal band. When the show progressed however it was pleasantly surprised by the power of this Canadian band. Jason Darr proved the owner of some nice screams. He and Jacen Ekstrom sound good together. But that wasn’t all, there were some very heavy moments in their music, grunts, rolling drums and raging guitars. They have got a wide musical vocabulary. Talking about vocabulary, no feminist would like theirs, first a song about a bitch, then a song about a whore. Luckily the songs sounded better then their announcements.
Performance
Both guitarists and the singer wore t-shirts with a jacket over it. The drummer only a t-shirt but I consider that a wise decision seeing how hard he was working. Their hairdo’s were very prominent, seeing as they were hiding their faces. Long bangs swinging in front of their eyes, it might look nice but it would be nice to see a bit of face at times. For when you did it was great. One of their guitarists is great at making faces and weird dances and their singer is a cocky, energetic and fun sight to see.
Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 7
Sound: 6
Light: 5
Total: 7 (6,6)
Music: 7
Performance: 7
Sound: 6
Light: 5
Total: 7 (6,6)
Eyes of Eden
Eyes of Eden is a new metal band from Germany. They have just released their first album ‘Faith’. Their my-space site looks great, promising. The name of Waldemar Soryctha adds to this promise since he has been involved with bands such as Lacuna Coil, Moonspell and Tiamat.
Eyes of Eden is a new metal band from Germany. They have just released their first album ‘Faith’. Their my-space site looks great, promising. The name of Waldemar Soryctha adds to this promise since he has been involved with bands such as Lacuna Coil, Moonspell and Tiamat.
Music
The music was ok. Though there were little extremes in it. This was emphasized by the voice of Franziska Huth. There is little emotion to be heard in heard in her voice and there is no vocal power (at least we don’t get to hear it). There are some nice instrumental pieces in the songs and at times there are some heavier pieces bringing the music to live.
The music was ok. Though there were little extremes in it. This was emphasized by the voice of Franziska Huth. There is little emotion to be heard in heard in her voice and there is no vocal power (at least we don’t get to hear it). There are some nice instrumental pieces in the songs and at times there are some heavier pieces bringing the music to live.
Performance
Franziska Huth is the leading lady of this band. She is however hardly present on the stage. She does not look at the audience, doesn’t make contact, she seems to be in her own world. She hardly moves and if she does it is only further away from the audience. Next to her is Alla Fedynitch (bass) who has stage presence just by standing on it. The show was not that interesting to watch. Only at the end of the show there was some movement and for the first time there was a smile on the face of Waldemar (guitar) while holding his guitar up in the air while playing it.
Rating
Music: 6
Performance: 4
Sound: 5
Light: 6
Total: 5 (5,0)
Paradise Lost
Finally it was time for the headliner of the evening. The venue had gotten much fuller and excitement filled the air. A grand back drop was hung at the back of the stage. When the lights went down the audience volume went up. Cheers all around and then the show started…
Music
The show started with the impressive intro of the band’s new album ’Requiem’. Slow dark music, black-lights going over the stage and one by one the band members came to the stage. Nick Holmes (vocals) greeted the fans and told them he was pleased to be back in Holland again. I must say, this is the first time I see Nick happy and joyful to perform onstage and it suits him! During the show he thanked the audience a couple of times again. The set list was a mixture of songs from almost all albums, like for example ‘Enchantment’ of ‘Draconian Times’, ‘One Second’ of ‘One Second’, the older stuff like ‘As I die’(which had been called for a couple of time by some members of the crowd) and a lot of new work from their album ‘Requiem’. With ‘Requiem’ Paradise Lost enters a new stage again, combining the old work with the newer. Good choice; it has put the band back on the Metal list again. The music was quite loud, earplugs were a necessity. Nick’s voice was better than ever, but sometimes he was still a bit out of tune. Also the backing voice from HD were not well balanced, as so for the guitar sound as well.
Finally it was time for the headliner of the evening. The venue had gotten much fuller and excitement filled the air. A grand back drop was hung at the back of the stage. When the lights went down the audience volume went up. Cheers all around and then the show started…
Music
The show started with the impressive intro of the band’s new album ’Requiem’. Slow dark music, black-lights going over the stage and one by one the band members came to the stage. Nick Holmes (vocals) greeted the fans and told them he was pleased to be back in Holland again. I must say, this is the first time I see Nick happy and joyful to perform onstage and it suits him! During the show he thanked the audience a couple of times again. The set list was a mixture of songs from almost all albums, like for example ‘Enchantment’ of ‘Draconian Times’, ‘One Second’ of ‘One Second’, the older stuff like ‘As I die’(which had been called for a couple of time by some members of the crowd) and a lot of new work from their album ‘Requiem’. With ‘Requiem’ Paradise Lost enters a new stage again, combining the old work with the newer. Good choice; it has put the band back on the Metal list again. The music was quite loud, earplugs were a necessity. Nick’s voice was better than ever, but sometimes he was still a bit out of tune. Also the backing voice from HD were not well balanced, as so for the guitar sound as well.
Performance
The audience started singing along at the start of the first song and did so more often during the show. What I commented before: I was really surprised to see Nick (vocals) interact with the audience so much, but what I missed was the interaction between the band members. Greg Mackintosh (lead guitar) seem to be completely on to his own guitar play (which was very good by the way), we had to look to a bunch of hairs all the time. There was a bit of interaction between Aaron Aedy (guitar) and Steve Edmondson (bass) and the audience, but not much. At the end of the show they were even asked to sing along by Nick. This was after they chose which song was going to be played: ‘gothic’ or ‘ as I die’. Everybody voted for ‘ As I Die’. During the whole show the lighting was a bit darkish, which suited the music well. Too bad sometimes that there was little front light so the band was nothing more than a bunch of shadows.
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 7
Sound: 7
Light: 7
Total: 8
Music: 9
Performance: 7
Sound: 7
Light: 7
Total: 8
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