Rosenhof, Osnabrück, Germany
03rd November 2006
Zeraphine, Entwine
Somehow, November in Germany means one concert highlight hunting the next one. Tonight, the time for ZERAPHINE has been come to perform in the very nice previous cinema Rosenhof in Osnabrück. After three studio albums, the band recently released the fourth one “Still” which is of course presented live on stage. Together on tour are the Finnish metal heads ENTWINE who released also a new album – “Fatal Design” – in summer. These two bands together are quite a strange combination – hard meats soft and fast means slow in some way. So, I was very curious how this musical mix will work.
Even though the venue was quite small, the audience did not fill it. Only about 150 people arrived for the show. Maybe the reason was that the day before ZERAPHINE played in Bochum, which is not that far away and was supposed to be well visited. Anyway, first ENTWINE had to play in front of a manageable amount of people what was probably a bit unusual for the band because they are better known in Finland where they probably play in front of a bigger audience. 
Entwine
The roots of the band date back to 1995 when drummer Aksu Hanttu, singer/guitarist Tom Mikkola and bass player T. Taipale started making music together. Sounding very much like Death Metal at the beginning, not many people were interested in their music. With one more guitarist and keyboard player Riitta the band is starting a more melodic way and so, Spinefarm records got interest in the band and signed them. Soon, the line-up changed, but anyway the band released their first records and had some remarkable success. After being more in the Goth-rock genre for several years, the band now got heavier again with the new album “Fatal Design”. Currently, the band line-up is Riitta Heikkonen (keyboards), Joni Miettinen (bass), Jaani Kähkönen (guitar), Mika Tauriainen (vocals), Tom Mikkola (guitar) and Aksu Hanttu (drums). http://www.entwine.org/ / http://www.myspace.com/entwineofficial 
Music
The show on this evening was based on the latest album “Fatal Design” – where off several songs like “Out of you”, “Surrender” or “Break me” have been played – and the previous album “Dieversity”. All other released had been left out of the set. Due to the fact that “Fatal Design” moves away from the Goth Rock into a heavier direction, the set was mainly quite hard which could have been a surprise for one or another Goth on the venue. Musically, the whole band acted on its best with powerful guitar play and gentle keyboard lines. Especially drummer Aksu did a great job hitting the drums like a berserk what got me the impression that the job of a drummer is sport as sport can be. Sound-wise I was again impressed by the venue. The whole set sounded very clear and especially the drum beats were really fat. 
Performance
The show of the six boys and girls from the north were pure power. And even though the crowd was not that big, they did a good show. Especially singer Mika acted like a real rock star – drinking Whisky from the bottle and holding his cigarette lascivious in his hand what made his female fans in front of the stage scream every now and then. Drummer Aksu got his fair share from this behavior when Mika gave him some beer shower. But well… he was wet from sweating anyway. ;) Besides the eye catcher for the female fans there was with Riitta something for men’s eyes when she was waving her beautiful body behind the keyboard and smiling shy into the crowd. Remarkable was also the light show which was surprisingly good for such a small venue and for the support act. Bright light lit up the whole stage – especially singer and drummer – supported by some smoke which created a nice mood. 
Setlist
01. Out of You
02. Someone to Blame
03. Fatal Design
04. Surrender
05. Bleeding for the Cure
06. Still Remains
07. Frozen by the Sun
08. Bitter Sweet
09. Break me
10. Chameleon Halo
11. Curtained Life
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Light: 9
Sound: 8
Total: 8.2
Zeraphine
ZERAPHINE started after a quite short rebuilding break into the evening. The band was started by Sven Friedrich and Norman Selbig after the split of their former band DREADFUL SHADOWS in 2000. Together with Manuel, Michael and Marcellus, the band was completed. After the debut album “Kalte Sonne”, 2003 the second album “Traumaworld” was released. After another album – “Blind Camera” – the fourth studio album “Still” was released in summer 2006 and this one sounds rockier than before. ZERAPHINE are Sven Friedrich (vocals), Norman Selbig (guitar), Manuel Senger (guitar), Michael Nepp (bass) and Marcellus Puhlemann (drums). http://www.zeraphine.de/ / www.myspace.com/zeraphine 
Music
As expected, the main issue of the set was on the recent album “Still” where off several songs found the way into the setlist – “I’ll follow you”, “Still”, the rocking “Toxic Skies”, “Halbes Ende” and several more. Musically, ZERAPHINE are hard to categorize because they are mixing several styles. Mainly it is surely a mix between Wave and Gothic Rock. The new songs are partly a bit rockier than the ones before and so the set hat its faster passages which were broken by well-known older songs. Of course Sven’s voice is the remarkable point on the music presenting the mix of German and English lyrics with warmth and a lot of charisma. As know from previous shows, the band usually performs a cover version. Having DEPECHE MODE’s “In your Room” in the past, the band chose another song of this band again: “Walking in my Shoes”. The perfect sound made this show a musical pleasure. 
Performance
After the intro, when Sven did appear on stage – this time not in a men’s skirt – he welcomed the audience with the words: “Nice to see you here at our nice family evening”, what was a smug remark according the manageable audience. But the people came closer to stage and soon it was clear that this will be a very nice concert evening in a good mood. Little mishaps made the band very simpatico – be it a slight uncertainty within the lyrics or that the backing tape stopped after the intro of “I’m numb” what was commented by Sven: “Seems the drummer fell on the piano player”. ;) There was a good mood within the band, all smiled a lot. Some girls had some nice ideas to make the concert something to remember – sparklers for “Sterne sehen”, umbrellas for “Be my rain” and soap bubbles. The main set ended with “Wenn Du gehst” and after a short break the band came back for three more songs. Sadly there was no chance for more encores – the band had more possible ones on the list – but they had to stop for the following disco evening. 
Setlist
01. Intro
02. Die Macht in Dir
03. I’ll follow you
04. No more doubts
05. In der Tiefe
06. Niemand kann es sehen
07. Still
08. Nichts aus Liebe
09. Toxic Skies
10. Kaltes Herz
11. I’m Numb
10. Ohne Dich
13. No Tears
14. United and Lost
15. Die Wirklichkeit
16. Be my Rain
17. Halbes Ende
18. Walking in my Shoes (Depeche Mode cover)
19. Inside your arms
20. Fang mich
21. Wenn Du gehst
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22. Flieh mit mir
23. Sterne sehen
24. Deine Welt
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 8
Sound: 9
Light: 8
Total: 8.6
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