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Het Arsenaal, Vlissingen, The Netherlands
October 28th 2006
The Crüxshadows, In Strict Confidence, Agonoize, V2A, Cephalgy, Aesthetic Perfection, Frozen Plasma

Terrra Gotha is a gothic festival which is held in the harbour town Vlissingen, in the south of The Netherlands. The venue where it took place, Het Arsennal, lies so close to the sea you can clearly see and hear its waves crashing the shore. In 2001 the photographer and promotor Wim de Nooijer organised this festival for the first time here, because in this region hardly any gothic parties were held. The first Terra Gotha festival took place in the small venue De Piek, but because of the enormous success he decided to go a step further and last year the large theatre Het Arsenaal decided to open its doors to welcome the next Terra Gotha Festival.
http://www.terra-gotha.com/


Frozen Plasma

Frozen Plasma is an electro/darkwave band which was founded in 2005 in Germany. One of the founders, Vasi Fallis, has a history with his previous, succesful band "NamNamBulu" and in 2005 he worked with VNV Nation as a live-keyboardist during their concerts. Together with a new singer, Felix Marc, who is also known as background singer for Diorama, they brought out their debut single "Hypocrite" at the and of November 2005.    http://www.frozenplasma.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/frozenplasma

Music
The band only consists of two men, but for an electro performance there's not really much more needed than a microphone, a keyboard and a drum computer. In the beginning their music sounded nice and it could be compared with VNV Nation and Angels & Agony for instance. But after some time it could be noticed that the necessary variation was missing. In spite of this quite some people in the audience seemed to like it and were dancing. Some people were even familiar with the lyrics and sung along. On CD the voice of Felix sounds very polished, but live he was not able to hit the right notes, especially when he was walking across the stage.



Performance
On the sides of the stage Frozen Plasma logos were placed and on a large videoscreen at the back repeating images from the Frozen Plasma logo were projected. With only two bandmembers and a large stage the chance of bumping into each other was at least very small. But the singer was moving a lot on stage as if this whole stage was his territory. He was walking from the left end to the right end and back and forth, over and over again. The keyboard-player kept himself more in the background, literally and figuratively. The lighteffects were boring and hardly any frontlights were used. For about half an hour the show was supported with white and yellowish lights with a few taints of red. When the show was almost over it was as if the light-engineer was suddenly aware of other buttons to present some other colours.

Rating
Music 5
Performance 6
Sound 6
Light 4
Total 5 (5,3)






Aesthetic Perfection

Aesthetic Perfection is a dark electro/EBM band from Los Angeles, America. In the beginning of 2000 this band was founded by Daniel Long. Now this band actually consists of one man, Danny Graves, but for the live shows he is supported by a keyboard-player. They're influenced by bands like Skinny Puppy and Gridlock. http://www.aesthetic-perfection.net/ / http://www.myspace.com/closetohuman

Music
Also with this band there were only two people on stage. The singer, Daniel Craig and a female keyboard player. This day I heard this band for the first time and it immediately reminded me of Hocico and Suicide Commando. Electronic music combined with distorted screams, sometimes with an echoing sound in the end. Danny was screaming his lungs out of his body and at times using his small mixingpanel. The keyboard player took care of the pounding sound. Most of the tracks they played were from their latest album "Close To Human". Some people had left the hall during their concert, but there were more people dancing this time. At least the music was more varied than the previous band, but still not convincing enough.



Performance
Danny entered the stage with black paint across his eyes. Although the stage was too large for only two bandmembers and the limited amount of equipment Danny needed the whole stage. They had been given about 30 minutes to play and during that time he was constantly walking to and fro. Well, at least it's good for one's health to move in a moderate intesive way for about half an hour a day according to the WHO. The keyboardist had long pink dreadlocks and was moving along on the rhythm of the music. A lot of white and red lights were used, sometimes accompanied with stroboscope effects which kind of fit with the style of this music.

Rating
Music 6
Performance 6
Sound 6
Light 5
Total 6 (5,8)






Cephalgy

Cephalgy is a German dark electro band. The band is named after a form of headache. Fortunately I had some pills against headache with me, just in case. Their debut album "Engel Sterben Nie" appeared in 2004 and became popular in the clubscene. In 2004 they supported the band BlutEngel during their clubtour and in 2005 they played on the Out Of Line Festval Tour and on M'Era Luna. Cephalgy has three bandmembers: Jörg (vocals), Stella (synths) and Ronny (synths, programming). http://www.cephalgy.com/

Music
Cephalgy don't have an extensive discography yet, but they were about to release their new album “Finde Deinen Dämon” and now they presented some tracks from it.Their music didn't really cause a headache, but was rather quite boring with lack of variation. For this reason and also because it was dinnertime many people decided not to keep standing here and went away to get something to eat. During this show Stella was not on stage. There was another keyboardist standing in her place. The singer had a low, plain voice which sounded somewhat insecure, and he didn’t seem to do his best to sound more convincing. It could be he was tired from his trip from Germany.



Performance
The singer was dressed in black and had dark sunglasses which were hiding his eyes. The keyboardists had a blue tl-light placed in front of their keyboard and mixingpanel and looked cool in their white shirts with tie and had dark sunglasses with ledlights which seemed to shoot laserbeams out of their eyes. Most of the time Ronny was moving a lot with his head and body behind his mixingpanel. It seemed that he was the only one who was enjoying himself on stage. The singer and the keyboardist were somewhat more modest. The extensive use of backlights and stroboscope-effects and absence of frontlights actually did make the head ache so in this way Cephalgy had their name chosen rightly.

Rating
Music 5
Performance 6
Sound 6
Light 4
Total 5 (5,3)






V2A

V2A was formed in December 2001 in the United Kingdom and makes hard EBM and noise. In August 2002 they released their debut-CD “EBM” and on some gothic collection CD’s contain V2A tracks. Their second album “EBM v2.0” will be released this year. The band consists of 3 members: Kevin “Drone” Stewart (vocals, synths, programming), Ines Lehmann (vocals, samples, synths) and Matthew “Trilobyte” Hawkes (live percussion, noise).  http://www.v2a.co.uk/ / http://www.myspace.com/v2a

Music
The keyword was noise when hearing this band play. In my opinion it had some comparison with Suicide Commando. They have about the same brutal musical style. The songs have a hard, pounding beat and the lyrics are repetitive, brainwashing but simple. For example the song “Breed Killer” nearly only has the words “you make me sick”. The band also played a hardstyle cover from Visage, “Fade To Grey”. The two vocalists regularly changed their positions. When Kevin was singing Ines stood behind the keys and when Ines sang it was the other way round. Actually it was more like screaming than singing and because of the bad sound, too loud and too echoing, it was a torture for the ears.



Performance
The bandmembers made an arrogant impression on stage. This was no doubt part of their image as performers. Ines and Kevin were using the total front part of the stage. They were walking from the left to the right side over and over again and only stood still for a while if they were about to spit some hard and angry lyrics over the audience. The drummer was totally freaking out behind his digital drumkit and even screwed off a cymbal, still wired to the drumkit, which he took with him to the front of the stage and started beating it ferociously so he had his one minute of fame as well. During a song the two singers were waving with searchlights in their hands to try to make their performance more impressive, but in my opinion it was an unneccesary addition to their show. When they left the stage at least some people in the audience needed to recover and relax a little afterwards.

Rating
Music 5
Performance 6
Sound 4
Light 4
Total 5 (5,0)






Agonoize

Agonoize is a dark electro/EBM band which has its roots in Berlin, Germany. In 2002 this band was founded by Mike Johnson and Olli Senger. In the same year their band was reinforced by the singer Chris L. to be able to create a great live performance. In June 2006 they released their EP “Ultraviolent Six”. Hours before their concert would start here warning letters about this performance were hung up through the venue. They said that the band would not be responsible to any damage to clothing because there would be some bloodflowing. They also warned that people suffering from heart disease or epilepsy rather not watch this show to avoid acute health problems. Well this really aroused the curiosity of the audience; just before they started the hall was packed with people.  http://www.agonoize.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/agonoize

Music
When the curtains opened the audience was treated with hard pounding beats and distorted screams. The keyboardist produced some backing vocal screams. Agonoize, a rightly chosen name for this style of music, representing agony and noise. This band had some resemblance with Dulce Liquido. Hard EBM with an aggressive vocal style with provoking elements. Agonoize played an energetic set containing some songs from their new EP, like “Koprolalie” and “BängBäng Goodbye” and some earlier work.



Performance
So little to say about the music, so much there’s to say about their performance. Their main purpose was for sure to provoke the audience with a horror-show. When the curtains opened up the bandmembers hit the stage covered in mist and a blood red light and during the whole show the stage was covered with smoke. The bandmembers had red wipes, like blood, and black marks on their faces. During a song the singer was banging with his fist against his cheek and spat blood. Not real blood of course; he had bit on a blood capsule, which is also fun to use at Halloween parties. At another moment he took a knife and started to cut his wrist and the blood was spraying as if an artery was totally cut through. There were some people stepping back, but others didn’t care and had just taken off their clothes to receive an amount of that red fluid. When approaching the end of the show things were going a little to far to my opinion. The singer started touching and rubbing his own penis, took his little man out of his pants and started to spray “sperm” into the audience. It wouldn’t be fair to rate this show a bád performance, because this whole takes some preparation and many people sincerely were impressed afterwards. To me personally it was just a sickening performance. But I’m sure the band will see this as a succesful show when they are able to leave the audience aghast with pale faces and a sick feeling in their stomachs.

Rating
Music 6
Performance 7
Sound 6
Light 5
Total 6 (6,2)






In Strict Confidence

In 1989/1990 two young men decided to create their own music. Under the name "Seal Of Secrecy" Jörg Schelte, Dennis Ostermann and Stefan Vesper started to experiment a lot and in 1992 they changed their name into In Strict Confidence and brought out their first self-released cassette. In 1994 they brought out the double cassette Hell Inside/Hell Outside which became a wanted collector's item. Until now they have an impressive list of CD's and EP's. The 2001 album "Love Kills" reached number 1 in the German Alternative Charts. The most recent album, "Exile Paradise" that came out last year has reached high chartpositions in the alternative charts in several countries in Europe. The bandmembers are Dennis Ostermann (vocals), Jörg Schelte (keys, programming), Stefan Vesper (percussion, programming) and Antje Schulz (vocals). http://www.instrictconfidence.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/instrictconfidence

Music
In Strict Confidence consists of four bandmembers, named above, but their live performance was now reinforced by a guitarist. Electro, mixed with live drums and an electric guitar gave the band that typical industrial sound.The first song was "Promised Land", the first single from their most recent album "Exile Paradise", sung by Dennis and Antje. This is a typical song which could reach high chartpositions when played at the bigger radiostations because of its catchy trancehouse-like melody. Dennis had a distinctive raw voice, which formed an attractive symbiosis with Antje's vocals, although her voice sounded somewhat thin and not so steady. She participated on about half of the setlist. In Strict Comfidence played a varied set of songs with English and German lyrics. Catchy songs like Zauberschloss and Engelsstaub were played. The sound wasn't very well, for it was way too loud and Antje's microphone had also been adjusted too loud, which made her doubtful singing qualities only more audible. At the end of the show the audience wanted more, but had to be disappointed. Probably because the band had started off too late.



Performance
Due to several problems the band entered the stage later than planned. When the intro started a videoprojection with fake flames was to be seen on the background. When the song "Promised Land" started the audience got to see the whole videoclip, played synchronically. In the beginning the video images seemed to draw away the attention from the band itself, but later on the images got a more modest character. Dennis was clearly the frontman. Sometimes he seemed to be somewhere else with his mind, staring in the distance, but most of the time he was in his element, bringing his performance with emotion. The other bandmembers remained more on the background, behind their instrument or microphonestandard. The lightshow was quite varied and some smoke was used, which was blown above the bandmembers, so they remained clearly visible.

Rating
Music 7
Performance 8
Sound 4
Light 8
Total 7 (7.0)






The Crüxshadows

This band was the main act on this festival and most people especially came to see The Crüxshadows. Unfortunately many people weren't able to see this show because they had to catch the last train back home. The band needed a lot of time to prepare and also due to the previous band's delay The Crüxshadows started about an hour too late. The Crüxshadows are one of the most popular darkwave bands in the world. They have an impressive history which goes back to the early 1990's in a little town in North Florida. With over 11 CD's and a DVD with tracks that have reached high chartpositions they have left an indelible mark in the gothic scene. Their new album "DreamCypher" is scheduled to be released in January 2007 and the first single of that album, "Sophia", has already been released in September 2006. It has even reached the number 1 position in the US Billboard Dance Chart, leaving big stars like Beyonce and Madonna behind! The bandmembers are Rogue (vocals, violin, programming, sequences), Rachel McDonnell (violin, keyboards), George Bikos (guitars), Pyromantic (live keyboards and synths, backing vocals), Jessica Lackey (lead dancer, backing vocals), Sarah Poulos (dancer, backing vocals). http://www.cruxshadows.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/officialcruxshadows

Music
When their show blasted off with their new single "Sophia", Rogue was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly he jumped on stage and it appeared that he had walked towards it from the back, just through the audience. For the ones who hadn't seen The Crüxhadows before this was a marvellous surprise. After this song Rogue brought the audience the good news about the success of this single and joked that all the Madonna- and Beyonce fans would not buy Crüxshadows CD's but that there were enough Crüxshadows fans who'd buy this single to let it become Number 1 in the charts. Their setlist contained some new tracks, but also a large variety of popular Crüxshadows historical heights, like "Winterborn", "Deception" and "Tears". Now Rogue is in my opinion not one of the best singers and not everybody loves his nasal sound, but he sounded pure enough. He was wearing a microphone headset to be able to move freely and was able to keep his voice steady. The female dancers were also wearing headsets. The violin player is of great value to the band, which gives them their distinctive sound. The audience was even treated with a violin solo and that was received with cheers and an ovational applause. The band came back with one encore, their popular song "Marilyn... My Bitterness". Now it really looked like a party because the first rows of people in the audience were drawn on stage to dance along.



Performance
Their whole performance could be described as energetic and entertaining, but also intimate. As said before Rogue made a remarkable entrance on stage and had some more surprises in store. A ladder was placed in the front part of the audience and Rogue climbed upon it so he had an excellent view upon his fans, all close around him. He made his fans to participate in their show actively by doing those things. Several times he just jumped into the audience to dance with his fans. That was really some kind of interaction! It's clear that their fans are very important to them and that showed during their live-performance. The female dancers had practised their choreography  well. At times they were dancing with pink and black ribbons in their hands. Another eyecatcher was the violin player, who did her parts well with her electrical violin, moving on the rhythm of the music with a cool look on her face. And really, all the musicians on stage were just having a good time. Everything was taken care of. Even the lightshow was excellent. It was very atmospherical in combination with the smoke and Rogue had a led-light on each sleeve, so he never totally stood in the dark. With justice this band was chosen as the main act on this festival today, levelling high above all those bands that played before, literally and figuratively.

Rating
Music 8
Performance 10
Sound 8
Light 9
Total 9 (8,9)







More photos on page 2

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