Warndtschacht, Großrosseln, Germany
28th April – 01st May 2006
Mystic Festival 2006 Day 3: Eternal Nightmare, Midnattsol, Faun, Regicide, End of Green, EISHEILIG, Theatre of Tragedy
The Saturday night was very, very cold (about 2 degrees and less) and we really cared about the camping people. It was very cloudy when we were entering the area for the first band.
Eternal Nightmare
The local band was founded in 2004 by singer Nils. They released some demo-CDs and the album “Club g(r)othesque” on their own. This year they should play the support for KiEw. http://www.eternal-nightmare.com/
Music
They are playing an electro-industrial-mix with guitars. Especially the very young bass-player Mr. Strange convinced us. They had some good melodies.
Performance
Maybe the singer Nils was to nervous before the concert. However, he was already drunk and so he amused the audience with some very funny and strange statements. We can’t judge his voice because we don’t get to know him sober.
Rating
Music 5
Performance 3
Light – (daylight)
Sound 5
Total 4 (4.3)
Midnattsol
Honestly we have to say that we didn’t know anything about this band yet. The only thing we had read in some magazines was the relationship of the singer Carmen Espanaes with Liv Kristine (Leaves´ Eyes, former: Theatre of Tragedy). We even thought the band comes from Norway, although they are actually a German band. Only Carmen is Norwegian, but lives now in Germany. They released their debut-album “Where twilight dwells” in January 2005. http://www.midnattsol.com/
Music
There are so many Metal-bands with female voice right now. Midnattsol isn’t a special one in this genre but they were playing good songs and they knew how to rock. Their lyrics are telling stories from the north. The band calls their style Nordic-Folk-Metal and this fits to their music.
Performance
Carmen apologized for her voice because of a cold. Besides her the most impressive member was the bass-player Birgit Öllbrunner. We haven’t seen a woman banging her head in such a way since Simone Simons of Epica - it was a pleasure to look at her. Together with Carmen and the guitarists Christian Hector and Daniel Droste she was rocking on stage.
Rating
Music 6
Performance 8
Light – (daylight)
Sound 7
Total 7 (6.9)
Faun
This German medieval ensemble uses many unusual and old instruments. Together with their traditional stories and fairy-tales they always took the audience into ancient times. http://www.faune.de/
Music
They were the only medieval band on this Sunday, which is a special one. The night between the 30th of April and the 1st of May is also the Walpurgis Night. With their stories of fairies and sirens they matched with this day.
Performance
Unfortunately they were doing the same show we already saw at the Dark Dance Treffen some weeks ago. So in our opinion this was a little bit too much routine. The sun came out for some minutes during the concert and this made the audience feel better immediately.
Rating
Music 6
Performance 5
Light 5
Sound 7
Total 6 (5.7)
Regicide
We were really looking forward to see this band. We saw them first in 2004. Since then they released their second album “Break the silence”. http://www.regici.de/
Music
As always they were doing a good show with modern, rocking and powerful songs. There were some fans in the audience and not only they were singing and jumping for the band. The metal-grounded songs were celebrated, especially “viorus” and the last single “breaking the silence”.
Performance
Frauke (female singer) was really cold during the concert. So, she just wore a tiny shirt. This had no effects to her voice. As usual it was a pleasure to see and hear this band. Malte (bass) and Jan (guitar) started a little battle against the new violinist Nicola. Timo showed once more his huge talent as a singer.
Rating
Music 8
Performance 8
Light 6
Sound 6
Total 7 (7.4)
This band from southern Germany is compared often with the big Finnish ones. This must not be a bad comparison. The last album “Dead End Dreaming” was released in 2005. They will be playing on some great festivals this summer too. http://www.endofgreen.de/
Music
As we had expected they played good gothic-rock with metal influences. We saw them the first time live on stage and we were impressed. Above all the melodies kept in our mind.
Performance
Yes, they reminded us of some greater bands. The singer Michelle Darkness has a good voice, but he doesn’t sing as deep as we had expected from the announcement. Unfortunately the rain began again and so many people were searching for a dry place in the back of the area.
Rating
Music 7
Performance 6
Light 7
Sound 6
Total 7 (6.6)
EISHEILIG
The Germans played the Mystic Festival although their new album was just released on 26th May. This is their third release. There were always religious elements in their lyrics and the new album is build around the Greek mythologies. http://www.eisheilig.de/
Music
Their music is hard to describe, something between metal and alternative rock with melodic orchestral-parts. There is a little bit Rammstein in it.
Performance
The striking voice of singer Dennis is an important part of their music. The melodies are built around his possibilities. The bass-player Niklas Peternek has an impressive stature. Because their new album wasn’t released at the time of the festival the audience could not know the new songs, but they liked them. The bad weather was fitting perfectly to the setting and the misty stage-show.
Rating
Music 6
Performance 7
Light 6
Sound 6
Total 6 (6.3)
Theatre of Tragedy
The Norwegian band is called the inventor of gothic metal using the contrast between a deep male and a female soprano voice. After the unusual separation from their former singer Liv Kristine in 2003 they were searching for a new vocalist. In June 2004 Nell Sigland took part in the band. They released the new album “Storm” in 2006. Actually they are on tour around Europe. http://www.theatreoftragedy.com/
Music
In the early times they were playing gothic-metal. Over the years they create a new kind of electronic rock-music. With the new singer and the new album they got back to the metal roots. They just lost the deepest metal grunts of singer Raymond. They also played the old songs.
Performance
Nell gave her own note to the old songs. She has a clear voice, which is not as high as Liv´s voice was. Only Raymond had some problems with his voice. He could hardly keep any melody. The new songs were straight rocking again. Nell had a good stage presence and kept the eyes of the audience on her. At the middle of the concert the rain was getting heavier and so we left the festival earlier.
Rating
Music 6
Performance 6
Light 6
Sound 7
Total 6 (6.3)
Summary
Unfortunately the weather was really terrible during the whole weekend. It’s been unbelievably cold and maybe because of that, there were only about 900 guests at the festival (all three days together). There were also some mistakes in the organisation, i.e. nearly hundred market stalls were announced, but only 15 stood there. The last festival day (1st May) was planned for a big medieval market, but there wasn’t anything on Monday. Although this obstacles it was a very fine, little festival with a mixed line-up and pleasant prices. We are sure the organizers learned from their mistakes and we hope there will be a festival next year again.{jos_sb_discuss:18}
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