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mono7X, Herford, Germany
29th April 2012
Dark End Festival: Mono Inc., Lord of the Lost, Unzucht, Dark Idols

MONO INC invited several befriended bands to share the stages with them during a festival series. The festival in Herford was the first one of that series taking place at the end of the year in various German cities. For the Herford show, LORD OF THE LOST, UNZUCHT and DARK IDOLS were confirmed and fans from all over Germany followed the call to be part of this first Dark End Festival.


Dark Idols

Gothic-Rock newcomer band DARK IDOLS was already founded 5 years ago and is currently working on the release of a debut album, ‘One Heart Misery’. Founded by brothers Peter and Georg Matlok from Lennestadt, the band starts now anew with a new line-up. http://www.dark-idols.de / https://www.facebook.com/darkidols / www.myspace.com/darkidols

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Music & Performance
DARK IDOLS were starting sharp at 7:00 for a 30 minutes set. Promising melodic dark rock and catchy ballads, I was quite curious what the evening’s opener had to offer. Sadly, it soon was sure that the band was lacking stage experience, some misplayed notes and changes in tempo included. Furthermore, the songs were very equal to each other, several of them reminded on HIM or MONO INC. There definitely need to be improvement if DARK IDOLS want to stick out from the masses of other Dark Rock bands.

Setlist
01. Burned Alive
02. Everyone Feels the Same
03. Thousand Tears
04. This is my Home
05. A Sexual Hive
06. My Home is your Heart
07. One Heart Misery

Rating
Music: 5
Performance: 5
Sound: 5
Light: 6
Total: 5.2 / 10

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Unzucht

German band UNZUCHT first struck attention as the winners of the M’era Luna Newcomer Contest 2010 and had the honour to open the festival in Hildesheim. Ever since they’ve received a lot of media attention and currently released their first official EP ‘Deine Zeit läuft ab’. Furthermore, they were touring already with bands such as MONO INC., LORD OF THE LOST, COPPELIUS or STAHLMANN. A complete debut album is planned for autumn 2012. The band consists of Daniel Schulz “Der Schulz” (vocals), Daniel Meseke “De Clercq” (guitar, electronics, vocals), Alex Blaschke (bass, electronics) and Toby Fuhrmann (drums). http://www.unzucht-music.com / https://www.facebook.com/Unzucht / www.myspace.com/unzuchtmusic

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Music & Performance
The performance level was now going to raise up with the next band, UNZUCHT. Already in the very short rebuilding break, lasting only 10 minutes, the band was welcomed with loud cheers. Collecting already some live performance, the band presented in a professional and experienced way. Seven songs, 35 minutes and the great voice of singer Der Schulz, that’s mostly it. The band convinced with a fusion of Goth rock and more prominently metal elements and occasionally the clean, melodic parts of Der Schulz alternated with alienated, commanding growls of De Clercq. Having their own fans being present at the festival, the rest of the audience was infected pretty soon and clapped along loudly, demanding an encore when the band left after ‘Engel der Vernichtung’ already.

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Setlist
01. Allein
02. Meine Liebe
03. Todsünde 8
04. Der letzte Tanz
05. Deine Zeit läuft ab
06. Unzucht
07. Engel der Vernichtung

Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 8
Sound: 6
Light: 6
Total: 7 / 10

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Lord of the Lost

Before starting his own band with LORD OF THE LOST in 2008, initiator Chris Harms has been involved in various musical activities already. He started as vocalist for PHILLIAE, played live guitar for BIG BOY and worked with THE PLEASURES as well. Nearly instantly after its inception, LORD OF THE LOST locked themselves up in the studio, spending most of 2008 working on their debut album. The album’s called ‘Fears’ and has been released in February 2010, followed by the sophomore ‘Antagony’ in April 2011 via Out of Line. The new release ‘Beside & Beyond’ was out mid February. LORD OF THE LOST is Chris Harms (vocals, guitar, cello), Bo Six (guitar), Class Grenayde (bass), Gared Dirge (piano, synthesizer, percussion, guitar) and Disco (drums). http://www.lordofthelost.de / https://www.facebook.com/lordofthelost / http://www.myspace.com/lordofthelost

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Music & Performance
LORD OF THE LOST are currently touring a lot, lately they were supporting STAHLMANN and EISBRECHER. The band had no problem keeping the mood in the hall on a high level. Welcomed by loud cheers and lots of (mainly female) admirers, the band started with ‘Live Today Die Tomorrow’ and ‘Black Lolita’, one of the fans’ favourites. The following setlist was mainly the same the band had presented during the EISBRECHER support tour. But after the already well-known cover of LADY GAGA’s ‘Bad Romance’, LORD OF THE LOST had a little surprise: a dark any moody cover of Amy McDonald’s ‘This is the life’ that really impressed! Following ‘Sex on Legs’ once more showed the live entertaining qualities especially of Chris Harms, who at the end of the set even entered the pit, stood on the fence and surfed the crowd while presenting ‘Dry the Rain’. Really great live qualities that band has, even though the songs are often not differing too much from each other.

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Setlist
01. Live Today Die Tomorrow / Black Lolita
02. Do you Wanna Die Without a Scar
03. Your Victories
04. Prison
05. Bad Romance (Lady Gaga) / This is the life (Amy McDonald)
06. Sex on Legs
07. See You Soon
08. Break Your Heart / Prologue
09. Dry the Rain

Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 9
Sound: 7
Light: 7
Total: 7.5 / 10

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Mono Inc.

MONO INC. formed as MONO69 in 1998, beginning of 2003, Manuel Antoni fills in the vacant position as bassist and hence completes the line-up. The self-released debut ‘Head under Water’ followed then in autumn 2003. The year 2006 brought one of the worst surprises a band is able to encounter. The departure of their former singer, however a proper replacement was to be found quickly with drummer and songwriter Martin Engler. Katha Mia would take over drum duties for him from there on. As it turns out, the idea to put Martin to the front wasn’t a bad one at all; ever since the band has grown more popular than ever expected. 2007 sees the release of the next record ‘Temple of the Torn’ to be followed only one year later, exactly in June 2008, with the third album ‘Pain, Love & Poetry’. The band’s newest album is named ‘Viva Hades’ and was released in March 2011. MONO INC. is Martin Engler (vocals), Manuel Antoni (bass, vocals), Katha Mia (drums) and Carl Fornia (guitar, vocals). http://www.mono-inc.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/monoincmusic / https://www.facebook.com/monoinc

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Music & Performance
Finally, it was time for the band inviting to that evening. There was no holding back when the band finally entered the stage, presenting lots of rocking tunes at the beginning, starting right away with ‘Forgiven’, when Engler was running onto the catwalk like usually known from Der Graf of UNHEILIG (did the support tour have some effect on Engler’s stage presence?), and ‘My Sick Mind TV’. Once more, the band themselves in top shape and once again showcased their talent to control the crowd making people scream and clap along. A song out off the recent album has become already a fan favourite and was celebrated as the anthem it is, the name of this anthem: ‘Viva Hades’! ‘C’est la Vie’ ended somehow the first part of the show, leading over to the obligatory small acoustic party, where Martin just sat alone on a chair on stage, playing his acoustic guitar and presenting one or another cover version. As usually, the acoustic bloc contained the IGGY POP cover ‘The Passenger’ where people loudly sang along. Furthermore, Katha Mia was as usually filming a little episode for Mono Inc. TV being presented on the band’s YouTube channel later.

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Following the acoustic part were some more powerful songs, including the catchy 'This is The Day' and of course one of the band’s biggest hits, ‘Temple of the Torn’. Following this one was, as so often, Katha Mia’s solo drum performance, first starting on two e-drums mounted column-like on big stands, changing to a smaller tom placed on the catwalk and finally ending it on her drum set and a lot of “Hey” yells by the audience. Much too soon, the concert was ending with catchy ‘Revenge’ and ‘Voices of Doom’. Based on the applause, an encore was obligatory. The band came back for two more songs, 'Symphony Of Pain' and 'The Best Of You'. Once more, MONO INC. rocked the house. In autumn, the band will be back for a tour and later on at the end of the year for some more Dark End Festival dates presenting besides MONO INC. also MEGAHERZ, ROTERFELD and UNZUCHT.

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Setlist
01. Forgiven
02. My Sick Mind TV
03. Comedown
04. Gothic Queen
05. Viva Hades
06. Tired of the Day
07. C’est la Vie
08. Acoustic (incl. ‘The Passenger’ by Iggy Pop)
09. Sleeping My Day Away
10. Just Because I Love You
11. This is the Day
12. Temple of the Torn
13. Drum-Solo
14. Revenge
15. Voices of Doom
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16. Symphony of Pain
17. The Best of You

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 9
Sound: 7
Light: 8
Total: 8 / 10

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All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.black-cat-net.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/vorndranphotography / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)


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