Various Locations, Hameln, Germany14th & 15th October 2016
Autumn Moon Festival 2016 Day 1 with Xandria, The Invincible Spirit, Christian von Aster, Visions of Atlantis, Florian Grey, Eisfabrik, Tüsn, Ost+Front, Noyce TM, Das Ich, Fire Show Chudadlo, Moonspell and Day 2 with Torul, Legend, End of Green, Lacrimas Profundere, She Past Away, Halloween Mystic Market, L’Âme Immortelle, Essence of Mind, Christian Death and Zombie Boy
Hameln, a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, is not only best known for the tale of the “Rat-Catcher of Hamelin”, but also for being the home of the extraordinary AUTUMN MOON Festival, an atmospheric festival with a club show feel taking place in the month of the pumpkin. This year, on October 14 and 15, the festival was heading into the second round and presented over 40 bands at four venues (all nearby). In addition to amazing music, the AUTUMN MOON also celebrated inspiring art and interesting readings and shows, offered insightful workshops, and invited you to take a stroll through the Mystic Halloween Market.
Friday, 14th October 2016
Also the second edition of Autumn Moon Festival was a great success. The visitors were pleased and the spirit was joyous. The special atmosphere of the festival was praised once more.
Impressions
Bands
Saturday, 15th October 2016
Full Moon! Autumn Moon! We are ready for the second festival day, offering a great variety of bands to check out. We also used the day for a stroll over the Mystic Halloween Market. Here we go!
Torul - Sumpfblume
The three Slovenians of TORUL opened the stage of the Sumpfblume on the second festival day. The club was well filled with people expecting a fine set of soulful electronic music. They kicked off with ‘The Prize’ and ‘To Be Wanting You’ from their actual long player ‘Reset’ just released a few weeks ago. A soft voice underlined by trancy sounds with beeps and cheeps on a floor of wafting beats filled the air. In the middle of the set almost everyone was dancing… daytime clubbing in the dark. It is never easy to fill someone's place, but the new singer Maj solved this challenge and convinced the fans. "Today is a great day!" he cheered and presented more new stuff like the single ‘Saviour Of Love’ and ‘An Answer’. All in all, the gig was mainly a promotion of the new album ("You can buy it, where ever the merch is!") and some all-time favourites were missed. Nevertheless the crowd was in good mood and gave a warm appreciation to the artist's work.
http://www.torul-recordings.net / https://www.facebook.com/torul // Setlist: 01. The Prize / 02. To Be Wanting You / 03. Lonely Night / 04. Saviour Of Love / 05. Difficult To Kill / 06. An Answer / 07. Glowing Again / 08. Monday / 09. Waterproof Theme // Rating: 7 / 10
Legend - Sumpfblume
The fulminant LEGEND from Iceland were next to enter the stage of the Sumpfblume. They directly blew the audience away with the intense song ‘Virgin’, a thrilling mixture of catchy melody and hard, harsh beats and synths, escalating to the max. The band of Krummi Björgvinsson (vocals) and Halldór A Björnsson (keys) and their live members Frosti Jón Runólfsson (drums) and Bjarni Sigurdarsson (guitar) immediately made clear where our journey was meant to go this afternoon. They describe themselves as influenced by darkness, beauty, fire and ice. A humbled description of what leads to an overwhelming, passionate and inspirational piece of electronic music. After their debut album ‘Fearless’, their fans were excited to listen to the title track of their upcoming album ‘Midnight Champion’ which will be released in 2017. After the well-known and very intense ‘Sister’, another new one filled the air, ‘Captive’, the next live hit of this impressing band. Almost everyone in the venue was dancing now and Krummi peeled off his clothes presenting his tattooed body. He is so in his music that everyone attending a show is caught by both: the music and the singer's charisma.
After ‘Violence’ and ‘City’, another new one was presented, ‘Children’. So many appetizers for 2017! Time to say goodbye with ‘Runaway Train’… Unfortunately they ran out of time and could not play ‘Benjamite Bloodline’ to escalate to the maximum. But luckily some shows for 2017 are already announced. Get the chance to see them live. It is just stunning! // https://www.facebook.com/Legendband // Setlist: 01. Virgin / 02. Midnight Champion / 03. Sister / 04. Captive / 05. Violence / 06. City / 07. Children / 08. Runaway Train // Rating: 9 / 10
End of Green - Rattenfängerhalle
It was time for a tasty hour of Melancholic Rock. END OF GREEN presented their eighth album with ‘The Painstream’. The Rattenfängerhalle was well filled mostly with long haired Metal heads. The stage was illuminated in green most of the time as a counterpoint to the band's name. The quintet from Southern Germany formed by Michelle Darkness, Kerker, Rainier Sicone Di Hampez, Lusiffer and Sad Sir presented their interpretation of Rock'n'Roll: down-to-earth, dramatic and loud! The front man embraced the people with his dark and deep touching voice. Songs like ‘Killhoney’, ‘Cure My Pain’, ‘Tie Me A Rope’ and ‘Death in Veins’ characterized the set. Their audience was deeply touched by the music and overwhelmed by the driving beats and guitar riffs. // http://www.endofgreen.de / https://www.facebook.com/endofgreenofficial // Setlist: 01. Evergreen / 02. Demons / 03. Hurter / 04. Under The Sway / 05. Pain Hates Me / 06. Killhoney / 07. Cure My Pain / 08. Don't Stop Killing Me / 09. Sickone / 10. Goodnight / 11. Tie Me A Rope / 12. Death In Veins / 13. Death Ot The Weakender // Rating: 7 / 10
Lacrimas Profundere - Rattenfängerhalle
Friends of loud guitars, driving beats and melancholic melodies could stay at the Rattenfängerhalle to attend another great Gothic Rock Metal act from the "southest South of Germany". Rob Vitacca, Oliver Nikolas Schmid, Tony Berger, Christoph Schepperle and Clemens Schepperle aka LACRIMAS PROFUNDERE thrilled their crowd, both die-hard fans and newbies. The band presented their actual long player ‘Hope Is Here’, their first concept album, but did not miss all-time favourites like ‘Antiadore’, ‘The Worship Of Counting Down’, ‘Amber Girl’ or ‘My Halo Ground’. Their show was a catchy and solid performance with lots of cheering and dancing in the crowd. If you want to see them live take the chance in early 2017 when they will be touring Germany and Switzerland. // www.lacrimas.com / https://www.facebook.com/lacrimasprofundereofficial // Rating: 9 / 10
She Past Away - Sumpfblume
The Turkish duo SHE PAST AWAY is highly vowed as the New Dark Wave worldwide. The Sumpfblume was packed with people so the venue had to be bared temporarily. SPA bring back the Gothic era of the 80ies with today’s approach. The Turkish lyrics make their songs unique and even gloomier. People cheered at the black eyed men and appreciated their work a lot. Their look and stage appearance is from the "good old times": make up with black eyes and lips, teased hair, black shirts with glitters. Computer graphics and sinus lines were projected at the back of the stage which topped off the whole setting with this retro charm. // https://www.facebook.com/shepastaway // Setlist: 01. İçe Kapanış II (Intro) / 02. Belirdi Gece – Musallat / 03. Sanrı / 04. Soluk / 05. KatarsisNarin / 06. Yalnızlık / 07. Ritüe / 08. Asimilasyo / 09. Ruh / 10. Kasvetli Kutlama / 11. Monoton / 12. İnsanlar // Rating: 8 / 10
Halloween Mystic Market
By changing the venues, the festival attendees could wander around the huge area of the Mystic Halloween Market. A place where "normal" audience had also free entrance: citizens and families of Hameln mixed up with the dark souls. They had a lot to discover there: A perfect place for spending time to look around, shop Medieval and Goth stuff and crafts and enjoy eating and drinking while spontaneous performances by musicians and artists took place. By dawning it got mystical and charmed when the stands and exhibits like skeletons and pumpkins were enlightened all over the area. We made a quick visit at the market stage where HEIDENLAERM proofed that they were able to make noise but unable to sing, as frontman Jens proclaimed with a wink. It is full moon, let's freak out!
L’Âme Immortelle - Rattenfängerhalle
With the mega hit ‘Life Will Never Be The Same’ and the dance guarantee ‘Phönix’, Sonja Kraushofer and Thomas Rainer, scene heroes for more than 15 years now, opened their set. The stage scenery of the Rattenfängerhalle perfectly matched the atmosphere of the songs and setting of the L'ÂME IMMORTELLE’s show: Gloomy, enchanted and dark romantic. The Austrian cult Darkwave duo convinced their audience and delighted the people with melodies for eternity. Of course they presented their hits ‘Bitterkeit’ and ‘Judgement’. Sonja impressed with a very dramatic interpretation of the songs by acting and dancing - tender and precious at ‘Fallen Angel’, powerful and desperately at ‘Es tut mir leid’. While Rainer performed ‘Reborn’ by jumping and spinning around on stage, Sonja changed her wardrobe from a grey scrap of cloth to a black-red ball gown. Rainer concluded the set with the words: "We found a way to cheat the death… by our music." Famous last words leading to the final song ‘Requiem’! // http://www.lameimmortelle.com / https://www.facebook.com/LAI.official // Setlist: 01. Life will never be the same / 02. Phönix / 03. Stumme Schreie / 04. Bitterkeit / 05. Aus den Ruinen / 06. Fallen Angel / 07. Ich fang dich auf / 08. Judgement / 09. Love is lost / 10. Eye of the Storm / 11. Es tut mir leid / 12. 5 Jahre / 13. Requiem // Rating: 8 / 10
Essence of Mind - Ship
ESSENCE OF MIND were the next to play on the ship which was filled with an optimistic and curious crowd. The three Norwegians made their way through the audience to the carpet which was their stage for this set. They started with ‘Escape’, an exciting song with changing rhythms from calm to dubstep and varied singing with soft touching voice to shouting out loud. Immediately other famous (and beloved) bands from Norway come in one's mind: APOPTYGMA BERZERK and SEIGMEN, which are in fact heroes for singer, writer and head of the band Erlend H. Eilertsen and his companions Christian Paulsen on the strings and Hasse Mattsson on the keys. Front man Erlend jumped around and touched the ceiling, obviously a bit confused by this kind of stage. But he did his best to perform intensively and passionately. ESSENCE OF MIND is powerful, melodic and electronic with a touch of Industrial. They played older stuff as well as live premieres and chatted a bit with their audience between the songs. The crowd was very sympathetic and appreciated the performance a lot by cheering and dancing. // http://www.essence-of-mind.com / https://www.facebook.com/essenceofmind // Setlist: 01. Escape / 02. Hate / 03. Desperate Times / 04. Indifference / 05. The Great Unknown / 06. Burn / 07. The Other Side / 08. No Place To Hide / 09. Wrong / 10. After The Break Up / 11. Disturbing Situations // Rating: 8.5 / 10
Christian Death - Sumpfblume
The Gothic cult formation CHRISTIAN DEATH enchanted the Sumpfblume for the next hour with melodies from the crypt. The whole setting was pure cliché: skulls, roses, crucifixes and spider webs. The pictures and videos in the back were full of cruelness, death, bodies and war. CHRISTIAN DEATH can pick from an embarrassment of riches from over 30 years of creative work and presented songs like ‘In The Garden Of Evolution’, ‘Tales Of Innocence’, ‘This Cross’ and ‘This Is Heresy’. // http://www.christiandeath.com / https://www.facebook.com/christiandeath // Rating: 6 / 10
Zombie Boy - Rattenfängerhalle
This fantastic diversified festival was unfortunately concluded by a headliner that could not hold the promise. Well, to say something nice: the light show was formidable, the style was great and the photographers had something completely different to shoot. The pictures are really impressing. The rest was not. So many people left the venue shocked and disappointed. // http://www.zombieboy.com / https://www.facebook.com/RicoTheZombie // Rating: 2 / 10
Conclusion
The Autumn Moon Festival rounds the festival year 2016 with daring to be different - a fantastic mix of outdoor and indoor areas, a high variation in live acts, music, readings, films and show acts - mid-sized, familiar but spectacular at the same time. A festival created and realised with deep passion by highly motivated organizers and crew.
All Pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)
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