Stadthalle, Chemnitz, Germany25th December 2007
Darkstorm: Down Below, Emilie Autumn, Suicidal Romance, Corvus Corax, Frozen Plasma, Das Ich, [:SITD:], Project Pitchfork, Suicide Commando, VNV Nation
The Dark Storm Festivals in Chemnitz and Berlin are some kind of tradition for Christmas. Like last year, we made it again to the festival in Chemnitz on 25th December, again with well-known bands of different fields of dark music. Lovers of Electro, Goth and even medieval music have been satisfied during the evening at the Stadthalle, where lots of people had gathered for this event - more than 3,000 to be exact. So, the venue was really packed and granted for a good mood during the evening.
Down Below (Main Stage)
DOWN BELOW was formed in 2003 and already their real debut album ‘Sinfony23’ got positive reception from fans and critics. Since then Neo-Scope (voice), Carter (guitars), Convex (bass) and Mr. Mahony (drums) have released two singles ‘Private Soul Security’ and ‘From the Highest Point’. On 14th February, they will take part in the “Bundesvision Song Contest” with their first ever German Song ‘Sand in meiner Hand’. Furthermore, the band will support UNHEILIG on their tour in spring. http://www.downbelow.de/ / www.myspace.com/thatsdb
Music & Performance
During the show on Darkstorm festival, the band presented several songs from their debut album, containing i.e. the title track ‘Sinfony23’ and both singles as well as ‘Sand in meiner Hand’. As we know it from past shows, all band members were dressed in black suits with blue highlights and played their Gothic Metal sound with a lot of enthusiasm and quite experienced already. Even though it is usually a hard job to open a festival, the band did really well enchanting the audience and received a lot of applause. They presented one of their “classic” gigs with dim, warm lights while the band was playing in the darkness for most of the time and Neo Scope standing face to face with his fans appealing them with his vocal, music and vampire-like eyes. Good start of the evening!
Setlist
01. Sinfony23
02. From The Highest Point
03. Private Soul Security
04. Down Below
05. Run away
06. On my Way
07. Sand in meiner Hand
08. Dark Queen
Rating
Music 7
Performance 7
Sound 7
Light 5
Total 6.7
Emilie Autumn (Main Stage)
Second band of the evening was shooting star EMILIE AUTUMN, a singer and violinist, currently living in Chicago and well-known for her theatrical performance style. The pink-haired princess of "Victoriandustrial" has already morphed her way from classically trained violin prodigy to extreme rock performer with the ability to shred on a fiddle à la Yngwie, and with a cult following to match. EMILIE quickly gained attention as a solo performer in her own right. The current album, ‘A Bit o' This & That’ was released in August 2007. This time, EMILIE AUTUMN was supported by only one of "Bloody Crumpets": Vecona. But, there were several other people on stage… http://www.emilieautumn.com/ / http://www.emilieautumn.de/ / www.myspace.com/emilieautumn
Music & Performance
Also for her appearance on Darkstorm festival, EMILIE presented several songs, mostly taken from the ‘Opheliac’ album, starting with the upcoming single ‘4 O’Clock’ and followed by ‘Opheliac’, the powerful ‘Liar’ and the playful ‘Thank God I’m pretty’. Afterwards, she proved her abilities as a violinist with a long and enthralling violin solo. Sadly, most of the music is coming from tape. But I guess there is no other chance for such a performance. As you might know, the show is based on the visual aspects. This time, her “crumpet” Vecona accompanied her on stage as usually dressed up in an imaginative baroque costume.
Besides that, ten girls from the audience have been chosen before the show to “play” with EMILIE on stage as well. And I must say all girls did very well. Not as opulent as on her headliner tour, the stage was anyway decorated trashy and fanciful with several utensils like dolls, a teddy bear, pillows, teapot, teacups and lots of other things. The show was again real eye candy with a nice colourful light show illuminating the play in a perfect way.
Rating
Music 6
Performance 9
Sound 7
Light 7
Total 7.2
Suicidal Romance (Second Floor)
The band based in Tallinn / Estonia was starting making electro gothic music 2004. The true birth of SUICIDAL ROMANC can be put to the year 2006. Current line up is Dmitry Ivanov (vocals, lyrics, programming), Viktoria Seimar (vocals) and Maarja Korstnik (live synth, visual concept). Suicidal Romance is signed to Infacted Recordings where they also released the debut album ‘Love Beyond Reach’ in June 2007 containing two remixes from BLUTENGEL and LOST AREA. http://www.suicidal-romance.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/suicidalromancemusic
Music & Performance
SUICIDAL ROMANCE were opening the second stage of Darkstorm festival. If you have to describe their music you could compare it with BLUTENGEL or the older music from L’ÂME IMMORTELLE. For my taste, it sounded a bit too much like BLUTENGEL during the show in Chemnitz. It was surely a good start, but in my opinion they need to find their own style very soon, even though they already seemed to have gathered some fans in front of the stage. Front woman Viktoria was the eye catcher of the show. With her strong vocals and performance she knew to impress the audience. Dmitry joined her on stage after the first song ‘Not alone’ and was responsible for the distorted vocals.
He didn't sound as strong as Viktoria though. He was moving a lot on stage but often enough he turned away from the audience, which gave a certain distance between the band and the fans. Maarja was mostly hidden behind her synth. The show was supported with a quite nice light show though.
Setlist
01. Intro
02. Not Alone
03. Will it be (for us)
04. Poisoned Kiss
05. Star
06. White Snow
07. Prince of the Darkness
Rating
Music 5
Performance 6
Sound 7
Light 7
Total 5.9
Corvus Corax (Main Stage)
They call themselves the “Kings of Minstrels” and describes their music as medieval music that sounds as the ROLLING STONES played it. Well, I am not that much into that kind of music to judge that description. They use anyway lots of percussion and tribal rhythms and present “authentic medieval music played on hand-made, historically accurate instruments, delivered with a ton of energy and plenty of attitude” with Latin lyrics. CORVUS CORAX are Wim (Venustus) - bagpipes, shawm, bucina, voc, Kalauer (Patrick) - davul, timpani, tam tam, voc, Teufel - bagpipes, shawm, busine, trummscheit, voc, Hatz - big frame drum, cymbals, cassa, voc, Ardor vom Venushuegel - bagpipes, shawm, busine, voc, Harmann der Drescher - big frame drum, bass drum, string drum, tam tam, voc, Castus Rabensang - bagpipes, shawn, bucina, sistrum, voc and Jordon Finus - bagpipes, shawm. http://www.corvuscorax.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/spielleute
Music & Performance
As said before, medieval music is not my cup of tea. But it was quite incredible to see the band playing such a variety of instruments. Five bagpipes played at ones have quite an overwhelming sound. And all band members really had fun on stage I must admit, playing their instruments with real passion. Some might say, CORVUS CORAX guys are the troubadours of today. Maybe they are. People in the audience were dancing around and celebrating with the band. You could think you were back in medieval times when looking at the stage… seeing all those ancient instruments and the band in medieval costumes which they make themselves. The only touch of modern times was the microphones and the lights which put the stage into a quite dark light anyway.
Rating
Music 7
Performance 6
Sound 7
Light 6
Total 6.6
Frozen Plasma (Second Floor)
I was looking forward seeing this band a lot since they totally convinced me with their powerful performance at Nocturnal Culture Night festival in September after I already had seen them at Amphi Festival the year before. Felix Marc (vocals) and Vasi (song writing, production, lyrics), the two musicians behind FROZEN PLASMA, are already well involved into other musical projects: Felix is member of DIORAMA where he plays keys and also started a solo project under his own name, while Vasi is known from his industrial project REAPER and his former band NAMNAMBULU that split up in summer 2005. Vasi and Felix met during the VNV NATION tour in 2005 when Vasi did live key for VNV NATION and Felix was supporting the band with DIORAMA. The idea of building up a new project - FROZEN PLASMA - was born. http://www.frozenplasma.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/frozenplasma
Music & Performance
Right from the start, Felix was a real curly whirly on stage never standing still and constantly animating the audience which happily followed. Even though he was moving so much, his voice never failed and so, he presented the songs in the warm and charismatic manner we like. Vasi provided the catchy and danceable electro pop tunes standing behind his keys and smiling into the crowd every now and then. Having already released the full-time album ‘Artificial’ as well as the EP ‘Emphasize’ and two MCDs - ‘Irony’ and ‘Hypocrite’ - the band had enough material to choose from for their festival appearance which was much too short for my taste.
The show was real fun, all were in good mood - band and audience - and there was a lot of dancing in the hall. Well, you really cannot stand still for songs like ‘Hypocrite’ or the up-beat pumping ‘Warmongers’ - always one of my favourites. The light show, even though we were on the small stage, was really nice with diversified lights and bright spots cutting through well dosed smoke.
Setlist
01. Lift the veil
02. Condense
03. Crossroads
04. Hypocrite
05. Home
06. Generations of the lost
07. Irony
08. Warmongers
Rating
Music 8
Performance 9
Sound 8
Light 8
Total 8.3
Das Ich (Main Stage)
Even though I already had seen this band twice this year I was looking forward the show because this band is always a special experience on stage. Officially, the band was founded by Kramm (music and backing vocals) and Stefan Ackermann (lyrics and vocals) in Bayreuth/Bavaria and belongs since early nineties to the most important bands of the Gothic scene in Germany. Hits like ‘Gottes Tod’ or ‘Destillat’ belong to any Gothic club not only in Germany and still the band has the status of an innovative and experimental electronic band. Third member on stage was as usually Kain. http://www.dasich.de/ / www.myspace.com/dasich
Music & Performance
They combine electronic, symphonic and early industrial elements to an explosive cocktail. The mixture of Electro, Classic and Avant-garde together with Stefan’s spit out lyrics seems unrestrained, sometimes even infamy and vulgar. The songs are controversial and shocking but always with a balanced sense for suspense between harmony and disharmony. Starting the set with ‘Schrei’ (Scream) they got the audience right away. People in the crowd were just screaming when Stefan asked for it. With songs like ‘Engel’, ‘Garten Eden’, ‘Kain und Abel’ or the obligatory ‘Gottes Tod’ they made the hall boiling. As you know it from DAS ICH, the keyboards were mounted on a movable metal construction which was moved by Bruno and Kain extensively.
Different to other electronic bands it was not a steady set, there was lots of movement on stage. Not only by both keyboardists but even more by Stefan who moved on stage like a little red devil in his eccentric dance style. Bruno and Kain elicit all the strange noises out of their instruments while Stefan screams his messages about god and death out into the crowd.
Rating
Music 8
Performance 9
Sound 8
Light 7
Total 8.2
[:SITD:] (Second Floor)
[:SITD:] is short for SHADOWS IN THE DARK which is a metaphoric picture for the musical and lyrical content of the band which can be counted amongst the most acclaimed electronic projects of the present international club scene. The breakthrough for the band came with the club hit ‘Snuff Machinery’ which was only handed over to some DJs who played the songs in the clubs where it became a big hit. The song was later on also released on the ‘Septic II’ compilation what made them known even further. Several labels were interested by finally Accession Records got to sign the band. The official debut album ‘Stronghold’ was released in 2003. The second full-time album is ‘Coded Message: 12’ was released in spring 2005 followed by ‘Bestie:Mensch’ in autumn 2007. [:SITD:] are Carsten Jacek (vocals, lyrics), Thomas ‘Tom’ Lesczenski (music, programming, backing vocals) and Francesco ‘Frank’ D’Angelo (keys). http://www.sitd.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/xsitdx
Music & Performance
The second floor was totally packed for the appearance of [:SITD:] and people were extensively celebrating from the first tunes of ‘Stammheim’ until the very last tone of ‘Snuff Machinery’ which seems to stay the highlight of every [:SITD:] show. Not only songs from the new album belonged to the set but also some of the big hits like ‘Lebensborn’ or ‘Laughing Stock’. For ‘Suffering in Solitude’ it was again Tom who took over the microphone from singer Carsten. The band was totally impressed by the ecstatic reactions of the audience. Frank even left the place on his keyboard to stand on the fence animating the audience. As if such an animation was necessary at all.
Also Carsten was standing on the fence several times, leaning over to the fans and screaming into the microphone together with the crowd. The room was boiling, sweaty bodies moved to the beats and people went just wild. I can understand why the band was so happy about the audience’s reactions. I have rarely seen such a [:SITD:] gig before where the audience went that mad. The mood was simply awesome.
Setlist
01. Stammheim
02. Lebensborn
03. Laughing Stock
04. Suffering in Solitude
05. Propaganda
06. Richtfest
07. Snuff Machinery
Rating
Music 8
Performance 8
Sound 8
Light 8
Total 8
Project Pitchfork (Main Stage)
The word “pitchfork” was pulled by chance out of an English dictionary and became the name of the project. The roots of the band lay in 1989, when Peter Spilles and Dirk Scheuber met at a GIRLS UNDER GLASS concert. Soon after that some demo tracks were recorded and found their way into clubs. At their first live gig in the Hamburg club “Kir” their later Manager Kai Lotze must have liked the band. In 1990 the first official Project Pitchfork recording (K.N.K.A.) was released and sold out. Nowadays the band is one of the most famous gothic bands in Germany. The latest studio album ‘Kaskade’ was release in May 2005. PROJECT PITCHFORK are Peter Spilles (vocals), Dirk Scheuber (keyboards, backing vocals), Jürgen Jansen (keyboards), Achim Färber (drums) and Carsten Klatte (guitar). http://www.pitchfork.de/ / www.myspace.com/projectpitchfork
Music & Performance
First thing I need to say is that I was quite disappointed by the last PITCHFORK gigs I have seen. The band seemed to be uninspired and bored. This time, they did much better in my opinion. There was something of the “old” power back on stage. During their Darkstorm appearance, the band presented again some kind of “best of” set which was celebrated by the audience. The set not only contained big club hits but also the hidden fan favourites. Highlights surely were songs like ‘IO’, ‘Conjure’ or ‘Alpha & Omega’ - some of the best songs of the band. The whole stage was turning into dark lights when the band entered the stage and it stayed quite dark - fitting to the dark mood of the songs - during the whole show.
Peter wore the obligatory face paintings and when he entered the stage, blood was running out of his mouth - unlucky me I found some of it on myself later… Different to the show in Belgium in summer, the set finished (and not started) with the dance floor hit ‘Timekiller’ which made a good highlight at the end of the show.
Setlist
01. Intro - Drone Assembly
02. God Wrote
03. Carrion
04. Existence
05. Requiem
06. Revolution Now
07. Conjure
08. Mine / Beast of Prey
09. IO
10. Drone State
11. Alpha Omega
12. Schall & Rauch
13. Timekiller
Rating
Music 8
Performance 7
Sound 8
Light 6
Total 7.4
Suicide Commando (Second Floor)
Johan van Roy follows his own visions of Electro-Industrial sounds inspired by acts such as THE KLINIK since 1986 under the moniker SUICIDE COMMANDO. It took him eight years to release his first record (‘Critical Stage’, in 1994) but only a short time to be among the top artist of the EBM scene. Although van Roy introduced has some more danceable beats and Techno/Trance elements to his music since the late 1990s, which surely granted him even more success, the Belgian stayed true to his EBM roots and could be regarded as a rather conservative EBM musician who does not care too much about innovation but rather about perfecting the sound he has in mind for SUICIDE COMMANDO. Being one of the most successful and prolific acts of the EBM/Electro scene, SUICIDE COMMANDO has influenced a plethora of young bands, and van Roy was always eager to support and assist young musicians. http://www.suicidecommando.be/ / www.myspace.com/suicidecommando
Music & Performance
SIOCIDE COMMANDO were headlining the second floor. To my surprise, there were less people than during the [:SITD:] show. I guess, most people decided to watch PROJECT PITCHFORK on the main stage who were still playing there when Johan van Roy (vocals), Torben Schmidt (keyboards) and INSEKT’s Mario Vaerewijck (drums) entered the stage. As you know it, SUICIDE COMMANDO were again using a big video screen where the displayed visuals enhanced the show a lot. The setlist was more or less a shortened version of the last tour’s setlist and started with the title track of the last album, ‘Bind Torture Kill’ when the video screen was proclaiming the words ‘Bind Torture Kill’ written in deep red. Other big hits like ‘Dein Herz, meine Gier’, ‘Love breeds Suicide’ or ‘Hellraiser’ as encore belonged to the set too.
Van Roy was more than energetic on stage and running around so fast that it was difficult to follow him with the eye at times showing different grimaces and his tongue to the audience every now an then. One big freak out in the crowd, and van Roy jumped into the pit in front of the stage to party with the fans in the front row that were moving to the stomping beats.
Setlist
01. Bind torture kill
02. Face of death
03. Conspiracy with the devil
04. Dein Herz, meine Gier
05. Raise your god
06. One nation under god
07. Hate me
08. Love breeds suicide
09. Fuck you bitch
---
10. Hellraiser
Rating
Music 8
Performance 8
Sound 8
Light 7
Total 7.9
VNV Nation (Main Stage)
From the headliner on the second floor to the headliner of the main stage - VNV NATION. The big hall was packed, seemed all 3,000 people wanted to see VNV Nation. VNV Nation (VNV means “Victory not Vengeance” - The meaning behind this stylized motto is that one should strive to achieve, not sit in bitter regret.) was founded in 1990 as Ronan Harris’ solo project debuting wit the album ‘Advance & Follow’ in 1995. The breakthrough came in 1998 after supporting Swedish COVENANT on tour and releasing the second album ‘Praise the Fallen’.
VNV NATION’s inspiration was originally the clash of modern and classical Europe cultures, where mythology and technology live in an uneasy fusion but this has since broadened to encompass a world view. The latest album ‘Judgement’ was released on 5th April 2007. VNV NATION are Ronan Harris and Mark Jackson. This time, they were supported on stage they by Thomas ‘Tom’ Lesczenski (SITD) and Vasi Vallis (FROZEN PLASMA) on keyboards. http://www.vnvnation.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/vnvnation / http://www.vnvnation.com/
Music & Performance
First of all I need to say that Ronan just had a bad cold and his voice was still suffering a bit. So, he was not on top level this time. But all that did not matter when the intro ‘Prologue’ and the first song ‘Joy’ sounded through the hall. People were just freaking out, raised their arms, clapped a long, screamed, sang, moved, jumped - simply they just went wild. The set went on in the fast way with ‘Chrome’ and ‘Nemesis’ - latter one from the latest album ‘Judgement’. First moment to take a short breath came with ‘Holding on’ which was surely a surprise for lots of fans in the crowd. It was long a go the band lately played that song. Followed by ‘Standing’, ‘The Farthest Star’ and ‘Honour 2003’ the main set finished with ‘Perpetual’ which was accompanied by the funny chant of the audience already known from the latest tour - “Da da da die da da da da…”.
Of course the band did not have any chance to leave the venue with an encore. So, they came back for two more songs - ‘Epicentre’ and ‘Beloved’ which was presented by Ronan and Marc only. The whole show was supported by a fantastic light show and video projections shown on a huge screen in the back of stage. It was a special setup of those videos according to the presented songs - like lines out of the lyrics, the VNV logo, water, clocks or female faces. It looked amazing! What also looked really amazing was the sea of arms raised into the air. It looked like the big waves of an ocean moving with the wind. Fantastic! This band on stage really knows how to turn a venue into a big party. Perfect finish of a very nice festival!
Setlist
01. Prologue
02. Joy
03. Chrome
04. Nemesis
05. Holding on
06. Standing
07. The Farthest Star
08. Honour 2003
09. Perpetual
---
10. Epicentre
11. Beloved
Rating
Music 8
Performance 9
Sound 8
Light 10
Total 8.6
All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com/ / http://www.black-cat-net.de/ / www.myspace.com/vorndranphotography)
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