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Matrix, Bochum, Germany
22nd September 2008
Eisbrecher & Jesus on Extasy

On 22nd September the EISBRECHER anchored at the Matrix in Bochum, but it wasn’t anything but cold at the club. It was probably twice as hot as it was outside. They got company by one of the shooting stars of the scene: The German JESUS ON EXTASY.


Jesus on Extasy

Founded in summer 2005 by vocalist Dorian Deveraux and guitarist Chai, JESUS ON EXTASY came to breathe new life into the “dead” industrial genre and their first album crushed in like a bomb and they quickly became a hype in the Goth scene, but a good one in this case as the five are all talented musicians. Their second release ‘Beloved Enemy’ came out this year’s may and showed a much more matured sound of this German band. JESUS ON EXTASY are Dorian Deveraux (vocals, synths, samples) Chai Deveraux (guitar, synths, backing vocals, programming) Ophelia Dax (synths, keys) and BJ (drums), who became a full band member in June after the latest club tour of JESUS ON EXSTASY, complete the line-up. http://www.digital-dandies.com/ / www.myspace.com/jesusonextasy



Music & Performance
Already by the time we entered the concert room it was bursting at the seams and we had to carve ourselves a way through the masses. It seemed as many EISBRECHER fans had already secured themselves a good place for the show, but first JESUS ON EXTASY who entered the stage one by one to a monumental intro, but there was someone missing. Alicia Wayne wasn’t on stage and this was because parted company a few days ago, anyway. As soon as everyone was in position, the first tones of ‘Drowning’ sounded and the audience was boosted by the band right away and even if I couldn’t see much there were at least a few people already moving. Meanwhile the set went on with two songs from the most recent album, the title track ‘Beloved Enemy’ and ‘Change The World’ and while Ophelia Dax behind the keys was smoothly shaking her hips, Dorian and Chai rocked with sometimes more and other times less movement over the quite limited space they had.



Possible ‘Pull off’ shouts addressed to Dorian were commented with ‘You show me your ID first’. Back to the roots it went with one of the first JESUS ON EXTASY songs ever ‘Alone’ and the dancers increased. With ‘Assassinate me’ and ‘Puppet’ we returned to the debut, before ‘Lies’ and ‘The Church of Extasy’ blew up in our faces. The EISBRECHER wake-up call initially wasn’t very successful, but after Dorian explained “You have to shout EISBRECHER” it worked out quite well. ‘Monochrome’ ended the set with an inferno of drums guitars and drums in’ Monochrome’ - and a striking grunt by Ophelia.

Setlist
01. Intro
02. Drowning
03. Beloved Enemy
04. Change The World
05. Alone
06. Assassinate Me
07. Puppet
08. Lies
09. Church of Extasy
10. Neochrome

Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 7
Sound: 7
Light: 7
Total: 7




Eisbrecher

After singer Alexx Wesselsky split up with his former band colleagues from MEGAHERTZ in 2003 due to artistic differences, he founded EISBRECHER together with another ex-member of MEGAHERTZ Noel Pix. The release of the first and self-titled album in 2004 caused a heavy stir, when the band added to blank CDRs to the release as an incentive to copy the album and as a statement against the criminalization of the end-customer through the music industry. Two years later, in summer 2006, it was finally time for the second album ‘Antikörper’ to satisfy the hunger of the fans for more material. This album even reached position 85 of the German Album Charts. Right now, the band is preparing for their next strike. EISBRECHER is Alexander “Alexx” Wesselsky (vocals), Jochen “Noel Pix” Seibert (lead guitar), Jürgen Plangger (guitar), René Greil (drums), Maximilian “Maximator” Schauer (keyboard) and Martin Motnik (bass). http://www.eis-brecher.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/eisbrecherkommando



Music & Performance
The following changeover seemed almost like an eternity, during which you could either listen to the various jingles and themes from ‘Mission:Impossible’, ‘Star Trek: Voyager’ or ‘Once Upon A Time in the West’ or watch the stage crew tuning the instruments, but after a short interlude with the X-Files theme, the spotlights turned red and to the sound of a lovely chime, the band entered the stage and to the well known intro of the current single ‘Kann denn Liebe Sünde sein’ Alexx appeared like last time dressed up in a marine uniform and armed with his two hammers. As if somebody turned a switch, the masses got under way and head banged like mad; something that, in the further course of the concert, should become the main movement but with such music you just have to. After Alexx, “politely” thanked the audience for the band’s great success right now, it went on with the sudatory show during which he slowly got rod of various garments. Mandatory ‘Pull of’ shuts included, but he was insisting on keeping his boots on. But now back to the music and such ball breakers like e ‘Antikörper’ for which he introduced a guest: “The fork of Bochum” which had reproduced in his very unique way.



With ‘Phosphor’ and ‘Willkommen im Nichts’ all had one hell of a party again until the band struck unusual melancholic tones with ‘Herzdieb’ just to break the sonic barrier again with ‘Leider’ and the honest statement to not get away from the ‘Alkohol’ that with pummelling beats and glowering vocals, drove the people to ecstasy. But not only was the audience in a good mood, also on stage, everyone rocked and moved to a fare-thee-well, almost weltered on the floor. Noel Pixx played some insane solos and drummer René Greil, who was enthroned on a heightened pedestal behind his drums, maltreated them like a lunatic and we got to see a quite hilarious choreography, created by Detlef ‘D’ Soost. No, of course not! How that would have looked like, Alexx showed us afterwards. Funny, how grown-up men act like little children on stage, entertainment at its best. Of course the classics like ‘Vergissmeinnicht’ and ‘Schwarze Witwe’ couldn’t be missed out and were frenetically celebrated. The last song of the regular set ‘Zeichen der Venus’ was dedicated to Howard Carpendale and also was showcased with the original Howie accent.



Naturally, this wasn’t the end, but the encore started with a little surprise with Alex returning with a cardigan, traditional hat and harmonica. Almost forgot the cigarette which, according to his statement, belongs to artistic freedom’ regardless of a smoking ban and if we would wanna get rid of this, we would have to do something about it and get our asses up because this would be a democracy after all. Well, I’m not so sure about that anymore. Anyway, it was time for the hilarious stultification of German ‘virtues’ with ‘This is Deutsch’, but I guess the real highlight for many was the third song of the encore ‘Miststück’, including and everyone sang along. And later some ladies & gentlemen had the chance to scream a loud ‘Miststück’ into the mic, when Alexx specially stepped off the stage to hold it into the sweaty crowd. Encore, the second; this time with a captain’s hat and an acoustic guitar to perform ‘Ti amo’ by our loyal friend Howie with some minor changes to the lyrics if I didn’t mishear. ‘Freiflug’ provided for a flaming end of the show and culminated in a deafening inferno after which everyone was heading towards the exit, even it took a little more time than usual, but eventually the cold outside embraced us again., but we all agreed that this was a absolutely wicked show.

Setlist
01. Intro
02. Kann denn Liebe Sünde sein
03. Angst
04. Antikörper
05. Phosphor
06. Willkommen im Nichts
07. Herzdieb
08. Leider
09. Alkohol
10. Mein Blut
11. Vergissmeinnicht
12. Zu Sterben
13. Schwarze Witwe
14. Heilig
15. Zeichen der Venus
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16. This Is Deutsch
17. Ohne Dich
18. Miststück
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19. Ti amo
20. Freiflug

Rating
Music 8:
Performance: 9
Sound: 8
Light: 8
Total: 8.3


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