11th November 2007
ASP & ELIS
Quite a lot of fans gathered in front of the LKA despite the stormy weather and the rainstorms coming down. So they defied the weather gods and waited joyfully for the gates to open but unfortunately the organizers took their time and most of the fans were defenceless against the rain. But even this fucking bad weather took no toll at the already good mood.
ELIS
ELIS was founded in the year 2002 as Oliver Falk, founder of ERBEN DER SCHÖPFUNG, separated himself from the remaining band members. They signed a record contract with NAPALM RECORDS in March 2003. With ‘God’s Silence, Devil’s Temptation’ their debut album was published August 2003. Like the album ‘Twilight’ this album was produced with Alexander Krull of ATROCITY and LEAVES’ EYES in the MasterSound Studios and reached 8th place of the DAC charts. ELIS published their album ‘Dark Clouds in a Perfect Sky’ in the year 2004. In the same year Franky Koller, the drummer, left the band and was replaced by Max Näscher. Even guitarist Jürgen Broger separated in friendship from the band. On July 7th, 2006, Sabine Dünser, singer of the band, suffered a brain haemorrhage during a band rehearsal; she died a day later in hospital. After a lengthy consideration the band decided to continue with a new singer; Sandra Schleret, formerly in bands like SIEGFRIED and DREAMS OF SANITY, joined the band in December 2006. http://www.elis.li/
Music
Blue lightning penetrate the dark room, fog rises from the stage, a deep growling voice combined with hard riffs from the guitars and the massive drums flanked by a female voice announce ELIS for this evening. Sandra Schleret winds her body in funny-looking curves and probably tries to hypnotize the fans in front of the stage like the snake KAA from the motion picture “Jungle Book” but this presentation is not enough to put a spell on the audience. Even the shallow and in my opinion not properly trained voice had no influence to bring the right feeling down from the stage. ‘Die Zeit’ is intoned with very well played guitars and the massive bass and hammering drums ignite a little spark in the heart of all the bystanders and it seems that ELIS have overcome their small problems but even on this song the singer can not convince with her voice and it is clearly visible that all the fans in front of the stage are not satisfied with this show, so they applaud very cautious still waiting for the things to come.
With ‘Show Me The Way’ ELIS had actually a guarantee to ignite the spark again and take their audience into a whirlwind of good Metal music but even the hard played guitars a top of the real hard hitting bass combined with the scything drums can not convince the disappointed audience this evening. With ‘Der letzte Tag’ one could really assume the fans would erupt in enthusiasm cause it is one of the most popular songs from the old singer before her tragic and untimely death. Sandra Schleret though doesn’t manage to bring back the mood of the old times with her, in my humble opinion, loveless announcements combined with her little charisma.
Performance
ELIS, formerly one of the greater music acts, now make the impression to start from the beginning again and they need to find themselves. After this show this will take a long way in my opinion. I had occasionally the feeling that the singer tried to copy others like Sharon den Adel of WITHIN TEMPTATION. Her vocals presented on this evening could still improve a lot and her few rather anxiously looking announcements lacked the needed charisma to inspire their fans. The rest of the band tried desperately to deliver a good job and performance.
Rating
Music: 6 (Singing 3)
Performance: 3.5
Sound: 6
Light: 8
Total: 5.5
ASP
ASP from Frankfurt am Main was founded in the summer of 1999. Their music includes influences Alternative Rock and Neue Deutsche Härte combined with EBM and Gothic-like attitudes. They were mainly notified for their cycle of the black butterfly. The band used the term “Gothic Novel Rock” for its music to show the literary side of this music and the relationship to the “Tales of ASP”. http://www.thetalesofasp.com/
Music
Unfortunately the fans were not well prepared by the supporting act and we hoped this would have no impact on his performance. Mystical sounds introduced to the dance with the dark butterfly this evening; rhythmically pounding bass topped with synthesizer music opened the gates into a different world. The hall went quiet and darkness surrounded the fans; a blue light, like a little burning star shone through the night, a gentle played guitar accompanied by the melancholic and coaxing voice from ASP put a spell on all the fans from the start. The opener ‘Offährte’ showed us the way to a dark realm full of melancholic joy and burning hearts. The people gathered together in front of the stage and listened to these wonderful sounds; the mystical play of light strengthened this impression and was leading us to a wonderful time. Then darkness devoured us again, a deep, menacing voice asked the ultimate question….. ‘How Far Would You Go?’ surrounded by the light from the background ASP appeared like a dark angel right out of the night, suddenly lightning tore the night asunder and burned in the eyes of the surrounding fans. ASP tore one after one in his dark cyclone with his unique sound.
Kidnapped into the depths of another world, ASP intonated with his amazing voice ‘Aus der Tiefe’, bolstered by a wonderful musical carpet enveloped by amazing sounds, sneaked his voice through the ear into the depths of the surrounding fans. Barely recovered from this true joy and melodious play the hammering bass scythed through the audience like an animal on the flight. Hard hitting drums ploughed through the first rows pushing them deeper into the realms of the black butterfly; everybody in this concert hall would follow ASP like a dark angel cause of their powerfully played ‘Weltunter’. With parts played from ‘Requiem’ from their album ‘Requiembryo’, ASP mixed his fans a truly sinister cocktail; you could only stand and listen to his great voice and this wonderful composition, so another door opened of the dark tower and remained open till the end had come. The hearts of the fans began to pound wildly with the announcement, we conjured the darkness now together, the sound of ‘Sing Child’ ploughed through the setting like a double edged sword and nobody could resist this anymore. Hard hitting guitar and bass covered with thundering drums took their toll and nobody could withstand to move his body. The incantation called in to the concert hall immediately summoned the living darkness which attacked the hearts of those presented like a living dream and tore them deeper into the night.
Frenetic cheers branded against the dark angel and some fans hoped this night would never come to an end. The rhythms of ‘Die kleine Ballade vom Schwarzen Schmetterling’ were driven through the rows of fans and left only joy and enrapture where it could stuck his little claws on. With ‘Me’ ASP spread his wings again and we could fly on his back over the dark ocean higher into to darkness, his voice embedded us with gentle loving and wonderful melancholy. Shortly after the arriving on the other shore a mystical shape of a beautiful woman wrapped only in shadows reached out her hand and showed us the new way down to the dark tower. ‘She Wore Shadows’ impacted like a nuclear bomb within the masses with its first played tunes and now there was no lethargic fan anymore. Put on their feet and wrenched into the dark dance like demons participating in an unholy celebration, the fans mobilized their strengths to follow the band even deeper so all were happy about the brake by the wonderful and tragic ‘Demon Love’; the melancholic but powerful voice of ASP vibrated through the room and flattered the soul of each individual ensnared the spirit like a dark lover and we surrendered to the dark side so ASP knew to spend their fans the necessary break to refresh their strength for the rest of the way into the darkness only to reveal us the black butterfly. Again one of the old classics from the album ‘Hast Du Mich Vermisst’ was intoned. With ‘Schwarzer Schmetterling’ you could almost feel the light winds caused by the beating wings of the butterfly wonderfully arranged to enjoy this song on the highest levels. After this almost celestial enjoyment classical sounds reached the ear followed by short drumming interlude ‘Duet - Minnelied der Incubi’ cajoled the ear and the hope this night would never end floated again in his vocals; all the fans in front of the stage danced like enchanted and the voice of a male Circe and the mesmerizing effects of this music supported them even more. With the last tones played the guys on the stage transformed slowly to the real devils.
ASP himself manifested with ‘Ich Bin Ein Wahrer Satan’ to be the true devil and bring them the truth. He ruthlessly showed his devotees that the daylight kept no real truth in the normal world and with his supporting drums and ingeniously played guitars his clear and forceful voice revealed the real darkness to us. With the truth in their eyes the fans let loose their hidden animal and embraced with ‘Lykantrophie’ their dark sides; this old classical song from ASP slipped again to the deepest souls of any listener in this hall. So he bombarded us with his beautiful voice and pushed us to the limits again to gather the needed strength for this transformation. The black blood of everybody would slowly be brought to the boiling point, supported by the massive sounds from the band raining down from the dark skies. ‘Schwarzes Blut’ steadily pushed the masses forward and downward to their destination and frenetically supporting vocals from the fans even pushed the band on the stage to another state of frenzy. Unfortunately every beautiful time comes to an end and this was intoned with their brilliant composition ‘Nie Mehr’. Gently played guitars and drums showed us the way back from the dark realms of the black butterfly to the surface of the real world. Most fans around still hoped this evening would never come to an end, they preferred to linger around in the dark tower, to fly with the black butterfly through the darkness, with the knowledge of the true Satan on their lips dancing the dance of the Incubi forever. But the concert ended as it began with the wonderful gentle and amazing sound from ‘Offährte (Reprise)’, embracing the heart of every individual fan and burying the seed of the warm darkness there only to grow up to a dark butterfly.
Stormy applause smashed over the stage like a tidal wave and moved ASP back again to give his fans their urgently needed encore. The black butterfly filled the bodies of his fans with life and obsession, ‘Werben’ moved all into one huge orgasmic storm swirled the tired limbs again through the LKA. Nobody wanted to follow the now following song ‘Finger Weg!’ because everybody in front of the stage wants to touch him and burn in the heat of the night like a supernova but with his penetrating voice he took a clear stand and announces that nobody owns him and nobody was owned by another human and is responsible only for themselves. Then the listeners were engulfed in darkness again and the band left the stage again. The alls for another encore increase like the molten lava in a volcano ready to explode. ASP came back to the stage again and confessed that they actually wanted it too… burn together in the night and explode like a supernova. ‘Ich Will Brennen’ ignited a small living flame which climbed up the feet lashed out hungrily engulfed the whole body only to instantly burn him to ashes. But ASP retained another highlight for this evening ‘Und Wir Tanzten’ suddenly cooled down the fans with its soft and gentle music opened the hearts again to strengthen the already buried seed and end this celestial night.
Performance
This evening was an absolute pleasure for me just as the usual concerts from ASP. Unfortunately ASP had no easy start as I already mentioned but after their second song the fans caught the mood and were real enthusiastic. The only little flaw on this evening was the feeling that ASP delivered not 100% to us and had some problems for himself to find the right way. At this evening a little calmer and more contemplatively not as the veritable whirlwind on the stage we know him otherwise. The songs were wonderfully presented also the instruments were brilliantly played. The Voice of ASP led from the deepest melancholy to the brightest enjoyment and was always felt in the heart. The effects of lighting were wonderfully arranged for the show and always supported the individual mood of each song. Sometimes I got the feeling that the black butterfly would spread his wings to embrace us all. It was a very nice concert in conclusion and I could really enjoy it but ASP already delivered a lot of better concerts to us in the past.
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 7.5
Sound: 9
Light: 9
Total: 8.6
All pictures by Ruth Gräbeldinger
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