Reflections of Darkness - Music Magazine - Monster Magnet

Details: Written by: Sebastian Huhn; Published: 02 November 2008

Live-Music-Hall, Cologne, Germany
1st November 2008
Monster Magnet, Nebula, The Pilgrim Fathers

Actually MONSTER MAGNET didn’t want to tour and rather focus on writing new material, but after they’ve played some festival gigs in summer, a tour was announced for autumn which lead them to Cologne’s Live-Music-Hall yesterday which was completely sold-out…

Nebula

NEBULA is a psychedelic stoner rock band, formed by guitarist Eddie Glass and drummer Ruben Romano after departing from FU MANCHU in 1997. They released their debut album ‘To The Center’ in 1999, followed by the sophomore album ‘Changed’ about 2 years later. During the recoding of the third album ‘Atomic Ritual’ released in 2003, bass player Mark Ashbire left the band. They eventually found a replacement in Tom Davies. The album released lots of critical praise. The latest full-length ‘Apollo’ saw the lights of day in 2006, accompanied by Tour with legs both in the US and Europe. On their US tour which began in August 2008, they’ve released a new EP, called Heavy Psych. The current line-up is as follows: Eddie Glass (guitar; vocals), Tom Davies (bass) and Rob Oswald (drums). http://www.nebulamusic.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/nebulamusic

Music & Performance
You might wonder why we start with the second band. The answer is simple: We missed the first one due to a false announcement on the venue’s webpage so we arrived in time for the second band NEBULA we hadn’t heard of so far. When those 3 a little dishevelled looking guys came on stage I was thinking “What comes now?” My grave concerns were baseless, however. Only interrupted by a few statements which you couldn’t clearly understand sometimes, they started the trip with cleanest stoner rock with down-tuned or fuzzed guitars and spit out as well as cleaner vocals. During the complete performance all the three band members seemed to be in a state of rush caused by their music in which they paced up and down the stage moving to the rhythms and doing some moves. That includes the drummer who’s reminding me of a mad scientist (No Offence).

Well, of course he didn’t do tricks with his guitar, however it was nice to see him play, even though not as nice as Tommy Aldridge of THIN LIZZY, but that’s another story. I’m still wondering’ what that drumstick cross on his kit was about. Maybe some kind of mojo.

Setlist
01. Giant Clearlight
02. The Dagger
03. Loose Cannon
04. To The Center
05. The Void
06 Apphrodite
07. Lone Day
08. Strange Human
09. Instant Gravitation
10. Full Throttle
11. Let it Burn

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

Monster Magnet

MONSTER MAGNET was founded in 1989 in New Jersey. The first EP was released on the German label Glitterhouse Records. After the success of the EP, the band switched to the US label Caroline Records who eventually released their debut ‘Spine of God’ which is considered the best album of the band’s history by many fans. After switching labels once more in 1993, the band released the Space Rock influenced album ‘Superjudge’ in the same year and two years later the BLACK SABBATH inspired third album ‘Dopes To Infinity’ came out. The song ‘Negasonic Teenage Warhead’ became quite popular in the clubs. In 1998, they turned away from their psychedelic roots with the ‘Powertrip’ album, but with their 10th album ‘4-Way Diablo’ (2007) they return to those roots. MONSTER MAGNET is Dave Wyndorf (vocals, guitar), Tim Cronin (vocals), John McBain (guitar), Joe Calandra (E-bass) and Bob Pantella (drums). http://www.monstermagnet.net/ / http://www.myspace.com/monstermagnet

Music & Performance
Still there was some time left before the band was to enter the stage, but the venue filled and filled and filled. In the end there was hardly any space to move for the most part and another side effect manifested later during the show. The air was terrible. It was a wonder not more people passed out. Luckily, the medics in the venue were on the spot when such a thing happened. Fast forward to the show: Short after 9, the band entered the stage with Dave Wyndorf as the last. Usually, a mood builds up constantly throughout the show. Not with MONSTER MAGNET. Starting with the first track ‘Dopes To Infinity’ from the same-titled album, the mood came to a boil and people went completely nuts. Head banging was the preferred way of moving, soon the sweat started dripping from the ceilings and walls and amidst the brooding masses; a moshpit was created which was intensely used ever since ‘Powertrip’, couldn’t be a better title to start something like that could it?

The blues-tinted ‘Third Alternative’ was the next highlight for me with its calm verses, erupting into a mighty wall of riffs and angry chant. So much energy coming of the stage, it was just awesome. Song followed after song, crossway through the discography with one exception: the latest album ‘4-Way Diablo’. Many of the songs had been seamlessly blended into one another. Before you knew it, the next song had already started. They played some awesome solos and some songs then seemed to become experimental jam sessions. Thanks for a great and powerful concert.

Setlist
01. Dopes To infinity
02. Crop Circle
03. Powertrip
04. Twin Earth
05. Third Alternative
06. Zodiac Lung
07. Radiation Day
08. The Right Stuff
09. Negasonic Teenage Warhead
10. Space Lord
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11. Melt
12. Cage Around The Sun
13. Tractor
14. Spine of God

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