Reflections of Darkness - Music Magazine - Oomph!

Details: Written by: Carsten Leopold; Published: 19 November 2008

Rosenhof, Osnabrück, Germany
17th November 2008
Oomph!, All Ends, Mina Harker

With both their current single ‘Labyrinth’ and their new album ‘Monster’ placed at number 1 in the German Alternative Chart it’s not surprising that everyone still has the name Oomph on their lips nearly twenty years after they were first formed. Founded in 1989, Oomph have happily blended their many musical styles, evolved in new and diverse ways to encompass a grinding heavy rock with elements of their original electronic sound to capture something totally unique to them. Never tired or stale, they have sought perfection in every facet of their writing, production and staging. No other band to my knowledge has such a tenacious hold on every aspect of their format as they do, thus ensuring that their music reaches their fans in exactly the way they, as artists, intend it. On Monday, 17th November, we went to Osnabrück to enjoy OOMPH! and their support bands at their current tour.

Mina Harker

The opener was MINA HARKER, a German Gothic band who borrowed their name from Bram Stoker's horror novel Dracula. The dark of night, with its myriad creatures, often hard to spot for those that do not listen or watch attentively, holds a similar fascination. It is from these spheres that MINA HARKER gathers the inspiration for her tales, which are oh so surreal, outstanding and passionate. MINA HARKER is MINA HARKER (voice and programming) and ALEXANDER GORODEZKI (guitars and programming). At the current tour they were supported by Leo, the drummer of OOMPH! http://www.minaharker.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/minaharkerband

Music & Performance
MINA HARKER opened the stage just in time at 8 o'clock. Several people already were in the venue and enjoyed the dedicated and soulful performance of the beautiful female singer and her guitar player who were supported by the drummer of the headliner OOMPH!. The set consisted of eight songs, starting with ‘Letzter Kuss’ and finishing after about 30 minutes with the title track of the current album ‘Tiefer’. All songs were taken from this debut album which was released by Out of Line end of October this year.

Setlist
01. Letzter Kuss
02. Bis zum Tod
03. Wie im Traum
04. Nacht
05. Engel
06. Tränen
07. Ohne dich
08. Tiefer

Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 7
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 7.2 / 10

All Ends

After a very short change over break, the evening went on with ALL ENDS, an alternative metal band from Gothenburg, Sweden, founded in 2003. It started as a side project of the IN FLAMES guitarists Björn Gelotte and Jesper Strömblad, but currently they are no longer playing with ALL ENDS. With the initial line-up of Jesper Strömblad and Björn Gelotte handling guitars, Emma Gelotte and Tinna Karlsdotter doing vocals, and Joseph Skansås playing drums, they recorded a 5-song demo. In the spring of 2005, Michael Håkansson took over bass and Fredrik Johansson took over guitar duties. In August 2005, Peter Mårdklint joined the band as the second guitarist.

The most notable feature of ALL ENDS is the duet vocals provided by the two female singers in the band, Emma and Tinna, against a background of heavy melodies. ALL ENDS signed a worldwide contract with Gun Records, a division of Sony BMG Music Entertainment. On May 11, 2007, they released their debut EP, ‘Wasting Life’, where the new line-up recorded again the songs of the demo. On November 7, 2007, they released their self-titled debut album, which was later reissued with bonus tracks on September 2008. ALL ENDS now are Emma Gelotte (vocals), Tinna Karlsdotter (vocals), Fredrik Johansson (guitars), Joseph "Joey" Skansås (drums) and Peter "Texas" Mårdklint (guitars). http://www.allends.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/allends

Music & Performance
I didn't hear anything about this band and I expected nothing, but by the first tunes of ALL ENDS I was aroused and enthralled. Right from the start the crowd was infected by the powerful rock sound, perfected by the fantastic vocals of the booth beautiful female singers. The both guitars, the bass and the drum produced a powerful rhythmic and rocking noise and the vocals of the bewitching singers interacted perfectly. They sang the songs alternate or together with much power and expression, the vocal parts changed between Emma and Tinna like the ball in a good ballgame and it was pleasing for the ears and for the eyes to enjoy this great show. The set consisted of nine songs taken from their self-titled album, highlighted by the beautiful ballad ‘Just a Friend’. After about 35 minutes finished the show with ‘Wasting Life’ and I'm sure that I'm not the only new fan after this great show, the discovery of the year for me and I think with their power and their charisma they appertain to the big stages. Directly after the show I bought their album at the merchandise and I hope I can enjoy them again soon.

Setlist
01. Still Believe
02. Walk Away
03. Regrets
04. Apologize (One Republic Cover)
05. We Are Through
06. Just a Friend
07. Close My Eyes
08. Pretty Words
09. Wasting Life

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Sound: 9
Light: 8
Total: 8.8 / 10

Oomph!

Now, after another short change over break, the stage was finally ready for the headliner OOMPH!. For almost 20 years, this band is a true force in the independent music scene. Albums like 'Defekt' (1995) and the unbelievably successful conceptual album 'Wunschkind' are milestones with their unique fusion of the electronic world with the unrelenting power. Every new album opened another door and critics overthrew themselves in trying to categorize the sound and with their 1999 output 'Plastik' they finally made their breakthrough in catapulting their music into the German Charts. 2003 was the year of change. OOMPH! signed to the Major label GUN Records and in the eyes of many old fans, they sound drifted into a more commercially and mainstream oriented direction from there on with the two albums 'Wahrheit oder Pflicht' or 'GlaubeLiebeTod', but maybe OOMPH! just sound like they wanna sound. Whether you like that direction or not, it is and stays a matter of personal taste.

The current album 'Monster' was released in August 2008. OOMPH! are Dero (vocals, drums), Crap (guitar, keyboards) and Flux (guitar, sampling). On stage they were supported by Leo on drums and Hagen on bass. http://www.oomph.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/oomph

Music & Performance
Just at 9.30 o'clock the guys of OOMPH entered the stage and started their show. All band members were dressed in black, even Dero did not wear his white straitjacket this time. The show started very powerful with ‘Beim ersten Mal tut's immer weh’ and quickly the spirit went over to the crowd. Meanwhile the venue was filled better but it was not sold out and for the stage diving Dero needed to sample some people every time. Anyway he did it as always and it worked out just well.

The setlist consisted of all in all 25 songs mostly taken from the current album ‘Monster’ and the newer albums ‘GlaubeLiebeTod’ and ‘Wahrheit oder Pflicht’, completed with some older songs like ‘Fieber’, ‘Sex’ or ‘Gekreuzigt’. Outstanding were the duet with MINA HARKER and the a capella cover version of ‘The power of love’ at the end of the show. The performance was powerful and just at the first songs the crowd was clapping hands and singing along. Several times Dero left the stage for stage diving and crowd surfing, as already mentioned. After about 90 minutes the main set finished and the band left the stage. Of course the crowd requested an encore and two more times OOMPH! came back to stage and not until after nearly two hours they finished the show finally with ‘The power of love’, performed by Dero alone.

Setlist
01. Beim ersten Mal tut's immer weh
02. Träumst Du
03. Unsere Rettung
04. Fieber
05. Wer schön sein will muss leiden
06. Du willst es doch auch
07. Wach auf
08. Das letzte Streichholz
09. Das weiße Licht
10. Sex
11. Mitten ins Herz
12. Bis zum Schluss (Duet with Mina Harker)
13. Revolution
14. Sex hat keine Macht
15. Mein Schatz
16. Lass mich raus
17. Die Schlinge
18. Niemand
19. Gekreuzigt
20. Labyrinth
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21. Gott ist ein Popstar
22. Augen auf!
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23. Menschsein
24. Die Leiter
25. Power of Love (a capella)

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