Wave Gotik Treffen - Leipzig 2009 (Day 2)

DRACONIAN is a gothic doom metal band, formed in Säffle, Sweden in 1994. The band consists of Anders Jacobsson (vocals, writing), Lisa Johansson (vocals), Johan Ericson (guitars, writing), Jerry Torstensson (drums, percussion), Daniel Arvidsson (guitars), Fredrik Johansson (bass), and Andreas Karlsson (keyboards, programming). Their first demo ‘Shades of a Lost Moon’ was recorded in 1995. The album was released in February, 1996. Both in 1998 and 1999, the band made concerts. After receiving positive reactions, they decided to enter the studio once more. In August of 1999, DRACONIAN recorded ‘The Closed Eyes of Paradise’, an album dealing mostly with the theme of Lucifer and his fallen angels. The band recorded their debut album, ‘Where Lovers Mourn’ in Studio Mega under the supervision of Chris Silver (former member of Sundown and Cemetary) in July 2003. In 2006 they began working on their third release. But due to myriad fan requests, the band decided to first deliver a bonus album to include remakes of old tracks from ‘The Closed Eyes of Paradise’ demo. http://www.draconian.se/



Music & Performance
DRACONIAN did an awesome show and they definitely could hold their standards from the CDs. Lisa Johansson (vocals) sounded exactly like she does on the records. Thinking of some missteps from big names like Tarja Turunen and Sharon den Adel (WITHIN TEMPTATION), she was just amazing in her singing. Anders Jacobsson (vocals & growls) completed the great music. His growls are one of the most differentiated ones I have ever heard. And especially in the last duet ‘She dies’ they created an indescribable atmosphere. Due to the length of their songs, they could only play 6 songs. Most of those songs came from the current album ‘Turning Season Within’ which came out pretty great because the sound was brilliant. And also the spoken passages from Andres Jacobsson worked out really well which I didn't think. I hope they will get some more time when I will see them again!

Setlist
01.Seasons Apart
02.Bloodflower
03.Heaven Laid In Tears
04.Morphine Cloud
05.When I Wake
06.She Dies

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 8
Sound: 9
Light: 7
Total: 8.4 / 10




Eisbrecher - Parkbühne (Cathie Niemann)

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 is very successful with their most recent album ‘Sünde’. http://www.eis-brecher.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/eisbrecherkommando



Music & Performance
Another reason for our day at Parkbühne was the band EISBRECHER around checker Alexx who had fully convinced me with his last WGT performance. The band members Noel (guitar), Jürgen (guitar), Max (keyboards), Martin (bass) and René (drums) entered the stage with Alexx and opened their set with ‘Kann denn Liebe Sünde sein’. That these guys were crowd pleasers and would have deserved a headliner slot was proven by the countless masses wanting to party, despite the rain. With statements like “Umbrellas are Gay” and such he constantly caused laughs. The way he performed the songs was just infecting. The audience ate out of his hand and so we raised our fists to ‘Antikörper’ and sang loudly in unison.



The mood kept on increasing and it was a pleasure to watch the people freaking out. Also the other band members gave their all. On the ground of being rather the cuddly type and the call “Let me see the lighters in the air”, Alexx started the balladry ‘Herzdieb’ from the current album ‘Sünde’. As usual we had some “Undress” shouts, kindly ignored by Alexx. Instead we all sang ‘Leider’, ‘Ohne Dich’ and ‘Vergissmeinnicht’ together. The mood wouldn’t go down and ran high to the brachial ‘Miststück’ seeing Alexx performing his impressive rap and spreading roses with open short to the ladies. Considering that impressive performance, a headliner slot in the years to come should merely be a form.

Setlist
01. Kann denn Liebe Sünde sein
02. Nackte Angst
03. Antikörper
04. Kinder der Nacht
05. Herzdieb
06. Leider
07. Vergissmeinnicht
08. Schwarze Witwe
09. Heilig
10. Miststück




Hollenthon - Kohlrabizirkus (Florian Schürmann)

HOLLENTHON is a melodic death metal band from Austria. The band includes many symphonic elements in their work, while their earlier material contains some black metal influence. The band was formed in 1994. In June 2001, HOLLENTHON releases ‘With Vilest of Worms to Dwell’. Not unlike its predecessor, it boasts of a superb soundtrack-like production, as well as a fierce and wicked atmosphere created by a perfect symbiosis of heavy guitars, symphonic interludes, thrilling choirs, and bewitching melodies. The following years saw Martin concentrating on PUNGENT STENCH although the writing of new material was never stopped. 2007 HOLLENTHON is meant to return and continue to walk the chosen path. Wanting a real band and not just additional live musicians Martin and Mike chose to recruit Gregor Marboe who Martin shared stages with since early 2006 in PUNGENT STENCH on bass and backing vocals and who has been active in the Austrian scene for years. In need of a second guitarist, Martin Arzberger was introduced to the band. http://www.hollenthon.com/

Music & Performance
I actually haven't heard HOLLENTHON for quite a while and had something in mind. I thought of growls and female parts alternating with typical symphonic metal parts where the orchestra / keyboard compositions were in the foreground. But they were completely different live: it was an only-men group but this couldn't harm their great show. They played fantastic 50 minutes of the finest metal ranging from old school thrash to Viking metal-like pieces. HOLLENTHON were a likeable squad from Austria who did a great show. I had a lot of fun and so had the audience. Many people were banging their heads to the great music. And even the sound was pretty good. The communication between the band and the audience was great, too. You can say, the band had a lot of fun playing and the audience had a lot of fun listening to them. All in all, an unexpected but great show with good music!

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 7.8 / 10


Clan of Xymox - Parkbühne (Cathie Niemann)

There are bands, who seem to exist for an eternity and who seem to be timeless. Well, CLAN OF XYMOX surely doesn’t exist for an eternity now, but they’re one of the veteran bands of the scene, founded in the early 1980s by Ronny Moorings and Anke Wolbert and over the years they became one of the most important representatives of the Dark Wave genre, though their music never stayed inside the boundaries of that genre. Ok, maybe with their earliest work like the self-titled debut and the follow-up ‘Medusa’ they did, but in their later career, they combined their traditional sound with dance rhythms and techno elements or changed to more Rock orientated songs like on their comeback in 1997. A new album is close to its release now. http://www.clanofxymox.com/ / www.myspace.com/clanofxymox



Music & Performance
After EISBRECHER, the rows cleared visibly and the average age of the remaining people increased. No wonder for the following headliner CLAN OF XYMOX was amongst the most influential bands of the Dark Wave scene in the 80s. The band from the Dutch Nijmegen was founded in 1984 by Ronny Moorings and Anke Wolbert. By the beginning of the 90s it had become very silent around the band that celebrated their comeback not before 1997. The current line-up comprises Ronny Moorings (vocals & guitar), Mojca Zugna (bass), Rui Ramos (drums), Denis Dijskstra (keyboard) and Paul Whittlesea (guitar). In the meantime Ronny had relocated to Germany and so many statements he made this evening were in German. But first he found much too little people were attending the show which was almost a little embarrassing.



The rain might have been reason for that and the terrible sound. The vocals were much too low and overall the sound was just sludgy. However, some hardcore fans didn’t bother and celebrated to classics such as ‘Weak on my knees’ or ‘Jasmin & Rose’. Continually the stage would be drenched in fog, while Bassist Mojca cut a particularly fine figure. The DAVID BOWIE cover ‘Heroes’, just as ‘Calling you out’ and ‘This World’ were part of the set. In spite of the circumstances and little audience the band catered for a worthy and professional end of the evening




Feindflug - Agra (Anne Kuhfuß)

The project FEINDFLUG was founded between the years 1995 and 1996 by Banane and Felix. In 1997, the first CD ‘Feindflug’ was released, the others such as ‘I. / St. G. 3’, ‘Im Visier’, ‘Hirnschlacht’ or ‘Volk und Armee’ followed in subsequent years. In 2006, the project released the first DVD entitled ‘...hinter feindlichen Linien’ (...behind enemy lines). http://www.feindflug.info/



Music & Performance
Unfortunately, I was late to FEINDFLUG and so, I missed the beginning of the show. The Agra was crowded like hell and you sweat from only standing there doing nothing. But the mood was unbelievable and the people had loads of fun which was great because you got the same great mood within five minutes. FEINDFLUG did a great show like they always do. Wearing their typical outfits, they had the stage filled with their instruments. And of course, the whole stage looked like an army training camp, just like it always does when FEINDFLUG get their stuff out to do a show.



Their music was great although you have to get used to almost only sound without any singing. The only voices they had were from announcements they played. The sound was ok but again just too silent. I don't know why they put the volume down this year. The last years the sound of the Agra was way too loud. Unfortunately, the silent sound didn't really contribute to the show because FEINDFLUG just have to be loud with their aggressive music and performance. All in all, it was a nice concert with a great performance and an even better mood. And with ending it with the song ‘Stukas im Visier’ they just did the right thing because the people just couldn't stand still and wanted even more.