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Summer Darkness, Utrecht, The Netherlands
12th of August 2006
Fabrikc, Soman, Combichrist, Welle:Erdball, Grendel, Moonspell, Absurd Minds, The Wounded, Reaper, Prey

The third day of Summer Darkness. Today the market at the Domchurch was open, it was bigger than the years before because the Elf Fantasy had a hand in it this year. People were getting a bit tired it seemed, at least those who had been partying for two nights already. There were a lot of fresh people today though, especially for Prey, The Wounded and Moonspell. Separate tickets were sold, and they were in for quite a treat.


Prey

Prey had the honour of opening the third day of Summer Darkness 2006 in Tivoli, the biggest venue of the festival. There was a small crowd gathered for their performance, but it got busier during the show. Their latest album was released in 2004, so who knows, we might be pleasantly surprised with a new album in the near future.

Music
Prey was the perfect band to start the day, nice and easy. They had a perfect build up in the set list, the songs got heavier and more emotional along the way. Roeland has a wonderful voice, he has a very distinct sound which colours this music. It would be nice though if he would articulate a bit more. The final song was the final song of their album and also the title track 'Heartfelt'. It is a diverse song with heavy emotional parts and quiet parts, it ended with only Roeland singing and Mariët on synths. Leaving the audience speechless.



Performance
It was dark in the venue and it stayed dark when the band started to play, there was hardly any front light. Roeland shows his emotions on his face, you can see the tension in his body. The guitarists exchange a smile every once in a while and are serious for the rest of the time. it is nice to see the contact between the band members is so good. They had a guitar player assist them today who is not normally there, Jeroen, who learned the set list in only 2,5 weeks.

Rating
Music 8
Performance 7
Sound 7
Light 5
Total 7





Reaper

It was time for some more Vasi Vallis. Performing today with another one of his projects, the industrial band, Reaper. This is the runner up project after the split up of NamNamBulu. In didn’t see the entrance because I was a bit late, but my friend told me it was quite dark and cool.

Music
Raw industrial, with a techno edge. The music is aggressive. Most people who are dancing don’t look happy either. The sound was alright. I was glad I was wearing earplugs, even though the music is not very loud, Reaper added a few high-pitched samples to their base. And that is bad for your ears. Even though the band adds different samples and tunes to each song, the base of every song is the same. They don’t vary enough to keep me interested. The music is very danceable.



Performance
The set up of the stage was a bit different then the set up for Frozen Plasma. There was no vocalist. Vasi did the vocals and part of the keys himself. For this he was walking up and down the stage every few songs. He had one key player with him, as I could see, wearing a big typical reaper-cloak. You can only see this shady person in the back playing keys, is not possible to recognise him. Vasi himself was wearing a mask, and his voice was formed to make it sound as an electronic beast. Use of light: a lot of stroboscope, and the stage was pretty much filled with smoke. In the back they had a video projection of a haunted girl. This wasn’t clear all the time because of the amount of smoke he used.

Rating
Music 6
Performance 6
Sound 8
Light 6
Total 6 (6,3)






The Wounded

Wounded never has been a band that chose the easiest way to create their intense and emotional music. They never chose the easy way to just please listeners who became fan of their unique sound, style and philosophical lyrics. From their debut "The Art of Grief" (2000) and the second album "Monument" (2002) until the last chapter "Atlantic" (2004) they've developed into a group of honest musicians who were never interested in making marketing a part of their musical concept.

Music
The Wounded has always been one of my favourite bands, so when I get the change to see them, I’m present. On this Saturday afternoon the Wounded played second in a line up of Prey (first) and Moonspell (headliner), a line up in which The Wounded suited very well. They opened the show with the beautiful ‘Hollow World’ followed by  ‘Garland‘. Marco (vocals) has a really strong and distinct voice, which gives , altogether the emotional guitar riffs and dreamy keyboard parts, the band their explicit sound.  Too bad that The Wounded still haven’t found them a suitable Record Company, but that doesn’t seem to stop them from writing and performing anything new. This afternoon they presented us ‘Come and see the Paradise‘ , a song in the same line as their former songs, but again strong and it really catchy. The sound in the venue was very well balanced and the sound tech seemed to know what the band needed to sound this well.



Performance
The Wounded as a performer should not be measured to ‘movable’ metal bands like for example Moonspell. The Wounded as a performer can be described as a unassuming band; all the members seem to drown into their own world, touching their deepest emotions. This is visualised when Andy (bass) and Marco (vocals and guitar)  play their solos with deep agony. You can really feel what they’re trying to reach to with their music. Eduard (synths) feels the music deep inside and sometimes had to stand still to relive the moment. In my opinion The Wounded is, together with Anathema, a band with one of the highest measurements of intensity. The lights at Summer Darkness unfortunately didn’t give the band the ambiance they needed. Most of the time it was just a little too dark or too much red light was used; not really a alternated light show.



Setlist
01. Hollow world
02. Garland
03. Running on empty
04. Northern lights
05. Come and see the paradise
06. Atlantic
07. Monument

Rating
Music 8
Performance 8
Sound 8
Light 6
Total 8 (7.5)






Absurd Minds

Absurd minds has been around for 15 years now. After practising and making their own sound better, they  released a few albums, that were quite successful. Back on the road they would also visit Summer Darkness to treat them to one hour of raging beats and dark songs.

Music
This dark electro band starts out with a slower set. Seems there is more time to catch your breath. The music can’t really capture me though. On CD they do sound quite well, but live there seems to be something missing. Maybe it’s the lack of energy in the first few songs that makes me lose interest. The Intro is classical to begin with, sometimes a few electronic samples added. The singer sings in both German and English. After about half an hour I left. The band was not interesting enough. It missed the spark in both music and performance I like to see with bands.



Performance
He seems to have fun on stage, and is the only one really moving. The drummer in the back, on electronic drums, seems to just do his work, and same goes for both key players. The performance doesn’t really add anything special to the show. The lights were ok though. Because of the lack of performance from the band, the audience wasn’t reacting very enthusiastic as well, they were just standing and watching. I heard more and more people around me who just started to talk about the weather and such. Really too bad.

Rating
Music 6
Performance 5
Sound 7
Light 6
Total 6 (5,7)






Moonspell

With their new album Memorial released Moonspell had to visit us again. It seemed many thought the same for Tivoli was quite busy. Not a lot of neon colours this time but a lot of black dressed people. I haven't seen this many forks in the air during all of Summer Darkness.

Music
As of song one Moonspell deafened the venue with pure metal force. Their new album is heavier but also has its sensitive moments such as 'Luna' and 'Sanguine' which is the lovesong of the album. One of the lyrics is "Your love comes to me in oceans of blood". They played several songs from the Wolfhart album, such as 'Alma Mater' and 'Vampiria'. 'Full Moon Madness' was played for the true Moonspell fans. Fernando seems to live what he is singing, these vocals come from the heart. The set list was very satisfactory for the audience and they shouted for more once the band had left the stage. This is music to build a pit to, to head bang to and all of that was done during this amazing performance which was fantastic in more than one way.



Performance
Dark sounds, a moon lit on the backdrop which shows us a cemetery. 2 frontdrops with the band logo. Then the band enters and the show is off to a start. Fernando announced he wanted to put the darkness in the sun of this festival, and they did. They had a fantastic light show. It showed Fernando (vocals) as if he was standing in the middle of a pentagram during 'Vampiria'. When he announced 'Sanguine' the lights turned red while saying the word Sanguine. it is great to see Fernando's hands turn to claws while he is singing. The band was very grateful for their performance. We were even told "you are all welcome in my country", being Portugal of course. For they had been so well received in the Netherlands all these years. They announced to be back in January. After the encore there was mutual applause from the audience and the band, hands were shaken and a satisfied audience was left.

Rating
Music 9
Performance 9
Sound 8
Light 9
Total 9 (8,9)








Grendel

Grendel has been around since 1997 (although not always under that name) and have now released two full length albums and have recently recorded their latest EP 'Soilbleed'. A release which is very well received. There was great anticipation for their performance in Tivoli. Since there were tickets especially for Moonspell, The Wounded and Prey Tivoli was swept clean after this performance and a long row was already waiting in the hall. Black out, neon in. There were no bands in other venues at the same time and so Tivoli was again packed.

Music
Their vocalist [VLRK] is full of energy on stage, his vocals are a bit soft in the mix though, as were his synths. Which was a shame because his distorted vocals are something which brings live to the music. [M4RC] (drums) has a lot of work to do, i think it is quite admirable that he can keep playing the same beat during entire songs. That is one of the elements of Grendel, a beat which continues from beginning to end, loud and hard. Personally I had expected more of them.



Performance
Grendel had constant video projections on a rectangular screen at the back of the stage. They showed a dissection by Japanese people, other violent Japanese movies and Tour of Duty like images. They are a very energetic band and you can see they love what they do. The venue was moving, all around there were people dancing. So I believe they had accomplished their goal, get people dancing and show them a good time.

Rating
Music 6
Performance 7
Sound 6
Light 6
Total 6,4






Welle:Erdball

"You are listening to the German radio station Welle:Erdball". This station has been around since 1990 and has since released many albums. The most recent being: Chaos Total. Welcome to analogue retro-futurepop. Let Honey, ALF, Venus and Plastique show you a special evening with a show you like you have never seen it before.

Music
This was one of the most upbeat concerts of the festival. High tunes and happy beats. A song like ‘Telegraph’ is one with an extra sound, the sound of an actual telegraph. During one song Honey even played an additional single drum, it had water on it which was coming off with each hit. During the last hit he let go of his drumstick so it flew away. It was a marvellous show and the audience thought so too because they shouted for more and they were in luck because they got an extra song. Some songs had aggressive vocals others softer ones, mostly sung in German.



Performance
They started the show with just two men in front of the curtain. Both men were playing a small keyboard and one singing, moving like robots. Soon enough the curtain opened and behind it there were two women dressed in white Marilyn Monroe like outfits on two installations spinning 2 blue neon triangles around themselves. We were in for a treat this evening, for this must be one of the most extensive stage acts of the entire festival. What else did they have in store for the Summer Darkness audience? Signs held up with Dutch texts, huge balloons, waving flags, guns, little airplanes (during ‘Starfighter’) and red triangles during ‘Monotone Minimale’. The huge balloons were slapped across the entire venue and then Honey told us we were not aggressive enough because we didn’t break them. During the show Honey told us they usually use old computers “and now an applause for the Commodore 64”, this caused a lot of laughter. The audience was very enthusiastic. And many were dancing through the entire show.

Rating
Music 9
Performance 9
Sound 8
Light 9
Total 9 (8,9)






Combichrist

After their performance at Summer Darkness 2004, I was looking forward to seeing them again. The band formed in 2003 by frontman Andy LaPlegua has concurred the world, everybody knows Combichrist and wants to be seen there. After the release of Get your body beat, it was time for some live shows again. And I was expecting something.

Music
The sound of Combichrist is raw and aggressive cyber gothic with industrial influences. The tracks are compact and simple, well thought out music. The lyrics are harsh, with text like: ‘lying sack of shit’ (a song about himself ;)), the atmosphere is set for the evening. People have been waiting for this band. They are jumping around, and dancing to he fast and hard beats. In the Middle of the set a few slower songs pass, Andy also lets us hear his normal voice as well. And he can do more then just scream. The sound was not very good in the beginning, some feedback, and it was not balanced very well. This time, with only 3 members on stage, it took some time to make this sound better. The volume is tunes up even more. The people without earplugs are probably deaf now. The music is great, simple but divers, but they could have worked on the sound and the volume.



Performance
Like said, I only saw 3 members on stage, Andy himself, Shaun, and Bjorn were on stage. Because of Andy’s energetic performance they used almost the entire stage, and I wasn’t missing members at all. The other two were also really into the music, dancing around as much as possible, without leaving the set. The stage itself was not really decorated, it was obvious it was about the music and dancing and not the show. The lights were like real party lights, flickering, a lot of red and white was being used. They pumped you up as well, together with the music. Audience is going wild during several hits of the band; ‘You came to dance’ came true. Only thing I didn’t like was the amount of smoke on the stage, sometimes I couldn’t even see what was happening. Then again… I came to dance? Didn’t I?
And now we have to wait to see them again. After 1,5 hours of jumping and dancing, my feet hurt and it was time for a break.

Rating
Music 8
Performance 8
Sound 6
Light 6
Total 7 (7,4)








Soman

One of the late night shows of this day was given by Soman, club industrial. He was assisted by Lahannya, recording artist and DJ from the UK. It was quiet at first but slowly the audience from Tivoli came in to dance the night away.

Music
There was some live (or so it seemed) sampling going on with the voice of the singer. She had a pleasant voice and was a nice addition to the music. Which was an ongoing beat with occasional changes. It was a relaxed beat, making the audience dance. Through a microphone Soman could keep in touch with the audience and show them his enthusiasm. As the night went on the music got a bit more energetic than in the beginning of the evening. This was reflected in the dancing of the audience.



Performance
Soman was mostly just one guy on stage behind a computer but…. It was great to see him do his job. He was thoroughly enjoying himself. With a big smile on his face and full of energy he was entertaining a small but growing crowd. In the front there were some very enthusiastic fans, pushing off with their feet on the stage and dancing like crazy. During the show it got busier an busier. For two songs Soman had Lahannya on stage to sing along and she also danced a little. Besides these show elements there were some projections mixed with live images on a screen and a lot of flashing disco lights.

Rating
Music 7
Performance 6
Sound 7
Light 5
Total 6 (6,3)






FabrikC

FabrikC was performing Tivoli The Helling, for 45 minutes the band was allowed to show what they got live, and make us dance. By this time, most people were ready to fall asleep standing up, so the task of waking everybody up was a good one for FabrikC. The raw pumping beats and dark atmosphere was to give everybody a good shake.

Music
FabrikC makes strong pumping beats, noisy and screaming samples every now and again. He chose industrial as his base, and mixed this up quite well with techno samples and a raving edge. This all worked up tighter with a certain sad tone over the whole music, and a most dark feeling, that’ll send shivers down your spine, and here you have FabrikC. On stage created by 2 synthesizers, one being played by a girl, the other played by a guy with a Jason mask on (you know, from Friday the 13th!), in the middle there was your sampler. He made sure that most people in the audience would have painful ears after the show, and besides that he was dancing around. His electricity filled the air, because a lot of people were dancing, too.

Performance
The performance was how you would expect it from a cyber band. It was energetic, dark, dooming lights, samples slammed into every song, And an very active singer. Only this time he wasn’t really singing. The guy in the middle would make sure everybody stayed happy, and made some jokes in between the tracks. It was funny but also a bit of a shame, most people just came to dance and now they had to listen to the talking. Funny he did this without a mic, the just yelled something to the audience. Besides this the performance was not really interesting. The voices you did hear sing were on tape. After about half an hour I really had seen enough. The huge amount of strobes was getting on my nerves.

Rating
Music 8
Performance 6
Sound 7
Light 6
Total 7 (6,7)

More photos on page 2

Summer Darkness day 1
Summer Darkness day 2
Summer Darkness day 4


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