FFYS Diary – Day 2

Saturday, including a tent metal report and Funky P.

Eric, Luc and I arrived in Tuntange around 3:15PM and after a couple of greetings here and there I made my way to the tent to check out the first band of the day for me: A Mute Appeal.

It was the first time I saw them live and since I had no prior knowledge of who they are and what they play I was surprised by the energy these youngsters brought to the stage. The crowd seemed to enjoy that energy and thus formed the first ninja pit of the day. The Luxembourgish deathcore quintet played their songs flawlessly but the thing that definitely stands out the most is the singer’s powerful voice who manages to deliver amazing growls and screeches. The only downside to me was the fact that the instrumental part was pretty repetitive, but considering that the band is only a year old I can forgive that. Plus, there was a novelty for me: a rowboat mosh-pit, for lack of a better name. I didn’t take a picture of it but I’ll try to explain it: imagine a dozen people sitting on the floor, one behind the other and they row in synch with the music. Needless to say I had a good laugh.

The next band was Abstract Rapture, who were announced last minute as one of the surprise acts. After seeing them the last time at their CD release a week ago I was glad that they chose quite a different setlist which was mostly comprised of songs from their debut EP Dead End Entry with 3 songs off their most recent endeavor Earthcrush. The sound was very crisp and that was just what made their flawless performance even better. The crowd was very enthusiastic and a lot of happy headbangers were feeling quite at ease by the looks of it. There is one thing I can say without a doubt: welcome back Dritt!

After a short break the next band took to the stage: Cosmogon. This Luxembourgish superband which consists of members of now defunct Ex Inferis and Abstract Rapture plays an interesting mix of metalcore and sludge which might sound weird at first but it works in the end. Just like their predecessors Cosmogon had a great sound and even though it was the second show in a row for drummer Spitt and bassist Steven this did not affect their performance which was as per usual killer, with Fab’s amazing voice being the cherry on the pie.

Then I had a quick change of scenery to the main stage where Funky P were playing and even though I only witnessed three songs I was amazed by their super charismatic singer. The Luxembourgish funk formation delivered a great performance and definitely managed to put me in a good mood.

Back to the “metal tent” where Hills Have Eyes had already started playing. I only checked out one of their songs a while ago and I didn’t really remember much of it so I was surprised by what my ears were given: finest metalcore. This Portuguese band brought an amount of energy to the stage that almost scared me and I was kind of sad to see that the crowd was nowhere nearly as enthusiastic, at first. However, about halfway through their set the crowd warmed up and the wooden floor of the tent didn’t stop wobbling. I’m surprised no one got seasick. The, in my opinion, best band of the day so far was rewarded with what I believe was the first circle pit of that day.

Up next was the perhaps most anticipated metal act of Saturday: Scarred. After devastating the tent exactly a year ago at Food For Your Senses everyone had high hopes for them and I think it’s pretty safe to say that these hopes were not crushed. Even though their guitarist Yogy played with Abstract Rapture earlier that day every riff came out as clean as always and the rest of the ensemble were just as fit. The sound was nearly perfect and Sach’s vocals laid nicely on top of the instrumental thunderstorm. The crowd was headbanging and moshing like no tomorrow and toward the end of the show they formed a rather epic wall of death which sadly ended up being somewhat of a failure.

By this point I was close to passing out from hay fever and the one or the other beer I had  up til now. However I had sworn to myself that I’d check out Arkaeon in order to determine if they just had a bad day the first time I saw them live. Turns out that must have been the case because what I saw and heard here was almost better than the songs on the album. Especially singer Rosh stepped up big time and laid down a killer performance. Sadly the concert had to be interrupted for medical reasons before they could play their new song. All in all, I’m looking forward to the next time I see them live and until then: get well buddy!

Yannick

So let’s go get some fresh air and see what happened on the open air stages that day. As you can see the line-up on Saturday was by far stronger than on the other day. More to do for us, more for you to read.

I hadn’t seen Quentin Lagonza for years and it really felt a bit like the old times, although they have changed their style a bit since then. Some very nice riffs packed into a powerful 90s grunge suit gave a good start into the day. The “Rise-Against-like” vocals also fitted pretty well.

Dirty Crows celebrated their release at the 2nd stage and showed the audience how they have changed during the past months. And this does not only count for Marc Bonert, who seemed to have had some kind of symbiosis with Josh Homme. Their progress as a live band was obvious, although at a few points things became a bit longwinded (don’t pause too long, keep the flow!) and the sound was by far not brute enough for some real desert rock’n’roll. Nevertheless, there was no comparison to last year’s performance, the new songs just rock. Skill comes with practice, and this already sounded way more mature, also with help of the guest appearances like Château and Jan Kerscher from

Inborn!

What can I say about Porn Queen? Well, they just look like and sound like they are called: classic rock and even stadium rock was served at the main stage, mixed with appropriate cigarette lead vocals. For those who like to wear cut-off jeans and drive with your Harley to the festivals: this must be your band! One may has to wonder if this kind of music is still going to attract many lovers those days. Porn Queen don’t seem to care.

Inborn! delivered the Space Odyssey soundtrack of the day at stage 2. This typical sound they created themselves is also perfectly presented by now. It sometimes even grows bigger than the stage would allow. Although personally, I prefer them playing in a hall, this will perfectly work at bigger festivals. Despite experimental and electro parts they are never afraid to release their guitars. The melancholic basement of this future rock supplied an interesting contrast to the rest of day 2.

I am a total nitwit considering hip-hop, but what I could observe at the main stage was that De Läb once more celebrated one huge party. They are a FFYS constant, like it or not.

The Intersphere arranged the warm-up show for Mutiny on the Bounty, and by writing this, I’ve already done them an injustice. The guys from Germany are my personal surprise of this year’s FFYS because I had never heard of them before (shame on me!). First, they just managed to take every little drop of good sound out of this 2nd stage. I wonder how Dirty Crows would have sounded with those settings. Second, their mixture between hard post-core, clean vocals, an insane drummer and even a few head banger moments just rocked the audience out of their shoes. A very merciless and professional show – the fact that The Intersphere sometimes sound like Fall Out Boy is not a bad point. Unfortunately not enough people were there to witness their performance because the competition on the other stages was very strong. However, thumbs up boys!

A few weeks ago we had the luck of witnessing the Mutiny on the Bounty release show at the Atelier in Luxembourg City, and their FFYS performance was in no way inferior. Post-rock, post-core, apocalyptic mood, in one phrase: this should have been a huge main stage performance! The people at stage 2 however didn’t care and enjoyed Luxembourg’s finest post-core band at the moment. MOTB exactly control the point of their outbreaks, needless to say that on a technical level this is just grand. No idea how this drummer can handle all this, being the lead vocalist at the same time.

Long text, long day. Day 3 will be online tomorrow!

Denis

FFYS Diary – Day 1

Friday

The Food For Your Senses festival must be in the rock’n’roll god’s good books because the weather forecast once again was fantastic! On an organisational level there were a few good changes compared to last year, especially considering the parking and entry area. The general mood on day 1 was that good that people even threw their wallet on the stage without taking the money out of it.

My first stage on this year’s plan was Mount Stealth, who entered the tent stage with their rhythmic and melodic math and post rock. A confident performance was given, including softer pop rhythms, harder post rock bursts an even a few electro parts. Although, for my personal taste, they sometimes seemed a bit too mellow, they never hesitated to give a loud eruption and mix it with a very danceable fundament. A bit more of a clear line still would be benefiting.

Sorry to the guys of Go Back To The Zoo, because I really didn’t have them on my list. Fortunately I was around when they celebrated their good mood rock’n’roll and created the first bigger party moments on the main stage right after sunset. Although their pop rock often reminded of a typical American Pie soundtrack, they always found a way not to sound too childish and delivered a very enjoyable and likeable performance.

Back to the tent things were getting serious. Dub Trio’s setlist turned out to be pretty freakishly, in a good way of course! At the beginning, they just rocked the stage with very solid instrumental metal, combining classic parts with modern ones. Even if the drummer could have been a member of The Fitness, the set was just evil like a hellhound. Those riffs were the first metal highlight at the tent stage, which like always left nothing to be desired during this weekend. As time went on, those guys became more and more crazy, moving a bit away from hard guitars and including reggae parts (what?!) and even electronic elements in the end (what?!!!), creating a pretty insane mixture: Reggae-electro-metal. You just got to love the moments you didn’t see coming in the beginning.

Kraftklub were eagerly awaited at the main stage later that evening. After the longest and most annoying sound check of the day, they hit the floor and supplied the first huge party moment for this year’s edition. Unfortunately they had to strive against the bad sound during the whole set. As a consequence, their live performance was way behind their LP appearance, which didn’t prevent them from being on top of things and of the crowd from the beginning to the end. Personally, I’m having an issue with German music for some years now, but Kraftklub, even if I’m pretty sure the hype will become embarrassing during the coming months,cast a spell over me with their cheeky and arrogant debut. All the more astonishing that the youngsters appeared very sympathetic during their performance. A band that seemed to reckon that more people illegally downloaded their LP instead of buying it. Really. As already said, the only thing to criticise was the sound or rather the lack of guitars. Nevertheless, the main stage turned into a huge dancefloor, not for the last time for this year’s FFYS.

Sorry in advance for all the bands we couldn’t see during this great weekend. We’re sure there were some great performances that we’ve missed.

Read about day 2 tomorrow, and be prepared for way more metal!

Denis

Dirty Crows – Got No Chance Against Rock’N’Roll


A sludgy and pretty threatening intro already hints at what the boys from Dirty Crows have aimed at over the last month: a step away from classical rock’n’roll and towards a doomier and more stoner way of blowing our socks off.

A newer and more monstrous version of The Kalashnikov Blues then raids you right away without any further warning. This crow has become a really dirty one; it behaves like an insidious rabid snake. You never know how and when it will attack. Unexpected breaks, pauses, changes of direction make this work unpredictable and distances itself from a classic 90s stoner record. The influences from that time are nevertheless obvious.

Producer Jan Kerscher did a great job in changing the band’s sound, developing it like into some serious and dark business. The gloomy but driving main elements are somewhere in-between Fu Manchu, Kyuss and early Queens of the Stone Age. The drums have been tuned down, the vocals vary between sexy, clean and rough parts. The guitars bring us back to the crazy crow; they simply go totally wild sometimes, giving us an Era Vulgaris atmosphere at some points, together with other sound gimmickry and experiments. The desert picture is completed by a bass play that sounds like someone used rusty wires to play with.

Towards the middle of Got No Chance Against Rock’N’Roll you can witness a certain back to the roots feeling, meeting old songs in a more or less old arrangement, but deeper due to the new sound. Let’s refer one last time to our stoned crow: it sometimes seems that this crazy bird overdoes when running amok. Well, you might say this must be part of its nature. I agree with that. But at some points you might expect kind of a “less is more” approach in-between abrupt breaks and drum driven doom parts. Great riffs nevertheless compensate some mentally disordered derailments. A good example would be It Ain’t easy, for which I really tried but couldn’t find the right words to describe its awesomeness, whereas the new Hit The Road may become a doubtful case.

The last points to mention would be the guest appearances (which I won’t name because not everything must be revealed yet) and a very mature bouncer song. One thing is for sure, this record is meant to be played aloud! Let’s see how this is going to sound live.

Recommendations: The Kalashnikov Blues, It Ain’t Easy, Mean Thing.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaB0cJQBP5A]
If you have become curious and want to grab your copy of this debut: Dirty Crows will release it this Saturday at 5.30 pm at the Food For Your Senses Festival. See you there.

Trash Monday XVIII


What the fuck is this shit?

No, sersiously; chubby girls need love too. Really. But this is just unbearable! Are Gossip trying to copy Madonna’s “Like A Prayer” video? Is Brace Payne a secret member from SunnO)))? The song is awful and the refrain must be the most annoying thing I have heard in years!

One thing is for sure: Now we all know how Evanescence’s Amy Lee will look like after 10 pregnancies and a high-dosed cortisone therapy. Next!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8mw5i43-uQ]

Aphyxion – Obliteration Of The Weak


Aphyxion. A name that will most likely not ring a bell for a lot of people, however the people that do know the name will be able to tell you that it’s a band that you should observe in the future.

The, surprisingly, very young Danish quintet shows a degree of professionalism in both their studio endeavors as well as their live performances where many bands these days barely manage to deliver on one of those levels.

Their 5 track 2010 EP Obliteration Of The Weak starts off with an eponymous track that lets you know in the first 15 seconds what they’re all about: heaviness mixed with that well-known Scandinavian groove.

On the instrumental level they remind me of a modern take on At The Gates‘ Slaughter Of The Soul, which is definitely a good thing. One could also compare their sound to the older stuff of their compatriots from Hatesphere.

The vocalist’s screams are on an equal level throughout the entire EP and although they are mainly guttural, he adds some small screechy nuances to them that give you just the right amount of diversity.

Soundwise I must say that I’m mostly surprised by how well it all sounds, especially because we aren’t talking about a major label band here. No, my guess is that this was a rather low-budget production and yet the result is just impressive. The drums don’t sound over-triggered, as is often the case with new bands these days, and the guitars come at you with a thick clear sound.

There is, however, one negative point that struck me during my listening sessions: a lack of diversity. After listening to the EP around a dozen times I wasn’t really able to differentiate clearly between the songs. Despite that, I am confident that this is something that will pose no problems to them on their next record since I’ve had a chance to see them live not too long ago here in Luxembourg and unless my ears betrayed me they played new songs that have a much diverse sound to them.

All in all I can only say that you should definitely give this fresh band a try since they hold a lot of potential and I, for one, will follow their evolution with great interest.

And if you get the chance to see them live, do so. Their energy on stage will surely make you bang your head (or ninja-dance around, if that’s what you fancy) and they are genuinely nice people have a drink with and talk to.

Be sure to check out their Facebook profile and the song below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUSroUOB9do]

Adestria – Chapters


This is my first review for El Gore and I’m not entirely sure what I’m doing; so bear with me here.

The record I decided to write about is the debut album Chapters of the rather unknown metalcore band Adestria. At first you might think that Adestria is just your generic “more breakdowns please” metalcore clone but you couldn’t be more wrong.

What these 6 guys from San Diego managed to capture in these 10 songs is a perfect mixture between heaviness and melody that a lot of more famous bands are unable to find.

On top of the amazing harmony on an instrumental level you have the truly strong voice of the lead singer who manages growls, screeches and clean vocals equally well. But it doesn’t stop there. 3 guest vocalists also make an appearance to give 3 songs that special something: Tyler Smith from The Word Alive, Davey Muise of Vanna and Scott Barnes of In Fear And Faith. And if all that isn’t enough yet you have a brilliant production to make it even easier for you to like this album. Lyrically the album is also satisfying and mostly pirate-inspired but not in a corny way, I’d say.

You might notice that I haven’t found anything negative about the record and that is correct. To me this is the best album (in this genre, of course) of 2012 so far and one of the biggest surprises in recent times.

I want to add that I don’t mean to say that Adestria have re-invented the (metalcore) wheel but that they definitely gave it a new spin and future releases of other bands will have to be able to hold up with this album.

You can check them out on their Facebook page and be sure to listen to the song Scarlett Letter below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4PaA-WTtOA]

Haze


Today it is rather difficult to find a movie which scares the shit out of people and leaves them with an unease and uncomfortable feeling. Even most of my favorite modern horror flicks aren’t able to bring up these “mal à l’aise” feelings I felt so often while I was watching scary stuff as a kid. Either I’ve become completely over-saturated and desensitized to the whole genre, or movie people just don’t know how to write a good story and how to create an atmosphere anymore. When I look back a decade, there are only a handful of movies which in some way shocked or terrified me at least a bit and as I always say, I have seen a lot of weird, sick and disgusting stuff. Haze certainly is one movie that manages to do something with me.

In 2005, Tetsuo: The Iron Man director Shinya Tsukamoto was given the opportunity to do a short for the Digital Short Films by three Filmmakers project. The idea behind this project is to give 50.000 dollars to three directors in order to let them make movies by a given subject. The three shorts are then shown during the South Korean Jeonju International Film Festival. Mr. Tsukamoto came up with a 25 minute long version of Haze, which later on was extended to 49 minutes.

The story of the movie is quite “simple”:

  • A wounded man wakes up and finds himself in a perverse maze.
  • The man searches for an exit.
  • The man sees people being slaughtered and dying.
  • The man meets a woman (from now on the movie gets “weaker”, coincidence??)
  • Togehter they try to find a way out.
  • They find a way out.

Boring you said? No way! Personally I think there are a few reasons why Haze works so well. First of all, Tsukamoto uses a very simple but nowadays very underrated movie element: atmosphere. Especially the first half of the movie is dominated by an incredibly dark and bone crushing ambiance, which immediately captivates you. He then combines this effective and very tense device with some gory effects, primal and modern human fears such as claustrophobia, pain, death, depression and hopelessness. Using all these different elements and horror concepts for sure isn’t something new and especially its concept of isolation reminded me of The Cube, but Haze is able to maintain the level of anxiety very high nearly throughout the whole movie.

Before I watched this flick for the first time I was in no way claustrophobic and I even can’t say that I am now, but since I saw Haze, I have from time to time (although very rarely) this well-known nightmare of body restriction where I barely can move around in an isolated, tight and narrow room. I am not quite sure if it was because of that flick that my subconciousness tries to process this fear but if this is the case, I’ve got my own personal Jaws or Psycho, which would be epic.

If I have to write about negative points of the movie, I think that it loses a bit of its terrifying aspect in the second part just after the man meets the woman. I also think that it even loses more of its mystic and confusing character when the plot moves away from its metaphysical dimension by the two people leaving the maze. Nevertheless, Haze is one of my all-time favorite “what the fuck” movies and in the end it leaves tons of unsolved questions. I am not 100% sure if there are deeper, philosophical explanations and sub-plot interpretations, but I really appreciate it when a director manages to make a film where people think beyond just the images they have seen.