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THE ARCHIVES
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Morrigan's Pit has closed down as of November 2006. The site and its articles will stay online as an archive until September at least, but probably longer.
The Archives
2002-2006
» CD REVIEWS
» INTERVIEWS
» LIVE REVIEWS
» SPECIALS
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BRAINSTORM - AT VANCE - MERCENARY
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Zeche Carl - Essen (D)
Biebob - Vosselaar (B)
April 21st/April 22nd 2005
http://www.brainstorm-web.net
http://www.at-vance.com
http://www.mercenary.dk
In 1997 I went to see Morgana Lefay on tour, in the Zeche Carl in Essen to be more precise. The opening act was a band called Brainstorm that to this point had been totally unknown to me. Now eight years and many Brainstorm gigs later I finally could witness the band on their first ever headlining European tour. Yeah!
Supported by Mercenary from Denmark and At Vance from Germany the whole deal is called "Inside The Monster European Tour 2005". For now I've been to the gigs in Essen (D) and Vosselaar (B), for the latter I was joined by Marlies. To make our job here a litte easier we once again dedided to sum up the two gigs in one review. And here's what the shows were like.
Opening act was MERCENARY, much to my disappointment I must say. Not because I don't like them but as being just that, the opening act, they only got a playing time of 30 minutes which is ridiculously short for a great band like this. But who said life's fair and so Mercenary did their best to use the time they were given. Already the opener, "Falling", clearly displayed one of the main points that make Mercenary stick out from lots of other bands in their field: they have two awesome vocalists in form of lead singer Mikkel Sandager and bassist Kral. These two cover such a wide spectrum vocally, it is nothing short of amazing. While Mikkel is responsible for the clean vocals, Kral provides all forms of growls and shouts, and especially during "Seize The Night" at the gig in Essen I was just staring at them because it was so impressive. Mikkel's brother Morten behind the keyboard also adds backing vocals, so you can imagine that they can reproduce their material live pretty well. Mercenary were quite well-received by the crowds and especially the track "11 Dreams" should really appeal to every Brainstorm fan too. Perhaps that's one of the reasons they chose to have that as the last song in Vosselaar, I don't know.
Sometimes it is just hard to stand that bands have to go through the whole process of support slots over and over again (see Brainstorm) but Mercenary will make their way in this business, I'm sure. I'll just wait for the day they won't have to travel with a camper and have headliner status too.
setlist Mercenary in Essen:
Falling
Firesoul
11 Dreams
Into The Sea Of Dark Desires
World Hate Center
Seize The Night
(at the gig in Vosselaar "11 Dreams" and "Seize The Night" switched position)
Next up on the billing were AT VANCE. I'm not following their carreer but I had seen them live before and when they entered the stage I was like "huh, I only recognize the guitarist". Apparently the band's line-up has changed a bit over the last year but actually the singer is still the same (Mats Levén), he's just looking slightly different with his longer hair compared to the last time I saw him. He definitely is a very good singer! I also found At Vance to be heavier than I had expected (or remembered them) - no idea why. Among the songs they performed were "The Evil In You", "Fallen Angel", "Heart Of Steel" and "Chained" which was followed by a little jam and a drum solo. It's not only me who thinks that if a band only has 45 minutes it should stick to playing songs and leave soloing out.. but luckily it all wasn't that long. After a few more songs the last song I recognized again was "Take Me Away". Nice performance, but not really much my thing at all. (Cora)
And I (Marlies) can wholeheartedly agree that Mercenary deserves to make it big, great band! In Vosselaar we didn't see a lot of At Vance's gig, because we went to chat with the Brainstorm guys and I expected to see At Vance in the next two days as well, I was looking forward to see their drummer Mark Cross play again. Unfortunately that got crossed by an ugly migraine attack, probably because I went to Vosselaar with a mild migraine already. In the Biebob, painkillers and some earplugs supplied by Dieter made it possible to attend the whole Brainstorm gig, but of course I had to hold back and couldn't experience it as intense as I normally would. But hey, at least I was there!
After their Neil Diamond-intro "What A Beautiful Noise" followed by some samples I couldn't place (I haven't had a chance yet to ask what that was) BRAINSTORM started with the opener of their kick-ass new CD "Liquid Monster", "Worlds Are Coming Through". One of my favorites on that album and a killer opener for this gig as well. As usual the band was in top form and Andy B. Franck just seems to get better and better every time. He hits every note ("The Leading" seems to be the most difficult song, it was a bit forced but he did hit all the notes :)) and his voice doesn't seem to suffer from running around all the time. He always seeks a lot of contact with the audience, sometimes sitting on the edge of the stage, singing to someone, sometimes letting others sing along, sometimes gesturing to someone specific in the crowd who is not clapping his hands hehe. With all his activity, mimicry and joking you'd almost forget to pay attention to the rest of the band. The great rhythmsection of the amazing drummer Dieter Bernert and bassist Andreas Mailänder together with the guitarteam responsible for the typical Brainstorm sound: Milan Loncaric and Torsten Ihlenfeld.  They also provide good backing vocals and Todde even sings half the lines of the verses in "Soul Temptation". As you can see the setlist was a mix of the last 2 CDs, plus a few "Ambiguity" tunes and my very favorite "old" song, "Voices" of "Unholy"!! In Vosselaar unfortunately no "Beyond My Destiny", but "Voices" at that point. The highlight of the show was IMO the Trinity Of Lust trilogy - yes the whole thing! That was a big happening to me, because the least played song of the three, "Soul Temptation", is my favorite of that album and to be taken away on the Eastern sounds of the whole trilogy was just incredible!!! After that they played the single of the new CD, "All Those Words". Somehow that song just always makes me happy, or lifts me up when I'm down, relaxes me when I'm stressed out. It's more melodic than most BS songs, but it's just world class - and it really gets to me :) I put my plugs back in my ears for the rest of the songs, the gig ended with two encores "Doorway To Survive" and "Under Lights". I think the audience still wanted more but it was clear that the show was over. According to Cora they did play another encore in Essen, "Voices", which hadn't been played yet at that point on that night. What a big, big disappointment that I wasn't able to see my boys again in Andernach and Helmond, but I cherish my Biebob memories :) (Marlies)
setlist Brainstorm in Essen:
Intro (What A Beautiful Noise)
Worlds Are Coming Through
Blind Suffering
The Leading
Beyond My Destiny
Highs Without Lows
medley (Lifeline/Shadowland/Tear Down The Walls)
Inside The Monster
Shiva's Tears
Fornever
Soul Temptation
All Those Words
Hollow Hideaway
Burns My Soul
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Doorway To Survive
Under Lights
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Voices
(at the gig in Vosselaar they dropped "Beyond My Destiny" and played "Voices" at that point instead)
Pictures from the gig in Helmond/The Netherlands on April 24th can soon be found at Nico's Photo Pit!
submitted by Cora 26.04.2005
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