Angelusnoctis - Bats inside my head

Since I came back from my holidays in Berlin I’ve been searching for an reason to go back to Germany… And some days ago I found it! The 25 Dark Dance Treffen.

In Lahr, next to Karlsruhe and Strassburg, the Universal DOG is the venue for a great night of live shows and DJ sessions. For the first time in my life I’m seeing Hocico!!! And Xotox…

I didn’t know this fest existed, but latelly I’m in a “searching mode”. I let my boyfriend search for new music and I’m allways looking for events! The thing is that they don’t have any english info in the DDT website , so I have to guess almost everything with the google tanslator… I’ve gotta say that the fest organization has been really helpful answering us the most important questions.

So, the crazy weekend plan is like that: taking a plane on Saturday, arrive to Stuttgart, rent a car and get to Lahr by the time the fest starts. And the same to come back home on Sunday… I know it’s gonna be a hard weekend, but I know how I’m gonna feel after that: extremely happy.

I was just checking last.fm to add the WGT to my events… And I found they updated it!! This is the line-up users have written (I suppose they have been checking shows in each group tour info, as the official WGT site hasn’t updated anything yet.) (I keep the links to the last.fm profiles)

Tristania, Covenant, London After Midnight, Lake of Tears, Mesh, Trail of Tears, Die Krupps, Welle:Erdball, Unheilig, Neuroticfish, Diablo Swing Orchestra, Samsas Traum, Faun, Gothminister, Skeletal Family, Asrai, Reaper, Inertia, Xotox, end of green, Rezurex, Jesus On Extasy, Secrets of the Moon, The Other, Star Industry, The Spook, The Creepshow, Chamber, 32Crash, Nachtmahr, Krauka, Straftanz, Ashbury Heights, WeltenBrand, Necessary Response, Super Heroines, Militant Cheerleaders on the Move, Onetwo, northborne, Steinkind, Cauda Pavonis, Kloq, The Beauty of Gemina, StoneMan, Schallfaktor, Morian, Menticide, In Mitra Medusa Inri, PostScriptum, Suicidal Romance, Knifeladder, Days of Fate, Gothika, Mono Inc., Lavantgarde, While Angels Watch, Din [A] Tod, Other Day, 13th Monkey, Deviant UK, The Beautiful Disease, Santa Hates You, Transit Poetry, The Veil, Dead Guitars, Ingrimm, Stellar Corpses, Solar Fake, Jesus On Exstasy, Folkstone, Christian Death 1334, The Dirty Weather Project

It will be nice that all of them are confirmed (some are, as I’ve done my reseach work too :D)… There are a few that are on my whislist: Covenant, London After Midnight, Gothminister, Reaper, Straftanz, Northbone, and… Christian Death!!! (I was thinking about going to their show in Madrid in February, but maybe I wait for the WGT). Of course there are a lot I also want to see… Xotox, 32Crash, Skeletal Family, Welle:Erdball, Neuroticfish, Die Krupps…

I can’t wait to know moreeeeeeeeee!!!!!

Last week I bought my flight to Berlin to stay there a couple of days and then go to the Wave Gotik Treffen!! I’ve never been there, but as my friends tell, it must be an incredible experience.

It is supposed to be something like a huge meeting of goths from all over the world, something like a big family. When I search photos of it I allways find every style in people: the after-punk ones, classic goths, electro and cyber ones, the fetish looks… The great thing is that the whole city becomes dark. A friend of mine told me that in every corner of the city, every shop or restaurant they prepare something “goth” for that days. I’m afraid of feeling so comfortable these days that maybe I’ll get depressed when the festival is over.

Check the official page gallery where I’ve taken the nice photos for this post. You’ll find not only a lot of photos of people, but also live photos of the bands. The thing that still impresses me is to find families with their children! It’s nice to find kids there, I suppose it has to be funny for them, as their parents dress them up in those black and goth clothes, they make up them… Girls even look like little princesses!

We don’t know the line-up yet, but I have my wishlist:

• And One
• UnterArt
• London After Midnight
• Combichrist
• VNV Nation
• Cinema Strange
• The Sisters of Mercy (incredible, but last year they played in the South of Spain!)
• Covenant
• and many more…

Las weekend I flew to Barcelona to the “Dark Christmas Festival”. Covenant + Reaper + (I+).

I was really surprised with Reaper, as I’ve never seen their live before, and it was really good. I like their music, but their show was really energetic. I loved their song “She is a Devil and a Whore”, which I listened at least three times that night (the concert and the after party in Demonix).

Covenant was great, it couldn’t have been in other way. Eskil told us that they had some problems with their lugage, and the main synth didn’t arrive to the airport, so tey have to use a”smaller” one. It was almost funny to see that small keyboard, as big as a shoes box. xD Anyway they sounded great., and the frontman didn’t stop telling us “Hit me with your love!” (that was quite funny for me)…

I forgot to take my camera with me, so I couldn’t take any photos. I would have taken some with them in the afterparty as both, Reaper and Covenant, were there, among us taking some beers… That’s a thing that I love of this kind of music: you always have the oportunity to talk with musicians to tell them they’ve done a great work!

Two weeks ago I went to Barcelona to my third concert of Rabia Sorda this year. I love their music: powerful, full of feelings and ideas. It was a pity that only around 40 people were there… I thought that Erk Aicrag of Hocico (!) would attract more people… Anyway, we had a great time, the concert was superb. I know that the lack of spectators isn’t good for the promoters, and even for us at the end (if nobody goes, they won’t organize concerts like that); but that small audience lets you to closely connect in some way with the band. Their PC got blocked once, but even that was nice ^^.

The surprise that night was Stigmatroz. I had just listened to a song in their myspace before, they sound quite similar to Hocico (in my opinion), but they really worked hard to impress us. They filled the stage with strange metal stuff, as if they were in a factory. They had curious paintings over their bodies (although they reminded me of some Balck metal singers look), and they played all the time with their acting. But they aren’t just a look, their music was really nice, check their myspace.

That was a great night, I’m looking forward to the next concert!

Next december, on the 15th, quite a big event in Dark Scene takes place in Málaga (Spain). Some friends of mine are organizing a festival with Spetsnaz, Proceed and Xtertor; you cannot miss it if you like electro music! The Filmore Rock venue is the host of this festival. Come and enjoy it, and if you stay during the day maybe you can try the “Espeto”, a typical dish from Malaga (kind of barbecued sardines).

The ticket is just 18 € if you pay in advance (20€ if you buy it in the disco). You can reserve one calling to +34 651 751 459, or if you are in Malaga, you can buy it at “El Rincón de Jack”, a club located at Francisco de Cossio street, number 16, 3rd local. You can also buy your ticket at “Tiberio Dark Side”, a clothes shop located at Don Cristián street, number 15.

Listen to Spetsnaz in their myspace; they come directly from Swedeen to make your body move with their powerful EBM. And give a try to the tracks of Proceed, as good as the first ones with the Electro Body Music. Don’t forget the show of Xtertor (a.k.a S.I.T.H.), a new local electro band who will for sure impress you with their shocking electro music.

If you are missing the Out of line Festival anywhere in Europe, you still have the oportunity to come to the sunny but also dark Malaga and see Spetsnaz and Proceed together!! Dark Scene is alive! Olé!

Remembering last august again, my second day in the Mera Luna. I don’t actually feel like telling anything today, so I’ll just add some photos of the festival.

Here you have Big Boy (with Chris Harms!, that was a surprise for me), a great pick of Cruxshadows (see that Sangria brick!!!) and The 69 Eyes. My photos of Diorama and Rabia Sorda aren’t as good as I wanted, as they played inside the angar and the light was quite poor.

I’ve been lost for a few weeks, because of a great amount of work and two travels to my beloved Germany… I promised to make my personal review of the Mera Luna Festival, so here it is. But just before start, I have to say that this summer has been one of the best, and at the same time, one of the strangest in my life.

First of all, I have to recognize that after been in Spktro festival in Vitoria, I didn’t have a lot of good expectations for the Mera Luna. I don’t know why, but it was that way (maybe I didn’t believe that anything could make me feel as happy as Spktro did). The day we arrived the festival (friday night) was raining cats and dogs. Rain stopped for a while and we could assemble our tents (quite an easy thing to put the pegs into the floor, as it was just mug!). It was f***ing cold! I think I just slept for half an our, we took the expensive coffee (2,50 €) and we went to Hildesheim to buy some food and drinks.

After our excursion to the town (where we found quite a interesting military shop), and after missing Lola Angst :’( … we got back to the festival and went to Assemblage 23 concert. But Client was there. For a moment we were affraid that some band was missing, but they just changed the order. Client was quite soft (as they are), and then Assemblage 23 came. It was nice, but a poor bass sound made songs sound strange. Although sun was shining too much by that our, and I was really tired, I enjoyed the concert.

Covenant, who played the next, was great. Everybody was so excited with them that some kind of good feelings were flying around us. Sound was not perfect, but Eskil Simonsson knew how to make us feel their music. His dancing body perfectly reflected the emotions… Sound was not the best, but it sounded ok. I was so stirred that was hard trying not to cry! My Mera Luna was begining… And my friends thought the same, that concert was one of the greatest.

After such a great time, I went to rest for a while and to get ready for the biggest one: And One. One of my favourites, it sounded great. I loved And One show, as they make their music sound different. They sing different, they play different.. there’s always a surprise in their live songs. They played the classics, but also some new ones (that great “Military Fashion Show”!!!). Must of them were quick songs, so the concert passed as it lasted for 5 minutes!! After that concert I thought that I should learn German, as I was singing like one possessed even the songs in German.. Sorrounded by Germans… xD Some of them may laughed at me!!

That day ended after a Suicide Commando show, where I could not stay for more than 3 songs. The music was too loud and some microphone distortions made my ears hurt. It was a pitty, as I like SC very much, but I was so tired that I had to go. I went back to the tent to have another cold sleeping night.

Today I want to write about a great band. I knew about UnterArt some moths ago, through their myspace. I listened to the first song in their player, and the power of their music made me listen the other three songs. I had to look for some mp3…

I listened to their CD hundreds of times, and everytime I still listen it I think their music is better. Some songs are so deep… as ‘Aska’… and other are so industrial as ‘Hirntod’… Noise & Grace is a perfect combination of sounds through a well planned path of songs.

Last month I had the opportunity to go to a concert of them, in the Spktro Festival, which was made at my hometown, Vitoria. And it was great. I was excited by the idea of being in such a Festival (Aesthetic Perfection, UnterArt, RabiaSorda, Heimataerde and Grendel), as in Spain is not very usual to have these kind of events.

UnterArt was great, so great that I bought the CD at the end of the concert. I allways try to buy the music that I really like. It’s almost impossible to buy everything I want to listen, but I allways try to support bands I really like buying their music or merchandising, and going to their concerts. When I was buying UnterArt CD, Thomas Stein (one of them) appeared, and I told him I liked their concert a lot. I also confessed him that I had downloaded their CD from the internet, but I told him the difficulties we have to buy this kind of music in the mayority of the citys of Spain, and explained my reasons for buying the CD. It was a really nice night, as I was able to talk with him about the difficulties of making some work for this scene. We all have to work in our spare time, and we allways know that we are not going to get well paid for it unless we are really good and really famous.

So, I recommend you listen to UnterArt, and if you are able to do it, buy their CD (from Out of Line). It’s a good investment, as you’re gonna listen to it hundreds of times!!!