Seb's weblog

I have rarely seen so few people at a concert, even if the Ubu is small, it was almost scary. I thought this was only concerning the first part and people would come for the main band, but there wasn’t many more people then. It gave a somewhat more intimate effect, but I feel a bit sorry for both bands and they gave us a very nice experience in such harsh conditions.

I already talked about L’Effet Défée which had already opened for Magma in last december. No cymbals or sticks were harmed this time, but they again played a nice set.

Slug plays a pop-jazz-rock kind of music which is interesting, but I thought there wasn’t enough “high” moments in the concert to my taste. Not to dismiss the others, but I think Antoine Paganotti on drums was the most interesting on stage, even though Emmanuel Borghi was almost close to waking up at some point and that would too have been interesting.

Damn, I wonder if that’s just the use of very low sounds or if this concert wasn’t a bit over the decibels limitation; at times it was like my chest was exploding.

First first part was assumed by a guitar and bass hardcore duo. At first I was a bit non-plussed by effects on the voice (as usual, viking style) and by the over-use of a backing track, but they nevertheless hold the stage with style, fighting a really dull crowd. I’m in admiration.

Second first part was assumed by a DJ (whose name also escapes me). I’m not a specialist of this kind of music but it was quite enjoyable, with lots of BOM-BOM to resonate inside oneself.

Then came Atari Teenage Riot, and as there was a lot more people than when Alec Empire came “alone” at the same place a few years ago, and after taking off his shirt during the first two songs, he was able to do some crowd surfing without much trouble (even though he kept his wired mic— not that easy to do!). I’m not a fan of the mix, but there were a lot of sounds, it moved, it rocked and it felt good.

(there was a fourth act after that and some guy even asked me if I knew about it, but really it was already a bit late and I had some road ahead, so I didn’t even try to stay).

Anyway, one thing I keep wondering is how/why people can go to such loud concerts without any ear protections. Yeah, it may be more fun without and I’m just an old fart, but I’m thankful for my earplugs.

It has been quite some time since I last posted anything about music that I discovered: a blank music period followed by a blank posting period. There are some that are worth mentioning (The Absence, Centaurus-A, Megadeth’s Endgame), and then there are those that truly impressed me.

For example, After The Burial combines really brutal and heavy (8 strings baby!) sound with great technical and innovative syncopated guitar handling. Take for example Cursing Akenaten, it starts slowly with an oriental sounding melody, then there’s the heavy wall of guitars before the two mixes up; And then, there’s the double-time that just blows your mind. Or you could be misguided by the first seconds of Aspiration: Is that 80’s hair metal calling? But beware of the blowing heads that quickly follow. And there’s Ometh that pumps you forward so much with its melody/solo that just counterpoints the rhythm elements.

But if you want to go the old guys, there’s also Dream Theater latest opus, Black Clouds & Silver Linings. I kind of like their previous work but I wasn’t really a fan, mostly because of James LaBrie’s voice, but I was somehow amazed by the way they came full circle on this release. There are a lot of influences on this album, either from themselves, featuring themes and elements from previous albums (the most prominent for me would be The Glass Prison) but also from other bands: not exact riffs or melodies but some kind of sound and way of playing, just like discovering a good wine. When I listen to this album, I hear Pantera or Metallica and that’s without counting the covers included in extended versions. And obviously, they still excel technically.

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