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Battle Of The Bands: Semi Final
Nadir, Ivory Tower, Scarfade, Slave At God, Custom Made Noise, Fading Reality
An Club, Athens, Greece
22/02/09
I have a special interest in any kind of music connected to the Greek scene. So, I do appreciate gigs that get the fans to know more Greek groups, especially when, there is a global award – such as grabbing the chance to play live at the biggest heavy metal open air in the world – Wacken!!!
Thanks to Loud Sound Productions and An Club, some new Greek metal bands had the opportunity to show us what they can do on stage!
On Sunday 22 February, I decided to have a look at that live. I was actually disappointed! Not because of the bands, but because of the crowd.
First of all, I thought there would be so many people attending that gig – I mean, this is the WOA that we’re talking about! Wouldn’t you want to know the band representing your country in a worldwide festival? Probably not… Wouldn’t you want to support the local scene? I guess not… Anyway, the bands had brought their “friends”, so it wasn’t a total disaster.
That’s the second disapointment! After each band’s show, the band members with their friends were leaving the club… What kind of “battle” is that? I just didn’t get the meaning of the whole show. Okay, some of the people got tired… got bored… didn’t like the show… The band members were leaving? That was so nice of them, supporting the whole institution.
So, let’s get to the “music” part. I was impressed by the metal genre most of the bands were up to! I thought that Greece “produces” heavy/power metal bands, but most of Sunday’s groups were more of a hardcore/death kind.
Okay, each group had 25 minutes to make us headbang.
Fading Reality were there to break the metalcore ice. Their soft sound among the strong, groovy sound of the rest of the bands kept them away from our afterward chats. They were good, but it’s sad having another classic-stereotyped band, especially in Greece. I do enjoy listening to bands like this one, but they have to modernize their sound so that they can keep up with the scene.
Custom Made Noise really had the feeling! Lots of people in a total metalcore situation, breaking everything around! Yes, the crowd loved them! But did they love the crowd? They performed very well indeed, but was it a studio session or a live? I mean… You’ll have to wake the metalheads up, not just sing and solo on your own up there!
Although they lighted a spark, made us feel the groove and kept us alive, but we didn’t get to break our necks yet.
After that it was Slave At God’s turn to show us right! Those guys were true metalheads! I’m not much of a death metalhead, but I just couldn’t stop moving my head! Very good death vocals, grunts and growls, nice on stage touch and you could just feel the energy of the band transferring to the crowd making it go berserk.
Scarfade ! Well, those guys have friends! People singing along with them, headbanging the whole time! I’m not really sure either you have to be social or a great musician, so that you can be known. I mean – let’s face it! History speaks for herself! There are countless groups out there, selling countless of copies that don’t have much to say!
After that death metal party, there were the Ivory Tower to remind us of good old school heavy metal! Two guitars, the power voice of Dimitris Theodorou and the memories of An Club, made us remember old – happy metal days. Their pro-techniques and the spirit among the members were really impressive!
And finally the “weirdos” of the night – Nadir! I would never believe that I could see such a live performance at battle of the bands. Those guys totally have it! Pale make up, tribal tattoos, fishnet and eyeliners. I didn’t really wait a music breakout from them, because of the whole style. I thought they would just spend their time fooling around, using make up staff and strange stage-lights to impress the crowd. Well… I was so wrong! The deep low vocals of Reana with some death shouts and the stable keyboards’ notes of Prince were very breathtaking… Many Type O Negative & Paradise Lost tips… Next time I hope they use some make up remover just before getting on stage, so that we can focus on their music.
It really was a great gig after all. Let’s face it, there are a lot of great musicians out there. Next time, I hope the greeks support their scene!
Christina Marinou.
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© MetalPaths 2009. All rights reserved.
3:18 pm on February 27th, 2009
In my point of view ,
I think that your report is a little subjective and vague too.
I was there,I watched the show….(and I mean all the bands)
There are two parts,that I disagree with you:
To begin with:Custom Made Noise…
They did everything that no other band did in that show
They were jumping around like monkeys,headbanging all the time etc..
If the crowd doesn’t know them and doesn’t bang their heads like
animals(as they should because that kind of music is awesome)
and they do it only when their friend band plays
then we have a problem…
And now second:Nadir…
I don’t have something against gothic music,on the contrary
I love it, but Nadir weren’t such “weirdos”…
their music was good but they stop there….
that’s all I had to mention..
P.S1:It’s obvious that you are a gothic fan (you know Nadir by their
names etc…)
P.S2:You wanna see “weirdos”????Try listening to Bob Dylan….
He’s the weirdest living man on Earth….
Sincerely yours,
Antonis
6:34 pm on February 28th, 2009
Well, about Custom Made Noise… I would expect something more passionate. The crowd was there , the music was playing , everything was as it’s supposed to be , but it didn’t feel right , something was missing…
I’m not interested whether a band brings along his devoted fans or not. I love bands that make me wanna bang my head without knowing any of their tracks, not bands that a friend of a friend made me listen to their CD.
Anyway, when I got to AN, I saw so many mites dressed up like they were at an industrial/wannabe-gothic gig and I was wondering what they were doing there… When I saw Nadir, I got it… It wasn’t gothic at all. They had the make up, the fishnet gloves, the deep vocals (that I like) but, no, bands like Nadir, Paradise Lost and Type O Negative aren’t gothic (rock) at all.
I know the name of every artist connected to events I cover, especially when they have a band-page etc. If I wanted to “promote” a band of the above, it wouldn’t have been Nadir. Instead I would have said that Ivory Tower had the best technique and attitute on stage, but the youth has shown that “harder & louder” is what they prefer…
Christina Marinou.
12:27 am on March 30th, 2009
well!!im one of the “friends” of scarfade and i just want to tell you that we are FRIENDS and we support our friends in what they do just like anyone else out there , and dont tell me that slaveatgod didn’t have their friends out there supporting them . i think they have a lot more friends than us , but i have to say that we are REAL friends with the guys and we dont bring our “chicks” to headbang pretending that they like our music , we support every METAL band from greece and you have to do the same. something else i have to disagree is about custom made noise , you said that they played solo and didn’t try to connect to the crowd , well you have to think about greece for that , in every live gig the “crowd” even if they like the music they usually afraid to headbang or support a band they don’t know , i enjoyed all the bands that played that night , but you have to do the same , cheers! hope to see you at wacken but as a crowd
8:38 pm on April 26th, 2009
Dear Christina Marinou,
Frank Zappa once said that rock journalism is people who can’t write, interviewing people who can’t talk, for people who can’t read! In our case, the problem starts when the journo lacks basic profession ethics.. Take your first obligation to the reader for a start.. You know, be an honest journo and let your readers know the unvarnished truth..Otherwise people could assume that you write with an agenda!
Sure, “slave at god”’s stunning frontman made me wanna poke my eyes out with a sharp stick due to his inexplicable magnetizing effect on the crowd, “custom made noise” have a long way to go simply cuz they seemed stiff and insecure on stage, despite their noticable syntheses, but “scarfade”, well, those kids had only a handful of fans headbanging to their tunes, since the club was nearly empty when they got on stage!In my humble opinion, apart from a drummer extraordinaire -and that should at least be acknowledged- we’ll be seeing more of them , so they will fortunately be commented by journalists a bit more accurate than you.
Thank you,
Liliana A.