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The Belgium tour promoter Metalyssee presented another package. This time Death Angel from San Francisco came on a headlining tour and were on the road with Disbelief, Darkane, Mystic Prophecy and Mnemic. Tonight they stopped at the Zeche Carl in Essen and about 450 fans found their way to the venue.
I can't tell much about Mnemic, cause I missed part of their show due to the interview with Death Angel. Also I don't know their album. The Danish quintet released their debut Mechanical Spin Phenomena and made it to the level of bands like Soilwork, Children Of Bodom, Nevermore and Arch Enemy as Germany's RockHard wrote. From what I heard during their sound check the Danish quintet offered a mixture of thrashy guitars, pounding bass, hammering drums and aggressive vocals, but they add some samples and so create a more modern sound. More about them next time.
After a short change over the multinational band Mystic Prophecy entered the stage. Singer R.D. Liapakis (Valley's Eve) and bassist Martin Albrecht (Valley's Eve) are back with a new band - Mystic Prophecy. Musically the band is more straight ahead, more based in the power metal genre and less progressive. Their 2nd album is called Regressus - the debut Vengeance is just re-released - and is released through Nuclear Blast. The band got completed by Greek guitarist Gus who is mainly known for his latest work with Dream Evil. Actually the fans at the Zeche Carl were a little reserved, I guess they are more into thrash and melodic death metal...
Then it was time for the Swedish Darkane! In April they did the No Mercy festivals with Death Angel, Testament and Pro-Pain. In June they played at the RockHard festival and now they are back with Death Angel. The Swedish quintet opened with an older track called Third of their album Insanity. The band concentrated on their latest release Expending Senses. In comparison with their performance at the RockHard festival they looked a little stiff... Perhaps it was the small stage... Or was the reason that guitarist Klas Ideberg hadn't totally recovered from his back surgery... During the 45 min. long set they played tracks like Violence From Within, Innocence Gone, Chaos vs. Order - all from their latest release - and old ones like Convicted and Emanation Of Fear. Drummer Peter Wildoer and bassist Jörgen Löfberg build the sound base for the guitars of Klas Ideberg and Christofer Malmström. The hard edge was add by the growls of singer Andreas Sydow. The technical thrash metal combined with Andreas' vocals make them build a bridge between thrash metal and death metal. It seems that beside the headliner Death Angel fans mainly came to see the Swedish guys. Well done!
Afterwards it was time for the German death metal heads of Disbelief. Due to my interview with Darkane I missed them. But when I returned to the foyer it seemed that there are quite a few fans who weren't here to see Disbelief... I just saw the last minutes of their set and so I can't tell anything about them.
Long awaited by thrash metal fans, the return of Death Angel! Now they are back on stage and after 13 years without an album they came back last April and were the hidden headliner. Singer Mark Osegueda and his mates started with Seemingly Endless Time, a track from their last release Act III. Immediately the fans opened up a mosh pit. The band took the fans by storm. The Bay Area guys recorded 3 albums back in the 80's and so they traveled back in time to present songs from their past which incl. Bored from their 2nd album Frolic Through The Park as well as Room With A View - of Act III - and Disturbing The Peace. The finished their set with another Act III track, with Kill As One. It was obvious how much the band enjoyed being back on stage, back on the road. The rhythm section laid down the perfect playground for the outstanding guitar work of Rob Cavestany - who also has a good voice - and his counterpart. They presented the songs powerful and fresh. The songs didn't sound like they are more then 10 years old. There are newcomers around with are less energetic. It's good that the Bay Area thrashers are back and I can't wait to hear their new material! The album shall be in the stores in late April 2004 and festivals - Bang-Your-Head is already confirmed - and another tour shall follow. Looking forward to see them again! Thanks for a great show!
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