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The Euroblast Prog Metal Festival 2019 – The Relaxed Way Of Metal

By Ms Cesar Little on 17.2.2020 English, Fotoreport, Gallery, Reports

The Euroblast Prog Metal Festival 2019 was a very relaxed experience. Some 46 bands plus after show party gigs on four days is rather a marathon than a program. Take this report as an appetizer. Let’s fly in to breathe some Kölsch metal air and explore the treasure island of the German festival calendar. The Smell Of Vinegar … Essigfabrik in Cologne – quite close to the huge Lanxess Arena – is a very atmospheric venue for a festival, even more if the weather invites us to spend some time in the cozy yard between the stage slots. There is…

“Prog Is Not the Program” – Interview with Cold Night For Alligators

By Ms Cesar Little on 8.2.2020 English, Interview, Reports

COLD NIGHT FOR ALLIGATORS is a Prog Metal Band from Denmark. I met them at Euroblast Prog Metal Festival in Cologne some months back, only a few hours before they shreddred the stage down in the basement of the venue. Johan, their vocalist and Nik, their drummer, took moment off (from preparing for their show) to speak with me about their recent album ‘Course of Events’, festival atmosphere and to give some deeper insights into their band dynamics. The Bogren Experience “Your recent album “Course of Events’ was produced in cooperation with Jens Bogren. How did you like working with…

A Renaissance Fresco in Metal (Amorphis & Dimmu Borgir supported by Wolves In The Throne Room)

By Ms Cesar Little on 7.2.2020 English, Fotoreport, Gallery, Reports

This lineup might confuse at first. Orchestral void and proggy tales – could that work? Indeed, it can. And it does here! The passion for dark soundscapes from three very different angles adds to a atmospheric beauty of a renaissance fresco in metal. A Tuesday might not be the perfect day to fill a venue for any lineup. And so – no surprise – it was not a sold-out show, but the crowd was quite decent in numbers, still! Actually that meant just enought space to mosh, and bang and drink a beer in between. The undiluted power of more…

New Mecanica – Children of the Sun (Dead Can Dance cover)

By Gord on 5.2.2020 English, News

New Mecanica has a new song to start 2020. CHILDREN OF THE SUN by Dead Can Dance was the track chosen to cover. Daniel Cardoso (Anathema), with whom the band had worked with on their first album in 2008, mixed and mastered the final product. “New Mecanica decided to start the year with new and free music for anyone who wants to listen. We had been wanting to work on a cover song for some time, but we couldn’t decide which one. Then, the opportunity came along to work on a cover of CHILDREN OF THE SUN by Dead Can Dance, a song with which…

Cheers, to the string wizards, Janne & Kimmo

By Ms Cesar Little on 17.1.2020 English, Finský koutek, News, Nummirock

Actually, this was meant to be only a photo of two Finnish guitar wizards because of their birthday, today. But then, these two gentlemen deserve more of our attention. They are virtuosos on their guitars, passionate live performers, and most variable. There is hardly a niche of the metal universe they have yet not been performing in. And certainly they are way more than “only guitar players” in several bands. Happy Birthday, Kimmo Korhonen and Janne Perttilä! At times they even share stage, when playing together in Barren Earth (impressions from their gig on Nummirock 2018). Nummirock and rain go…

Moonspell, Rotting Christ and special guest Silver Dust

By Ms Cesar Little on 12.1.2020 English, Fotoreport, Reports

A gloomy November night in Berlin … A very interesting line up will shred the stage of “Huxleys Neue Welt”, a very traditional venue in Berlin Neukölln. The Portuguese Prog Metal veterans Moonspell have brought the Black Metal masters Rotting Christ along and special guests from Switzerland, Silver Dust. Moonspell have passed into a legend status by now. Born in the wild 1990s their style has changed as often as the decades inbetween and yet evolved into a “clearly Moonspell”. The the whole concept of pressing bands into the boxes of genres, subgenres and sub-subgrenre is pellucitly absurd all the…

“Tour Like A Grave” – Insomnium supported by The Black Dahlia Murder and Stam1na

By Ms Cesar Little on 9.1.2020 English, Finský koutek, Fotoreport, Gallery

Insomnium released “Heart Like A Grave” (review) back in October and immediately kicked of a series of tours beginning with release shows in their home country Finland and then continental Europe. Our photos were taken on their show in Berlin in early December. This tour – currently continued in the UK and Finland – is the first with Jani Liimatainen (The Dark Element with Anette Olzon) since he was officially presented as the band’s additional guitarist. Jani has been a friend and stand-in for Ville Friman for years when Ville could not tour due to his day job obligations. He…

Cellar Darling Live – Simply Magnificent

By Ms Cesar Little on 21.12.2019 English, Reports

Text: Friend X Cellar Darling presented their recent album “The Spell” on a headlining tour supported by Oceans and Forever Still. Obscuro reports from their show in the stuffy cellar club Nachtleben in downtown Frankfurt back in October 2019. Is It Folk Metal Or Prog Metal? One does not need much to say when it comes to Cellar Darling. Three excellent and brilliant Swiss (and partly Irish) musicians and even more important, friends who already had a career in their former band together. This band still exists since they left but Cellar Darling prove, they are neither a copy nor clone…

Heldmaschine “Im Fadenkreuz” Of Their Last Show

By Ms Cesar Little on 11.11.2019 English, Reports

by Friend X Isn’t it the Maschinist who gets an engine running, who ignites the initial spark? Heldmaschine had a support band that could not have been any better, they had their own “Maschinist”! As many of the fans have known Heldmaschine personally and followed ever since, the family reunion could begin. This being said, it was a funny side fact that the venue “Musiktheater Rex” in Bensheim is sited in former factory hall, perfect for these two Industrial bands. The Early Years It has been quite a while ago that I watched Heldmaschine so I was very curious…

Jinjer’s “MACRO” – Soul-Crushing Soundscapes As Complex As Life

By Ms Cesar Little on 27.10.2019 English, Reviews

“Macro” is consequentially the name of the just released album following JINJER’s recent EP “Micro”. An album considered Djent or Progressive in any way is hardly trivial enough to make a relaxing background entertainment for office work but perhaps your kickboxing workout. And yet this could not at all be an adequate approach to JINJER’s music. “Macro” demands the listener’s complete and undivided attention which is the key to open the portal into their world of multi-layered arrangements, complex and yet harmonic tunes, an abundance of deepest emotions, groovy bass lines, hardest drumming and last but certainly not least Tatiana’s…

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