COMBICHRIST & MORTIIS live in Bucharest, March 1st 2011
The 2011 COMBICHRIST show had been one of the most eagerly anticipated electro/industrial events in Bucharest, Romania ever since announced last autumn. On March 1st, as part of their European tour supporting their latest album, “Making Monsters”, the EBM/aggrotech giants and their demonic opening act delivered a stunning performance!
At 20:30 MORTIIS went on stage with a combination of faster-rhythmed, industrial metal songs from their last album, “Perfectly Defect”(2010), and older favorites such as “Decadent & Desperate”. Although the audience did not resonate with lead singer Havard Ellefsen's attempts at engaging them, they were at least pleasantly surprised by the music, which "sounded better here than on their recordings".
Setlist:
1. The Ugly Truth
2. Way too Wicked
3. Gibber
4. Doppleganger
5. Closer to the End
6. Perfectly Defect
7. Decadent & Desperate
8. Scalding the Burnt
9. Demons Are Back
After approximately 40 minutes long set of MORTIIS, COMBICHRIST came on stage to offer an experience for which the words "concert" and "music" are simply not enough. The masterful amalgam of strobes, live drumming, precise and richly-textured programming and raw passion from the explosive Andy LaPlegua had the usually demanding Romanian fringe audience in a jumping and dancing frenzy shaking the floorboards of the Silver Church venue. This demonstrates once again why COMBICHRIST are currently at the top of the EBM/aggrotech current. Furthermore, the compositional diversity of the playset that night revealed deeper facets of a living, evolving, musical phenomenon: established EBM anthems such as “Get Your Body Beat” and “Electrohead”, the hypnotic “They”, the uplifting “Never Surrender” and the hauntingly dark and fluid “Blut Royale”, “Follow the Trail of Blood” and “Today I Woke to the Rain of Blood” - a recurring theme across several albums - were just some of the electrifying treats of the evening.
Complimenting the songs, the entire band shared a fascinating range of emotion: from raucous humor (the band shouting "Fuck you!" instead of "Thank you!", showering the crowd from water bottles, and climbing the drum set and tossing one of the drums around the stage, to maniacal grins, entranced inner focus, to dancing and jumping all over the stage, to touching hands with the audience in a heart-warming gesture of human communion.
After sustained applause and chanting of "We want MORE!!!” the band rewarded us with two encores, showered upon a crowd with still pulsing with energy after almost two hour long thrill ride unleashed by the intense yet playful band members. Moreover, Andy has also promised this would not be the last COMBICHRIST show in Romania!
The sound quality at The Silver Church was flawless and the audience was enraptured to the very core of their souls the literal meaning of Electronic Body Music...
For the organizers, Viva Music, this has been the crowning achievement in their crusade to establish a thriving EBM/Industrial/Aggrotech/Dark music scene in Romania. They are continuing to bring some of the most respected bands to an enthusiastic - and growing - scene, which could otherwise rarely have an opportunity to experience bands like this performing live.
Setlist:
1. Just Like Me
2. Follow the Trail of Blood
3. Today I Woke to the Rain of Blood
4. Electrohead
5. Throat Full of Glass
6. Get Your Body Beat
7. Deathbed
8. Slave to Machine
8. Fuckmachine
9. Blut Royale
10. They
11. Never Surrender
1st Encore:
12. Scarred
13. Fuck This Shit
2nd Encore:
14. What the Fuck Is Wrong With You?
Written by: Alexandra Petrof