Monday evening – without a doubt the best night for a concert. The parking lot at the venue was deserted. Even the security at the entrance made fun about how much work they would have to do considering the masses running into the location. Admittedly, Backstage Club is one of the smaller venues for concerts but even in this small room, the lack of audience couldn’t be missed.
Five minutes late the boys from Kause 4 Konflikt began the show. In front of about 10-15 people, they clearly showed true greatness. Their willingness and motivation to play a great show despite the lack of audience was impressive. Musically, they were also great. In the beginning the five musicians fascinated their listeners with their own mixture of core music and thrash metal elements that they call ‘Offensive Thrash WarCore. However, after a couple of songs the early euphoria decreased as their initially unconventional sound soon became rather ordinary. But for an opening act, Kause 4 Konflikt did a great job.
After the opening act had mingled with the crowd and some more people had found their way into the Club, the second band of the night began their performance. Soon it became clear that Deep In Hate were also a rather unusual band. The French musicians like to call their syle ‘Dark Oppressive Modern Death Metal’ – a subgenre of Death Metal that sounds as absurd as its name is. Their performance was neither good nor bad. Memorable was what the lasting astonishment about what the audience had to see and hear. Despite the small size of the stage, the band moved a lot on stage. Bassist Max apparently enjoyed moving in his own circle and stomping cheerily or sometimes rather angrily on the floor. One of the guitarists focused more on a up-and-down move that made some people in the audience smirk. Also the band’s mimic appeared rather well studied than authentic. There were lots of shifts from baring their teeth over misanthropic expressions to sticking their tongues out. Amusing. Musically, Deep In Hate offered a broad variety from different genres. For die-hard fans, the performance was surely great. Most of the others were probably in need of getting used to the band and their music. Definitely positive was that Deep In Hate also weren’t too irritated by the lack of people. Vocalist Julien even ended the performance in the audience and used the opportunity for direct feedback. As weird as this show was, it was still entertaining.
After what felt like an eternity Hatesphere finally hit the stage. Now that both supporting acts had joined the audience and another five people had arrived in the venue, the main act of the evening played in front of a comparably big audience. The Danes were not deterred by the still small amount of people in the room and just did their thing. Qualitatively, there was a huge increase compared to the bands before. Esben Hansen and his boy did an amazing job on stage. Not only did Esben amaze the fans with his vocals but also with his grimaces as well as his magnificent head of hair and chubby belly. “We are Hatesphere from Denmark and you are Munich from Bavaria” was one of those moments that made everyone grin and like the band even more. Musically, the Danes moved somewhere between thrash metal and death metal – a combination that always seems to work out nicely. From time to time, Hatesphere mixed some doom metal into their very special and unique sound – something that was already clear when you looked at the vocalist’s clothes. Next to old classics the band also played a lot of songs from their new album “New Hell”. Hatesphere managed to create a special atmosphere with their music that you almost forgot you were in a nearly empty venue that evening. A perfect example of how special nights and concerts like these can be. There’s no need for overcrowded locations but simply an amazing band like Hatesphere to create a spark like this. In the end, the Danish band managed to transform an initially sad evening into a magnificent and memorable concert.
Text: Conny Pläsken
Translation: Tanja Frank