I just need to applaud right now the sound engineers - the "Connexion Live" isn't a bad venue at all, yet this was the first time we had such a stellar sound there, at the same time clear and powerful. So kudos to you guys!
Mars Red Sky
I already saw Mars Red Sky when they, at the last minute or so, replaced The Young Gods and opened for Killing Joke in Paris in 2010. As I'm no fan of this mellow, psychedelic stoner movement, I didn't really came here this evening to see them.
But it would have been stupid to miss them, that's for certain. During this four years gap, they dramatically improved! While their music isn't always heavy at all, they had some pounding moments for sure - sometimes reminiscent of Black Sabbath. And they just kept their whole set interesting and flowing nicely, so even if I'm still not a fan of their psyche / stoner stuff, I wasn't bored at all. And, to my surprise, I really enjoyed Julien Pras's soft and relatively high pitched vocals. They indeed add a lot to the textures and moody atmosphere of the songs...
Icing on the trippy cake, this Rune & Totem show got both bands playing together their collective song "Green Rune White Totem". Well, only three YOLN guys came onstage and not six, but that just might be because the scene would have been too small for nine musicians and all their instruments...
Curious? Here's their bandcamp and a video of the full show!
Year Of No Light
I saw them at Hellfest two years ago and there was no way I would miss them this evening!
So, we've got 6 guys, with 3 guitars, one bass, 2 drumkits, 2 keyboards. And no vocals (these days are long gone). No, no, I made no mistake: one drummer also used a keyboard, while the other keys were in the bass player's charge, and they shifted instruments the songs demanded it (that is both between the songs and during the songs too). Apart from this, they're not that active onstage, but they certainly don't need to run everywhere either
The band played only one hour and we would all have loved some more hypnotic and punishing decibel wave, but a curfew was in place as the venue hosted a student's night or something like that afterward
... I mean, imagine the potency of a band with two drummers. Great, right? Now imagine that for a post-hardcore band renowned for its crushing stuff. Well, that's only scratching the surface. So I'll stop ranting on and on, it HAS to be experienced live. Not that YONL tours that much, but they still have a few upcoming dates in France, then some in the U.S. You know what to do...Wanna [url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJA33wz20HA]hear and see[/url] that safely at home?
Conclusion
No surprise here, this was a great evening - and let's have a tear for those poor souls who made the mistake to go see Kissin' Dynamite that very same evening (by almost all accounts that was a devastatingly lame show)...
Next time, a Year Of No Light / Dirge tour would just be earth shattering. So, dudes, please do that!
Many thanks, once again to Niko and the Noiser team!
)
(at Hellfest 2012 with all the amps, it was really impressive)
