DRACONIAN live at Turock, Essen (23-1-2019)
It’s been over three years since the last time that I saw DRACONIAN at Female Metal Event 2015, where we had a long and entertaining interview with singer Heike Langhans. That’s why, as soon as I learned that the Swedish Doom Metal band was coming to my “neighborhood”, I had to make an appointment to interview the band and see them live again.
New Zealanders SOJOURNER bring their A-game to the stage!
It was a freezing cold evening in Essen but it was nice and warm inside Turock and as soon as they started, the young band SOJOURNER broke the ice. Their music is doomy, gloomy – I loved it! Female guitarist/clean vocalist Chloe Bray totally rocks! Although the band members are young, they absolutely know how to warm up the audience and deliver professional performance.
SOJOURNER’s music is at times nice and melodic, which spoke more to my heart than the harsher parts, but I enjoyed their performance as a whole. The sound of the New Zealanders also fit the rest of the tour’s line-up and prepared the audience for the rest of the evening.
HARAKIRI FOR THE SKY let the music speak for them.
It seemed to me, that Turock is making a comeback. The venue was packed since the beginning – on a Wednesday evening, no less. My skepticism told me not to celebrate too soon, since I’ve seen this place start full before, only to empty before the headliner starts, as was the case when THERION played Turock last year.
HARAKIRI FOR THE SKY started delayed due to technical difficulties. It was funny to have them say hello with their intro after seeing them do a soundcheck in front of everybody. The Austrians were the only band with only one vocalist in the line-up but that’s enough – their music is infectious and energetic.
These long-haired metalheads don’t have to say much, the music speaks for them to the crowd that headbangs along since the beginning. HFTS literally didn’t speak to the crowd at all, however, which seemed odd and was too bad, for they were the only German-speaking band of the three. I also didn’t understand a word of the growling – but that’s not uncommon with growling. I enjoyed the melodic parts without growls more than the rest but the atmosphere was good. The mood was too good for such a dark concert.
A flood of sweet darkness comes with DRACONIAN’s performance.
The Swedes opened their set with ‘A Phantom Dissonance’ from their 2011-album “A Rose For The Apocalypse” followed by a “Danke!” from vocalist Anders Jacobsson, then encouraging the crowd to clap along immediately for the following song, ‘Bloodflower’. After that, I could finally sing along, for DRACONIAN played ‘The Wretched Tide’ and ‘Stellar Tombs’ from their latest album “Sovran”.
That latest release is my favorite by the Doom Metal band and a wave of feelings – yes, all the feels – hit me with this beautifully dark songs.
Luckily, the venue remained quite full until the end – well lucky for the audience, who could witness a strong, dark performance charged with emotion.
DRACONIAN‘s set seemed way too short and I especially missed seeing ‘Heavy Lies The Crown’ performed, but apparently, the song didn’t make the cut for the 60-minute set of that day. In the end, I went home wanting more but happily humming ‘Pale Tortured Blue’. And very curious about DRACONIAN‘s upcoming album, after listening to an atmospheric encore, with which singer Heike Langhans – alone – closed the night.
Pictures by Yve – visit her flickr gallery of the concert to see more.
Did you attend DRACONIAN‘s European tour? What do you think of there live show? Tell us in the comments! Oh, and stay tuned for the interview!