21-04-2016 Dark Mental Festival

[schema type=”event” evtype=”Festival” name=”Dark Mental Festival” sdate=”2016-04-21″ street=”Kraftwerket” city=”Copenhagen” country=”DK” ]

It’s a bit of a ride for us, but in Copenhagen there was a festival to take place we just could not resist: Dark Mental Festival.

Nine hours’ drive made us miss the first band unfortunately but we were in time to see Cruelty’s Heart play. The band makes Pagan Metal with Black Metal over it.
A bit youthful, you could think at first, but let yourself be surprised when they start playing. On guitars specifically they manage to surprise within minutes. On vocals they could maybe go even deeper, stress what they have underline it. Just to make it stand out a little more. The band does not have any recent releases but playing a solid set convinces us the band will have much more to offer.

Dead Man’s Hand was something different. The band makes good old Rock with a bit of punkish vibe over it. Their front lady reminds instantly of Nina C Alice of Skew Siskin. Her energy and the raw vocals are a sure match with them. Though it must be said that a bit of work on her vocal techniques could be on benefit, but there is time to grow.

The band does not only thrive on her energy, the rest of them are certainly present as well. The guitars are providing a beautiful base to get all going which they use in their advantage well. They had no trouble with hyping up the audience, one to remember.

Dirt Forge is a band that has their fan base around, during the three days of the festival we spotted some merch around all the time and when they start they have a nice set of audience collected. The band makes Sludge Metal and is relatively young being founded in 2013. Most recently, the band put out the EP “Ratcatchers” in October 2015. The trio plays it calmly today, slowly building towards the ultimate violence they can also bring, Nothing rushed, nothing overdone. A decent balance is in their music. While the band plays a fine set the stage show is ok. Maybe we hoped a bit for something more as in the end, we could not help feeling a bit indifferent. Not bad playing, but they need to do a little more to keep it interesting for a new listener, there are many out there so it needs to stick out a bit more.

Some more Black Metal is awaiting us, Genfaerd it is. The band formed in 2014 and seems a sort of side project next to the band member’s other projects. Yet they were an interesting catch here. If the music is not convincing enough of the passion, the intense mimics are surely helping you feel the atmosphere that the band is trying to set. Their playing seems quite solid, the band has their tempo as a leading factor, would they change it, it changes all. An most interesting approach that may not even be noticed by many. The combination of the music and performance make this show the success it was today. Last year the band released a debut album which is self-titled, whatever is next for them is unknown to us now, but perhaps we’ll hear some more.

Grusom is quite in contrast with Genfaerd. What we are presented now is some Psychedelic/Heavy material so certainly something different. But, a quite amusing one so to say. The band is quite playful and radiates having a good time on stage. An important factor in making the atmosphere come across. With the keys they sometimes give it a slight Proggy edge which is quite a strength for them, creating something unique in their sound. It is not overly present but there to make the difference. Altogether they were one of the most complete acts of the evening, the sound of their music, the show and the enthusiasm was all there!

All the bands were having to deal with some sound issues. Nothing can be more irritating when things don’t work out as hoped for, but how you deal with it says a lot of what kind of band you are. Some bands took that in their stride while others, like headliner Valkyrja puts no effort in hiding all that annoyance. Results: a drummer that is so angry he decides to bang them as hard as he can… making the sound even more hard to deal with. The fuck you’s, the middle fingers (did we even hear a vittu..?) would it be in any way beneficial for the band mates to make it to a good end? Good, maybe it also adds a bit to the angry Black Metal feel.

The passion was there at least. But when they got their set started it was simply a mess. And that has all to do with themselves. Being a bit more with professional attitude, they could have swallowed it and make the best out of instead. The treasures they have; strong and well composed songs, a good vocalist and the ability to drag you into their music are not coming out best tonight because they did not care to play together. Just getting it over with it seems. Luckily for the fans the whole seem to get a bit better when they are getting halfway their set. When all comes together it is a pleasant band to watch, but a visit to Copenhagen’s Christiania and it’s ‘souvenirs’ may have helped in getting them to be a bit more relaxed about it.