07,08-08-2010 Mera Luna

Location: Germany
By: Nina Mende

It was time for M’era Luna again. As we arrived on Saturday the camping spaces were totally crowded already and many people were still arriving. You could tell that this festival was going to be crowded. Everybody was dressed in gothic clothes, only a few wore colors.

Saturday:
The first band we saw on Saturday was Rabenschrey, a German medieval metal band. Their songs are in German. The audience room was not too crowded in these early morning hours and arrival hours. There were mostly medieval dressed people in the audience as well. So basically you could say only die hard Rabenschrey fans.

Next on the main stage was Angelspit. Angelspit is a band from Sydney, Australia. The band was formed in 2004 by lead vocalist DestroyX (Amelia Tan) and synthesist ZooG (Karl Learmont) and shortly after released the independent EP Nurse Grenade, later that year. Their first studio-produced album, “Krankhaus”, was released in 2006, by Dancing Ferret Discs, and was followed by the release their second album, “Blood Death Ivory”, on July 8, 2008. The band’s music combines unique and stylistic elements of horror, gothic, punk and electronic music as well as pop and metal and their work contains imagery revolving around medical experiments and grotesque societies. Their performance was great and the outfits were amazing. Both singers – male and female – rocked out on stage to the fast electro tune. Their set was short, but good. More people kept coming throughout their show.

Up next was Lacrimas Profundere. They had several fans in their audience already. Lacrimas Profundere is a gothic metal band from Germany. Their name means “to shed tears” in Latin. Their stylistic aesthetic has evolved over time, originally a death doom rooted gothic metal band, they have progressively changed their style to a more mainstream gothic style with the late albums. As Lacrimas Profundere entered the stage, the fans went wild, screaming and singing along. Further back people were just standing there and watching. The sound was ok, the singer ran around on stage and put some emotions into the lyrics. But somehow the stage seemed to big for them. They couldn’t quite fill it.

Stolen Babies is an American avant-garde metal band with significant influences from dark cabaret, signed to The End Records. And they played after Lacrimas Profundere. The outfits were interesting and so was the show. It was more a theater or cabaret show rather than a music concert. Many people watched them perform closely. By concentrating so hard on what they were doing on stage and on the outfits you could easily overhear the music which was interesting as well. Stolen Babies is definitely worth to be given a shot. Very interesting.

Now we went inside to the Hangar for a change to check out Brendan Perry. Brendan Perry (born 30 June 1959 in Whitechapel, London) is a singer and multi-instrumentalist best known for his work as the male half of the duo, Dead Can Dance, with Lisa Gerrard. Slow and melodic he went through the show with many people watching. Brendan Perry put up a nice performance which was great to see.

Back outside Laibach was heading onstage to entertain the audience. Laibach is a Slovenian avant-garde music group, strongly associated with industrial, martial, and neo-classical musical styles. Laibach formed June 1, 1980 in Trbovlje, Slovenia (then Yugoslavia). Laibach represents the music wing of the Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK) art collective, of which it was a founding member in 1984. The name “Laibach” is the German name for Slovenia’s capital city, Ljubljana. Their performance was more of a show than a concert. with a very low voice the singer sang different anthems in different languages. Only a few songs were faster. The audience was watching everything closely, only a few had expected more of their show today and left the audience room.

Nitzer Ebb rocked a lot more though. Nitzer Ebb is a British EBM group formed in 1982 by Essex school friends Vaughan “Bon” Harris (programming, synthesizers, drums, vocals), Douglas McCarthy (vocals), and David Gooday (drums). Their performance was a lot more active and thriving. The singer went back and forth on stage, dancing and animating their audience. Almost everybody went along to the tunes. Nitzer Ebb definitely put up an amazing performance.

After Nitzer Ebb finished the audience exchanged almost completely. Unheilig was the reason for that. The boat was put on stage, the candles lit and off went the journey to a place faraway. Unheilig performed in front of many fans. Everybody in the audience could sing along, many danced along as well. The show was powerful and the light was great. Just as we know it from Unheilig.

Last band of the night was Sisters of Mercy. The audience area was crowded because everybody wanted to see them. The Sisters of Mercy are an English gothic rock band that formed in 1980. After achieving early underground fame in UK, the band had their commercial breakthrough in mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasing new recorded output as a strike against their record company. Currently, the band is a touring outfit only. The group has released three original studio albums, of which the last was released in 1990Since 1985, when the other original members left, The Sisters of Mercy has become the artistic vehicle of Andrew Eldritch. Ex-members of the group established the bands Ghost Dance and The Mission. The smoke on stage made it hard to see anything on stage. The light was dim and the music loud. The band did not talk to the audience at all throughout the entire performance and just played their songs. Many people went along to the music, others just stood there watching. Mixed feelings in the audience made the show even more interesting. The Sisters Of Mercy was worth being checked out and a great ending for the Saturday.

Sunday:
The first band we got to see today was Expatriate. Expatriate is an indie rock band based in Australia. The band formed in Sydney, Australia, in 2005 and currently consists of vocalist Ben King, drummer Chris Kollias, keyboardist Damian Press and bassist David Molland. Several people were already rocking with the Australians, despite the early morning hours. Their set was short but they made the best out of it. Everybody was at least swaying along to their tunes. Expatriate had a good time on stage and so did their audience while watching them. Expatriate played many songs off their current album and thanked their audience a lot. You could tell how much they appreciated the people getting up so early in order to see Expatriate perform.

Not much more crowded was it as The Other entered the stage though. The Other is a German horrorpunk band that just recently released their new album “New Blood”. The band had some nice stage decoration and wore horror / Halloween makeup. Somehow it seemed to early for their music though. Not many people went along to the music, only a few fans were squishing up front. The rest watched the band perform from a little farther away. They played old and new songs, tried to animate the audience and rocked the early morning hours.

Punish Yourself was up next, a band that looked like the Blue Man Group only with way more color. Punish Yourself is a French electronic rock band best known for their stage theatrics and innovative style of industrial/punk music. They describe their style as “Fluo Cyber Punk”. Their performance reminded more of a theater show. The music was fast and electric. Many people who didn’t know them, came to watch the band as well. The strange “outfits” attracted many people that were just passing by or strolling around on the festival ground.

Up next on the mainstage was Hanzel und Gretyl. Hanzel und Gretyl are an Industrial metal group formed by members Kaizer Von Loopy and Vas Kallas in February of 1993. Due to their heavy use of German lyrics, imagery and German sounding pseudonyms they are often mistaken for a Neue Deutsche Härte band but are actually based in New York City to which founding members Kaizer Von Loopy and Vas Kallas are native. Aggressive industrial screaming that also found many viewers on the festival. The audience room was filling up. The sides of the stage were filled with interested musicians as well. The outfits of the band were interesting too. With helmets and gothic clothes their whirled around on stage.

A lot slower and softer was the following band: Zeraphine. Zeraphine is a gothic alternative rock from Berlin, Germany, formed in 2000 by Sven Friedrich (vocals, programming, lead song writing) and Norman Selbig (guitars) from the then-defunct Dreadful Shadows. Many fans were watching them perform. The soft voice of Sven went through the entire festival area and touched everybody. Almost everybody could sing along to the music. Zeraphine played many new songs of their latest album “Whiteout” as well as most of their old hits.

Now we went inside for a change to see Agonoize perform. Agonoize is a German Aggrotech band constituted of Mike Johnson (composition, programming, production & mastering), Oliver Senger (composition & programming) and Chris L (lyrics & vocals). The Hangar was extremely crowded and everybody was excited to move to the music of Agonoize. A lot of fog and dim light made it hard to see the stage, but the music was great. So was the performance: Thriving and catchy the band played their songs getting everybody going along. They cheered out loud as Agonoize splattered some liquid all over.

Outside The 69 Eyes were rocking their fans with old and new songs, looking like the always did. The 69 Eyes is a Finnish rock band. They are currently signed to EMI Finland. The backdrop and stage decoration was still of the latest album “Back In Blood”. The fans sang along to all songs and cheered out loud to the fins. Jyrki animated them to clap and move along even more. The fans did. The audience area was crowded. They played for about an hour.

Back inside Feinflug had set up their battlefield on stage, ready to perform their instrumental set. Feindflug is a controversial German aggrotech band founded in 1995. Translated, the name means “attack-raid” or literally “foe-flight” (“flight against the enemy”); it corresponds in military use to the French/English word “sortie”. The Hangar was closed for more people to come in because it was simply too crowded in there. Everybody had a good time and enjoyed Feindflug perform.

Outside again Editors were up on stage. Editors is a British indie rock band based in Birmingham, who formed in 2002. Previously known as Pilot, The Pride and Snowfield, the band consists of Tom Smith (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano), Chris Urbanowicz (lead guitar, synthesizer), Russell Leetch (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Ed Lay (drums, percussion). Very chilled and relaxed Editors went through their set. People swayed and sang along to the smooth music. The nice indie rock band that had many fans performed for about an hour as well.

Back inside it was getting closer to the end. Skinny Puppy rocked the masses. Skinny Puppy is a Canadian industrial band, formed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1982. The group is widely considered to be the founders of the electro-industrial subgenre. The stage set up was interesting to watch. The drums had something glittery around them and the band itself wore funny outfits, the stage was covered in fog and there was not much light at all. The singer had a cone formed hat on which had smoke coming out of the top. They didn’t talk much to the audience but there was no need. The audience was so stunned by the performance on stage.

Last band in the Hangar was Combichrist. Combichrist was formed in 2003 by Norwegian Andy LaPlegua (founder of the band Icon of Coil) as an aggrotech project. Their new album “Making Monsters” will be released on August 27th. This was their last show in Europe for this year. The Hangar was still locked down and nobody else could get in. It was terribly crowded and very hot inside. But nobody cared. The fans just wanted to see Combichrist perform on the foggy stage and dance their minds away. Combichrist played old and new songs. The band could not stand still for a second. The singer walked up and down the stage animating everybody to go along. And everybody did! The show was very powerful and thriving. Combichrist is an amazing live band with a lot of energy to share with their audience. Everybody had a blast.

Back outside Placebo was closing up on the festival. Placebo are a British/Swedish/American alternative rock band formed in London in 1994, currently consisting of Brian Molko, Stefan Olsdal and Steve Forrest. To date, they have released six studio albums, six EPs and twenty-nine singles. The band have gained a considerable amount of international recognition, selling over one million albums in the UK and over ten million worldwide. The stage was bright, the suits were white or glittery and the video screen used as backdrop was showing videos. Almost everybody was gathering in front of the stage to see Brian Molko and Co. perform tonight. They played old and new songs, thanking the audience and giving the festival a calm ending. Amazing sound with great light got the fans deep. You could feel the emotions coming from stage, everybody sang along. It was a great festival. See you next year.

Links:
Rabenschrey Official
Angelspit Official
Lacrimas Profundere Official
Stolen Babies Official
Brendan Perry Official
Laibach Official
Nitzer Ebb Official
Unheilig Official
Sisters of Mercy Official
Expatriate Official
The Other Official
Punish Yourself Official
Hanzel und Gretyl Official
Zeraphine Official
Agonoize Official
The 69 Eyes Official
Feindflug Official
Editors Official
Skinny Puppy Official
Combichrist Official