Supports: Mortiis; Venue: Rockfabrik Ludwigsburg,(Germany)
By: Nina Mende
By: Nina Mende
Tonight we were at Rockfabrik in Ludwigsburg to see two amazing bands perform: Mortiis and Combichrist.
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For those who don’t know Mortiis: Mortiis is a band from Notodden, Norway fronted by Håvard Ellefsen, who is also known as the namesake of the band. The name is a misspelling of the word ‘mortis’, which is the pronunciation used by the band. However, Mortiis started as the solo project of Ellefsen as a means to convey a story. This aspect was lost over time and Mortiis slowly formed into a band.
After a long intro the singer joined the rest of the band on stage and the rocking could begin. For 40 minutes Mortiis rocked the crowded and dark venue, playing old and new tracks. They did not talk much to the audience but that was alright. People were all stuck in their own little world while dancing and moving along to the music. It was a very thriving show. The guys rocked around on stage, especially the singer was jumping up and down, running back and forth on stage. Simply amazing. Mortiis is always a pleasure to see.
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It was an early show: Doors opened at 7pm and the show began at 8pm, all was over before 11pm already. But it was a Wednesday night, a weekday and people had to work the next day, so it fit perfectly well. The venue was packed. Rockfabrik is a really dark venue, the walls are covered with amazing paintings that are light with black light, creating an awesome effect. It wasn’t getting much lighter as the bands performed on stage but it definitely became foggier. Especially during Mortiis it was hard to see the band due to the thick fog and the dim light. But let me start in the beginning.
| Now it was time for Combichrist. It wasn’t until 2003 that LaPlegua founded Combichrist – the project that would soon dominate his time. A departure from IOC’s futurepop sound, Combichrist took LaPlegua’s hardcore past and electronica present and merged them into a singular, mechanical music monster. Without the compromise of the band dynamic, LaPlegua, who does everything in the studio himself on Combichrist releases, was able to explore whatever avenue he desired musically. What he found was a long dark road with plenty of twists and turns. On top of Combichrist’s many releases, LaPlegua has also logged countless miles, globetrotting on tours of Europe, South America, Australia, the United States and points in-between. With his live band he rocks the stages and kicks ass big time. Tonight they stopped here in Ludwigsburg to kick ass at Rockfabrik. Big time! Two drummers, keyboarder and this time also an additional guitar player took over half of the stage while Andy rocked the other half. Constantly jumping around and running around he raged on stage along with his band mates just like we are used to see it from these guys. The audience was going insane to old and new songs, raged and rocked along, shouted out loud and cheered even louder. Like one big family everyone at Rockfabrik and the band made time fly. The usual kicking over the drums and throwing away the drumsticks of drummer Joe Letz kept roadie Bobby busy throughout the 90 minute set. Trevor was pounding on his drums while halfway standing on them and Z-Mar almost knocked over his keys while playing. The guitar player rocked in the oddest way we all have ever seen: kneeling and sitting down, making strange moves and being lost in his own little world, quite interesting to watch. The time went by so fast and the set was already over, everyone was soaked in sweat and still wanted more. So Combichrist came back for another few songs and then left the stage for good. Not without wrecking some drums, of course. Always thriving and powerful, that was also how tonight’s show went. Combichrist is definitely one of the most energetic live bands I have ever seen. |
More photo’s of this event can be found at roseofthedevilsgarden.com
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