04-07-2015 Castlerock

Location: Mülheim an der Ruhr (Germany)
By: Sabine van Gameren

When we said it was hot yesterday, this day was surpassing that. Yet the festival was on for the day.

Aeverium was the band to open today. A female fronted band making Melodic metal. The band got themselves a good balance here between the male and female vocals, but contrast with Visions of Atlantis they also have the rest of the band on board. This makes them come across very powerful and that’s exactly what’s needed to open a festival.

The songs they have are not always winners, they seem to be composed according one template and they did not really have any song that jumps out much. Some work may be done here, because with then they could get even more out of themselves. They have the time to grow though, they only started in 2013 and so we like to see where they are at in a couple of years.

Vlad in Tears are the entertainers of the day and maybe not everyone would have expected that seeing acts like The Other on the bill as well. Them guys don’t need make up, they have their charisma, feeling for drama brought in the joke. They often connect with the audience, making the mimics work for them and let them live it along.

When a HIM cover is played it gets announced with the words that everyone should know it, maybe they did, but if the meant effect was that people should be singing it along, then it did not really come across. It is also not their strongest one of the day, the guys playing their own songs equals a more lively show. Vlad in Tears leave a happy note when they leave, they were entertaining and enthusiastic.

Horrorpunk from Cologne, it is The Other that is next on stage and they are making a bit of a different appearance. Suddenly we get a present bass, heavy sounds and a whole lot of power coming in. Whether you are creeped out or not, the guys are making a humorous performance, not taking themselves too seriously, but playing the music is taken seriously. And that’s why they grew to one of the biggest in their genre.

It’s only about two weeks ago that they came with the album “Fear Itself” of which our own Nina said: “Parents, hide your children. The Other is on the run again…” after enjoying them 50 minutes of horrorpunk repeatingly. We are served with about the same time of that and it seems that them children loved it. Even if these children are coming with a bunch of year experience.

After that your reporter was in need of a cool down. In these heat temperatures and the catering being unable to serve a drink that’s actually colder than a cup of tea it was time to leave and cool down elsewhere for some hours for her own safety.

Back in time to see Staubkind, a German rock formation that sings entirely in German. Don’t expect a very wild show, the songs are mellow and sad. It probably serves goal to listen to the lyrics because of you are not understanding them, you are listening to some simplistic musical backing and that does not cover the load that comes with Staubkind. The audience is living up with it, the band helps their audience to cool down by spraying them with waterguns and talking to them in between the songs. Overall they have a nice show, but not very impressive on an international level. Perfect for German speakers though.

Maybe that same thing counts a bit for Joachim Witt. The man has a different kind of allure though. He may seem very calm with what he is doing but he has a certain charisma. Not really strange to hear then, that he is an actor as well, we can surely imagine that.

In 1980 he released his first album and anno 2015 number 15 is out. It is called “Ich” and we are seeing some of it. Many people are singing his songs along and although it may be a calmer ending of the night than the day before, it seems a suitable ending to a day of extreme heat and dark music.

Castlerock was a different kind of experience. In summer you expect your festivals be sunny, but be careful what you wish for because sometimes less is more. Plenty of interesting bands kept the audience captivated though.

Photo’s by sabinevangameren.com

Links:
Castlerock Website