On the 27/4/19 GRENDEL, Biomechanimal, Matt Hart and Die Kur played at Slimelight Elektrowerkz, the longest running and most loved goth club in the UK. Followed straight away by Cosmic fest with multiple DJ's playing throughout the night.
Matt Hart always puts on a visceral performance that is slowly but steadily growing the fan base he well deserves. It is a heavy, gritty, and powerful performance to see which resonates well in the chest of many fans in regards to different industrial genres. Part of the show is the aesthetic with the post apocalyptic look of both Matt and his Guitarist Jerome, the skull stand, and the glowing red of the microphones cable and the stage lighting. This sound and set is power and a true love for all things industrial personified in to the incredible sound Matt has made for himself. Having played in Concrete Lung previously, Matt is no stranger to the stage and the skills required to make his music sound great. The band did a fantastic job of opening the night and is one I suggest you all see in future.
An interview with Matt and Jerome after their performance can be found here.
On the DJ decks between bands was the wonderful DJ Kark, who is the founder of Beat:Cancer charity and festivals, and DJ PEEWEE who is one half of Cosmic. Cosmic being the trance, dance, and hardstyle festival nights including the one starting straight after GRENDEL finished playing.
They dropped hit after hit, keeping the energy high and the mood ecstatic. A big thank you to them for doing such a great and often underappreciated job.
Both of them together being known as DJ Karkasaurus who brought a wonderful feel to Cosmic dressed in dinosaur onesies as some of the crowd dance with or even wore inflatable T-Rex’s.
DIE KUR were up second and although I was busy most of their set interviewing other bands, from what I saw, I was thoroughly impressed. They incorporate multiple instruments in to their music including a violin and sounded at home in the halls of Slimelight with their industrial metal style and feel.
A great addition to the line up and I hope to see more of them in future.
Biomechanimal.. What can I say?
I first saw Biomechanimal support Aesthetic Perfection several years ago and was blown away by the track Granfaloon in which a conversation between Abathur and Kerrigan in the game Starcraft 2 is sampled and in this, their best set yet, the message of this particular sample is perfect.
Credit to Blizzard games
A.. “...Make it great.” K..“Not perfect?”
A..”Never perfect. Perfection goal that changes. Never stops moving. Can chase, cannot catch."
And so it is that Biomechanimal have always evolved and got closer and closer to perfection, although impossible, that does not stop them from making each set sound more incredible than the last.
I spoke to Matt and Keith and about this ever improving sound in our interview which can be found here.
Truly Biomechanimal are one of the rising stars of the industrial music scene. I always ask them to play Granfaloon for me, being the song that made me instantly run over to the merch stand and buy a copy of their now extremely rare debut album, and soon after, their first band shirt release. When they played it again on the night, the crowd, already whipped into a frenzy by Matt and the pulse tearing sound of the band, absolutely raised the roof with sheer rave joy and love for the band.
There was not one quiet voice or motionless person in the room. The people around me were going absolutely mental, swallowed up in the waves of rave or heavy riffs pouring off of the stage.
The showmanship of Matt is undeniable, alongside the supreme talent of Keith behind the musical fine tuning, rocking out on his Electro Axe midi player, and finally the cool as hell calm of Lex on guitar presents a magical trio that deserve international fame. I can honestly say I always enjoy their shows more than the sets of the bands they support. I hope with the release of their next album and through their growing fan base brought about by their truly artistic and powerful stage shows, they will soon receive the recognition they deserve headlining their own concerts.
Hands down one of the most talented bands around and I can’t wait to see them perform again.
Thank you to DJ Pee Wee for the shots from the DJ booth.
GRENDEL have ever been one of the biggest names that come to mind when anyone talks about industrial. So many of their songs such as Chemicals and Circuitry, and Soilbleed have long been regular tracks played at goth nights worldwide. So when I heard that GRENDEL would be playing at Elektrowerkz Slimelight for the first time in years, excitement was unavoidable.
Having seen them at their last Slimelight show and soon after at the final Resistanz in 2016 (Please let there be Tanz 2020) I was interested to see what direction their live performance would take. Years ago at Slimelight, they were that techno rave industrial they were known and loved for, at Tanz16 they had gone heavy on the guitars and metal sound instead.
In fact, in my interview with JD of GRENDEL before he went on stage, we spoke about these changes to his music which can be found here.
In keeping with their evolution GRENDEL came out as a four piece finding a great balance between the traditional synth sound and the heavy metal aspects creating a style that easily flowed in and out of the songs both old and new. JD was on form with his crowd pleasing abilities, packing out the entire room from front to back. The energy was fluid and high, never slowing for a moment and building in intensity with each address of the crowd, be it a political shout or a hint towards the encore.
It was fantastic to see GRENDEL play London once more with a crisp and clear sound regardless of how heavy the style flowed in and out of as the crowd sang along to the classics with joy to the point of hearing several people losing their voices whilst they did so. I look forward to seeing how GRENDEL continues in future, their headline show at E-tropolis 2020, and to hear their new album releasing soon. Overall they did not disappoint in any way, one of the greats, smashing it out of the park as always.
A huge, huge thank you to the staff at #Elektrowerkz #Slimelight #FlagPromotions #GRENDEL #Biomechanimal #MattHart #DieKur #DJKark #DJPeeWee and to #COSMIC for putting on a fantastic night.
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