[Dajana] I actually wanted to go photographing polar lights that evening. There had been a solar storm and the prospects were initially quite acceptable. But then the predictions for the dancing lights were moved further and further north, in the end around the Oslo - Stockholm latitude, so this challenge vanished into thin air.
Instead, I made a pilgrimage to the Baracke in Münster for a small concert by and with friends. As my photo backpack was packed anyway, I was able to take photos straight away. And if I'm going to take photos, I might as well write about them. Shooting underground concerts is a challenge too, so here we go… ;)
The Baracke... I hadn't been there for ages... On this evening, there was a full range of underground metal, death, thrash, stoner offered, with two bands from Münster, a guest band from Augsburg and the headliner NEW WORLD DEPRESSION from Emsdetten. It's basically Münster too ;) But even better was the prospect of meeting lots of friends and having a great time :)
[Dajana] The :: Baracke :: is a small student, alternative cultural and event location in Münster, but also the social home of the political science and sociology faculties, and looks back on quite a long and eventful history. And also many a legendary underground concerts.
URBAN CONCERTS PRESENTS, or UCP for short, again is a concert series that has been holding regular gigs in the Baracke at weekends since the summer of 2022. The club is sold out with 80 people (then, there is literally condensed water dripping from the ceiling and running down the walls) and even if it didn't look like it (yet) at the beginning, it was packed in the end.
:: pics :: PHAGOCYTE ::
[Dajana] The evening was kicked off with :: PHAGOCYTE ::, a fairly new band made up of "old" warriors. PHAGOCYTE is more or less the successor band to Proof, with the only remaining member at the time, Lütti, on guitar and vocals, who had recently recruited drummer Andy from much older times, namely Acerbity. They are joined by Vanessa (bass, ex-Presence Of Mind - who were highly praised at the time by our editor BRT, who was present that evening) and Daniel on second guitar. 2020 saw the release of the debut EP Feeding On Humanity, from which three of whose songs were played live, plus three more, obviously new tracks.
The warm-up was old-school thrash metal, with a lot of drive, quite complex and with some finesse that you actually couldn't hear live. The sound was maybe ok in the end, but not really differentiated. Well, I didn't really expect that either. For a better listening experience, I recommend the band's Bandcamp page. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed seeing and experiencing PHAGOCYTE live. It's so good to see these old geezers back on stage (singer & drummer, mind you) ;) I hope to see and hear more from the band in the near future :)
[BRT] The class of 1990 got together again for a really old-school underground concert. Just like 33 years ago, with a few friends on stage and a few friends in front of the stage. Wonderful, it was a bit nostalgic.
PHAGOCYTE play thrash metal that combines a lot of old school with a strong pinch of groove, new school and plenty of acoustic passages. Unfortunately, the sound was mediocre and muddy, which meant that many of the subtleties were somewhat lost. The joy of playing was there, but the guys could have been a bit more laid-back. I guess, that will come with increasing live experience. Another plus was that this band isn't the umpteenth rehash of some hackneyed Bay Area thrash clone. Some old-school passages actually reminded me a bit of Kreator, but that's probably due to Lütti's vocals. Musically, however, it's clearly different.
Band: Lütti (vox, git), Daniel Lipsdorf (git), Vanessa Müller (bass, vox), Andi Nahrstedt (drums)
Setlist: Non Serviam, President Of Chaos, Killing For Company, Nevermind, Established Prejudice, Infanticide
:: pics :: HAUNTED CEMETERY ::
[Dajana] After the first thrash attack, :: HAUNTED CEMETERY :: from Augsburg continued, who are currently tearing up a few gigs in Germany with New World Depression. Now it was death metal, fast and groovy. This slowly got the audience moving. Well, singer and bassist Oak helped a lot with his announcements and animations ;) Unfortunately, the stage in the Baracke is very small, so there was hardly any room to move, otherwise the HAUNTED CEMETERY would probably have torn the place apart ;)
The Augsburgers have been around for quite a few days, but they've only released one full-length album, the debut Sacrifice The Human Race from 2018. But it seems they're working hard on new material, as a look at the setlist proves (unless that's stand-alone single releases). That was really fun! Afterwards, singer Oak didn't miss the opportunity to mosh along within the crowd and got them rocking ;)
[BRT] A really cool band that created a great atmosphere, especially singer Oak definitely did his homework when it came to heating things up. Well, musically it was more classic death metal with a lot of thrashing, certainly not much inventive but there was a lot of fun and enthusiasm on stage.
Band: Oak (bass, vox), Olbi (git), Hampel (git, vox), Tim (drums)
Setlist: Obsolete Deathcoration, Sacrifice The Human Race, Harbor Cottage, Anonymicide, Salvation In Bloodshed, Haunted Cemetery, Confide (Bulletproof), The Hunt, Headless Corpse, Buried Remains
:: pics :: NEORITE ::
[Dajana] Musically, :: NEORITE :: are often put into quite a many different categories. Thrash Metal is one of them, but in my opinion, they don't play thrash metal, even though singer and guitarist Alex reminded me of James Hetfield every now and then. I would rather like to pick Stoner/Sludge/Doom, seems to fit much better ;)
And NEORITE played a few really great smashers, for example Kassandra, Epiphany Of Disenchantment and the closer Meteorite (too bad that guest singer Skald Draugir wasn't present that evening), the former and the latter from the current album Banner Of Defeat. I really liked it. You definitely need to listen to it!
The audience now seemed almost unleashed. But there might also have been beer involved ;)
[BRT] Please what? Stoner and sludge? I didn't hear that at all. It was pretty classic metal, played a bit more modern with a lot of prog interludes. More like Nevermore or Forbidden during the Distortion days. It was really good and also somewhat original.
[Dajana] Well then listen to the NEORITE stuff on CD or Bandcamp ;)
[BRT] But for me, the band made one or two detours too often and took too many turns before reaching their destination. But it may be that I'm just rather dull when it comes to metal and its varieties, that's certainly not a criticism of the quality. NEORITE don't have much competition in the area of Münster and the surrounding area.
P.S. Here, recently hired drummer Mirko from disbanded Supreme Carnage played the skins and did a top job!
[Dajana] P.S.S. And the former Supreme Carnage guitarist (who also played in the Phagocyte predecessor Proof) stood in front of the stage and took pictures ;)
Band: Alex Mock (vox, git), Lukas Pawig (bass, vox), Daniel Maurer (git), Mirko van der Veen (drums)
Setlist: Never Return Nowhere, Settle In Madness, Under The Banner Of Cataclysmic Defeat, Kassandra, Epiphany Of Disenchantment, Neology Of Enlightenment, Meteorite
[Dajana] During the breaks the blinds were pulled up (yeah, it's a residential area) and the windows were opened to let in some much-needed fresh air, while I searched the starry sky for colorful signs. In vain... Anyway, there were also colored dancing lights on stage (just not enough of them) ;)
:: pics :: NEW WORLD DEPRESSION ::
[Dajana] With :: NEW WORLD DEPRESSION :: veterans took the stage. 18 years of band history, six albums under their belt, the last one, Interment Of Sins, just released in April and rated 8/10 by our guest editor (also present).
And NEW WORLD DEPRESSION left nothing to be desired. Finest old school death metal with an incredible amount of power and energy. A gracious bow to the UK in general (can I hear a bit of Carcass?) and to the former bolt throwers in particular.
Singer Hütte said something about "we have to push ahead"... ok, it was already late... um, wait a minute... the camera clocks were still on summer time... Is there a curfew in the Baracke? No idea.
NEW WORLD DEPRESSION started off with tracks from their previous album, Descent, before moving on to new material and ending their show and the evening with Drop That War from Retaliation. Fuck that was awesome! The crowd went wild and vehemently demanded an encore. But, unfortunately, it wasn't possible. And it was only just after midnight. Too bad, too bad.
[BRT] It's noticeable that the guys from NEW WORLD DEPRESSION are playing live a lot at the moment. Their show went down quite professional but also a bit routined. Sure, it was old-school death metal to the max with plenty of Bolt Thrower references, not particularly original, but that's probably not what death metal fans want these days. Top-notch!
A great end to a really cool evening. The Baracke was packed. This is how a family reunion should be... .
Band: Hütte (Sascha Erdhütter vox), Ritchie (John Klingel git), Julian (Julian Schulz git), Sascha (bass), Sig (Stefan Siegwaldt drums)
Setlist: Descent To Hell, Pervitin, Deathmachine, Interment Of Sins, Brainless, Undying Strains, Skull Carver, Overdose Of Humankind, Working With Flesh, Drop That War
A great evening came to an end. It was a feast for me! Thanks to all the peeps :) Apart from NEW WORLD DEPRESSION, I hadn't been musically involved with any of the other bands before. Somehow local stuff always passes me by. I'll have to look around for something to keep me up to date in the future.
And actually NEW WORLD DEPRESSION would fit perfectly into the PSOA 2024 line-up, don't they? To round things off, here's Interment Of Sins in the player. So!
