I’m glad to see that people wrote and are still writing about Elite Dark Metal Evening…  some of them in a subjective way, other less… the opinions are of all kind, from superlative to acid critics… some had seen the bands for the first time, others listened to them in exclusivity… some came to see if the bands’ live sound is identical with the one from the albums, others to count the musicians’ mistakes… some to enjoy the created atmosphere, others to get to talk to their friends and also the bands… some came for AGALLOCH and left fascinated by ALCEST, others came to see how this new wave of Shoegaze Metal is to be assimilated and left with the impression that such sonorities are best listened at home, or the bands don’t  provide the same feeling live, this leaving possible marks of disappointment… therefore, after all, I can say that ELITE DARK METAL EVENING gathered, in 2 evenings, more than 1000 attendants! A great deal for these times… and for 2 bands which could be classified as anything but mainstream! And the interest of this Special Evening composed of 2 parts was incredibly great, if I am about to look how many YouTube posts exist, but also the large number of views!

Let me tell you some details which lead to me think they would capture your interest. Both bands were eager to play in Romania, to walk up on stage together and to greet the public in the most sincere and friendly way! Things which happened at the end ! Both bands were quite nervous in this Special Evening, each of them having their own personal reasons: the ones from AGALLOCH haven’t played for over 6 months and had no chance to rehearse together all this time, because each of them lives in towns not quite close to each other… Ever more, the Americans can’t really brag with too many yearly concerts, AGALLOCH being considered a studio band! And the commotion of playing in the First Part in a theatre hall in front of an atypical audience was obvious when I’ve met them in Romania. ALCEST was about to go on stage for the first time in history and the honor of playing for the first time with AGALLOCH made NEIGE  anything but talkative, if not stressed!

 And so, we inaugurated another Special Evening, held in an elegant club, among hundreds of fans, who willingly came to see at work, two salient bands of our quality underground. The mix of styles brought to The Silver Church, a very different public, an important part interested only in DORDEDUH’s performance and another who left right after THY VEILS finished their musical “discourse”.

      We had cold feet concerning this evening, mostly because we had decided to organize this Special Evening Sunday, instead of Saturday or Friday. The decision was taken during late August and the official announcement was made during ETHEREAL AMBIENT EVENING, in Brasov on the 12th of September 2009.

      Subsequently, things were sort of highballed, since the overnight appearance of another 2 gigs during the very same weekend, one of them set on the exact evening as ECHOES FROM TRANSCENDENCE.  Therefore, two days before the show, we became worried that the location we had picked up was going to turn out too spacious for the event. The result was beyond expectation, bearing in mind the conditions presented above, and everything went according to plan. The access was allowed starting with 18.30 and until 19.30 the AGALLOCH DVD was presented on the screens. No more than 100 persons were present at that time.

The Special Evenings of 2008 have tried to frame an identity specific to some less than common music styles in Romania.  
Over-optimistically looked at, this Musical Scene had enjoyed 5 distinctive events, different as music but also as possible fans. Unfortunately, the audiences present were not enough in order to allow a positive outlook towards this theoretic niche.   

In the end, we decided to experiment once again, by bringing back a few bands in 2009 as well, in order to see if anything will change or if we will have to step down.  
The first experiment, in September, has turned out as neat as the other ones, our curiosity when pondering on a Special Evening that would feature a ‘crowd’ of bands…  

I have been waiting very impatiently for this event… Apart from the great wish standing on both sides for a new ARCANA concert at Reduta, I also wanted to find out if bringing a band in the same place, after only just one year, will arise more or, perhaps… less interest.

And I did find out… more than half of the audience from April 2008, despite the fact that now we’ve had more than 3 hours of music, alongside ARCANA having two additional projects, NARSILION and DER BLAUE REITER. If it was disinterest, ignorance or the effect of the economic crisis, matters less...

SHINING is the band I have been longing to see live for quite some time!

To be more precise, since their fifth album hit me full on about two years ago, it is since then that “Halmstad” continues to be one of my favourite releases from the new Black Metal scene.
With a healthy degree of caution (not to call it fear), I tried to make sure that a Romanian concert with the Swedes will be different from what has been taking place abroad, meaning that the theatrical side of the show to be dominated by the musical side, simply in order to avoid conflicts of sorts.

I heard a lot about Niklas Kvarforth (this is his full name, no pseudonyms), I wrote about him a lot and have seen quite a bit of footage with him, I have friends in bands that have told me that this character is not normal for this world… but all these aspects have managed to provoke me, rather than anything else.
And so... having learned that the band is coming to Romania in August, but in a part of the country that will most likely be out of reach for many (north – west), I have decided to invite them to Brasov, to a Black Metal Special Evening, alongside another band, INDIAN FALL. If it has turned out to be good or not, pleasant or shocking, interesting or disgusting, everybody is free to believe whatever they want. Perhaps I have lost some KOGAIONON fans, or gained and kept others… Time will tell!

A half full hall, an apathetic audience, shy, ‘hidden’, confused, not so knowledgeable but open to see something different within a local scene that is full of events but lacking substance…
Two bands that have only one thing in common, the record label Trisol, one playing a Martial Industrial that reminds of DEATH IN JUNE, the most difficult to play 100% live due to the samples present on the background of the sound, and the other one more Pop, superficially catalogued as NeoFolk, a band that can put up quite a show… especially if it has an audience to match…

An elegant venue, intimate, comfortable, with chairs that seem to induce the desire to sleep, more than the want to see/live with maximum intensity, lights less than hospitable, a frozen blue alternating with a strong red, a setting that mixed scattered newspapers, hats, bags and collages that were trying to construct something feminine… with or without soul… Nevertheless, one could somewhat feel a warm atmosphere floating around the room, an overall friendly attitude, of unconditioned relaxation, one could even say… a familial feel…

A new Special Evening, organised by Kogaionon and DonisArt, took place on the 15th of November, in the same city and same location where ARCANA, ICE AGES or ATARAXIA have previously performed.

In spite of another event held on the same day but in a different city – Bucharest, an approximate number of 200 people still managed to gather up in the elegant Reduta hall.

Coming from all over the country but from Bulgaria, Ukraine and Serbia as well, the fans started arriving around 5pm. With a more varied range of items, the merchandising stalls (T-shirts, CD’s or magazines) attracted the public’s interest instantly – especially the stand of the bands that were going on stage.
With a half an hour delay over the initially scheduled time, CASCADEUR stepped on stage. Axel Menzer, the mentor of this project, has an expressive voice, very sober, managing to pleasantly surprise the audience.

The 20th of September went by as well... A Ritual Mediterranean evening in its true sense! Perhaps boring through the lack of dynamism for some, perhaps attractive and even fulminating for those who knew what they for in for. ATARAXIA performed a show like no one else could perform, in an exceptional way and with an incredible sense of giving. The tracks enjoyed some fair acoustics for a theatre hall, the Visual concept was molded after the bands wishes and requests, the abundance of decoration elements found on stage managing to match the resonance of Francescas’ voice and the concept approached by the band.

The fact that the four of them have presented in Brasov both new and old tracks proves that the band prepared enormously to transform a typical concert into a truly Special Evening. The imposing feminine voice resided above it all, Vittorios’ masterly guitar created an unique Mediterranean aura, Giovannis’ keyboard gave the sound, in a very balanced manner, that bombastic sort of atmosphere, while Riccardos’ percussion, a bit timid and less present (unfortunately) managed to often change, in a dynamic manner, a rhythm that stubbornly decided to stay slow, but in the same time mysterious, full of pagan aromas.

ICE AGES came and went… A sort of an avant-garde concert, a niche sound not easily digestible, not the easiest to assimilate… or even to listen…

Even the projections were pretty tangled up and abstract… in a décor that tried its best to illustrate the complex atmosphere of the ICE AGES music… There were about 150 spectators, a lot of them wanting just to see Richard Lederer aka Protector, the Richard from SUMMONING or DIE VERBANNTEN KINDER EVAS rather than ICE AGES.

But, and this was no secret to anyone, his live appearances are extremely rare, his last ones have happened some 5 years ago, in an unique show over in Switzerland. And now, the opportunity arose once again, and the ones interested took full advantage of it…
We had about 90 minutes of Cold Dark Electronic, with a computerized music, with a voice that used two different distortion effects, with less melody and rhythm but a lot more internal dynamic… there were also a few little synchronisation issues, unwanted but they happened nevertheless… probably due to the lack of experience of live performances, but with a decent sound, a fair one for this sort of music.

Back over 10 years ago I was craving to see ARCANA live! I loved the first two albums and I felt the strong desire to do a subjective review and an official interview! Well, my dream came through in the evening of 19th of April, as a true MAGIC EVENING happened!

But everything started on April 18th, when I first met them all at the airport. Yes, five persons as normal as you can imagine, very friendly and communicative since our maiden contact. The most "Metal" of them was Peter, wearing a coat on which you could see BATHORY and seemingly POSSESSED or VENOM. Later on, I was about to see Mattias with a CELTIC FROST T-shirt, so a long talk started, technically divagating over and over again on Old True Metal theme.
Our ride to Brasov was a perfectly normal one, as we laughed, spin a lot of stories and listen to all sorts of music in the car. We spent that evening on a traditional restaurant, where palinca had a role of its own, aside the classic beers and wine. I obstinate into explaining to Peter that vodka is not the sole strong drink and this turned obviously clear on both our faces the next day. It was a hard night, indeed...

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