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MORTIIS (supported
by SUSPERIA and PROJEKT)
About three weeks ago, I found out that MORTIIS was going to play in London, as part of his “Unlimited Grudge” tour, coinciding with the release of "The Grudge", his second album after he was reborn (hence the capitalisation of “mortIIs”) as an electro-industrial musician. Personally, I didn't particularly like “The Grudge”. I thought it sounded like a bad version of NINE INCH NAILS. Despite that, I really admire the work that MORTIIS has done, especially before “The Stargate”, work that I was introduced to by Metal Invader. Moreover, I saw MORTIIS live in London in February (I think) 2002, after the release of “The Smell of Rain” and it was one hell of a show (at a great venue too – the Clink, an old prison). The only problem with that concert was that mortIIs basically only had one album to present - “The Smell of Rain”. So he basically came on to the stage, played more or less all of the songs in that album and left. But it was a nice show – What was also very nice was that MORTIIS had brought a lot of vinyls from his old record company, Dark Dungeon Music, basically consisting of old MORTIIS (before the mortIIs bit) releases, as well as releases from VOND, FATA MORGANA and CINTECELE DIAVOLUI – MORTIIS' side projects. I was able to get a beautiful green vinyl version of FATA MORGANA – and got MORTIIS to sign it (he really does look very different without all the makeup). For the past 2 years, I've been kicking myself for not having more money to buy the rest of the vinyls available – FATA MORGANA was a great release of medieval/neofolk/etherial/athmospheric music. MORTIIS is also a kind of historical figure if you will in our genre of music. He was part of the initial EMPEROR lineup and his further releases as a solo artist have a cult status. As such, I immediately booked my ticket – which claimed that MORTIIS was touring as part of a “Norwegian Assault Tour” and that there would be guests playing as well. Arriving at the Ocean, I learned that the support acts would be PROJEKT and SUSPERIA. I had never heard of PROJEKT before, and, even though I knew of SUSPERIA, I hadn't actually ever had the chance to listen to them. So at any rate it was going to prove interesting. Also note that the show was sold out. It was my first time going to the OCEAN. I was impressed, because it was very roomy. I immediately went to the stands, to look for my Dark Dungeon Music vinyls. Amongst the very many MORTIIS t-shirts (which I found rather odd), and other MORTIIS, SUSPERIA and PROJEKT merchandise, here they were, three dark dungeon music vinyls. For the meager price of 15 british pounds, I was able to get a beautiful white vinyl version of MORTIIS' “STJERNEFODT”, a version of “I MORKET DROMMENDE” and VOND's “The Dark River”. All were very beautiful vinyl versions. I've yet to listen to them though. There were, unfortunately, no more vinyls (I asked), so I helped myself to the bar and waited for PROJEKT to start. As soon as PROJEKT came on stage, I was very pleasantly surprised to see that the sound was excellent. Not like other concerts where only the headliner's sound is OKish and the support acts are totally buried with the crap sound that they have.
PROJECT play a form of industrial metal with gothic influences. They can certainly claim similarities to RAMMSTEIN. Composed of a keyboard player, two guitarists and a vocalist, they managed to get those of us that actually bothered to see them (not many, which was a shame, as it was a sold out show) warmed up. With a great sound, harsh beats and a solid rhythm guitar section, topped off by a great vocalist, PROJEKT managed to do a nice show. And you could see that, by the fact that after their 30 minute or so performance, many people, including myself, rushed to get their CD, called “Encryption”. They only have one CD. What's a shame, is that you can actually find that CD cheaper online (we had to pay 10 pounds to gest it from the concert). So, all in all, PROJEKT were quite a nice act; If you manage to catch them live, you'll probably enjoy it. After about 40 minutes, SUSPERIA, the latest album of whom we reviewed recently, came on stage.
There was quite a crowd gathered. SUSPERIA started playing an amalgam of NWOSDM and black metal with some thrash influences. I'm afraid I can't make any more enlightening comments as I don't know the band. I certainly took a few pictures though. They played very nicely, the sound continued to be great, and they played an encore, a cover of a pop song, the title of which I don't know, but it's quite popular. The chorus goes like “touch meeee....” “feeel meeee” from an etherial female voice. It was quite, errr, entertaining :-) The highlight of SUSPERIA's show? Dedicating a song called “Home Sweet Hell” to the fact that it was Friday. It was time to wait for our favourite Troll (or is it a Goblin?), MORTIIS. The DJ was doing a great job, playing MINISTRY, HOCICO, KREATOR, etc. After quite a bit of time, or so it seemed (by then the concert hall was packed with people), a long instrumental introduction started playing and the stage filled with smoke. I'll take the opportunity at this stage and mention that the venue was very well ventilated. Even though it was packed, it didn't feel too bad (as venues usually feel). MORTIIS and his band then stormed the stage (MORTIIS, as usual, in full troll makeup, his band in an industrial-goth style), and started playing “Broken Skin” from his new album. I have to admit, that the new album sounds incredibly good live – people really seemed to enjoy it too.
The playlist that MORTIIS followed, was more or less the following (as far as i can remember – the order is probably slightly wrong and I may be missing some songs): -broken skin -the grudge -decadent and desperate -the worst in me -gibber -le petit cochon sordide -scar trek/parasite god -flux/mental maelstrom -marshland -smell the witch He left the stage with “Asthma”. There was no encore. MORTIIS did not communicate very much with the crowd (he didn't communicate much in 2002 when I saw him last either). But he was definitely very energetic, jumping constantly around in the stage, often knocking down his microphone stand (I didn't quite get that – he kept throwing the stand down, smashing it into the floor, and some groupies rushed to put it up again. This happened around 10 times) and screaming his lyrics. He seemed to be able to perform his new songs better than the ones in “The Smell of Rain”. What I mean by this, is that his voice ,live. matches more the voice that you hear in “The Grudge” rather than that in “The Smell of Rain”. This resulted in a slight butchery of songs like “Scar Trek/Paradise God”, where MORTIIS was screaming instead of singing. But it was a lot of fun. The sound was great. What was interesting, however, was that there was no keyboard player, and MORTIIS' new albums are very much keyboard oriented. At some point I realised that I was a lot closer to the stage, than I thought I was. I thought I was quite far, but I was actually in the second “row” from the railings. I realised then, that MORTIIS had practically a legion of photographers, taking pictures of him and his band. It seems that EARACHE knows that they have a neo-goth icon in their hands and they're trying to milk him and market him as much as possible. Which is a shame. That would explain the countless merchandise as well (there was even a MORTIIS bic lighter...)... The crowd was generally quite nice, and enjoying themselves. Note that in the following pictures, MORTIIS has one troll ear, instead of two. That's because he had some problems with his costume and tore off his troll ear and, like a modern Van Gogh (sort of), threw it to the crowd. Well, not the crowd in general but me. Yes, I went to a MORTIIS concert and left with his ear. Which is quite funny, if you think of it. I almost got one of the drumsticks too, but you can't have it all... After the concert had finished, I waited around to try to get to see MORTIIS again. I got to meet PROJEKT and got all of them to sign my CD. Really nice guys, but they're not quite Norwegian, as the ticket claimed (Norwegian Attack Tour). As they put it to me, they're Northeners alright, but from Nottingham – not from Norway! :-) Not that this matters much. The DJ was also doing a pretty decent jobs, playing tracks like THE SISTERS OF MERCY's “Vision Thing” I also got to meet the SUSPERIA guys. They were pretty decent too – but I didn't have any CD of theirs to get them to sign. As a short sidenote – I really like the fact that the bands in this genre are usually so down to earth and not snobbish – You actually get to meet them, without security guards etc – And they're usually very nice. I waited and waited for MORTIIS to come, but he wouldn't. I eventually got told by the staff at the Ocean that I needed to take off. You see, I didn't have a yellow wrist band that would allow me to stay more (probably for the aftershow party or something). Bastards. I decided not to argue, and to use London's bus network to go home. I was pretty tired anyway. I was standing for four hours. Overall it was great. The only low points were not getting to talk to Mortiis, the jerk that was so wasted that he kept falling on everyone and at the end got told off and shoved away by so many people (and yet the bastard kept coming back) and the bus network, for claiming that some stops were not in use. Even if they were.... Here's the swag I got from the concert. Three vinyls, the signed PROJEKT cd, a PROJEKT pin, the ticket and... MORTIIS ear.... You have to admit, you don't often come back with an ear from a concert... PS: I had a great time, but I do miss the old mystical and esoteric Mortiis... Seek ye purple sky. Embrace ye the sadness by the purple sea...
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