Sometimes the approach of rock bands concerning professionalism differs a great deal. I noticed that after I'd witnessed a concert of Stream Of Passion and their support act Sylver Myst at De Pul in Uden. Both bands hail from The Netherlands, both bands play music that is heavily influenced by the gothic music scene and they both released two studio albums to date. Thus, you would expect a similarity in the history of their live performances. However, right from the start it became clear that Sylver Myst has a lot to learn as far as live concerts are concerned.

In general, a support act doesn't reach the same quality level as the headliner. However, if the level of live music is below average or even poor than it is time to take in consideration whether you make music only for yourself or for the audience in front of you. The members of Sylver Myst write songs that mostly appeal to people that enjoy bands as After Forever, Epica, Within Temptation and Nightwish. However, their compositions never reach the same level as the ones made by these artists. These acts know how to entertain an audience with music that has something to say.

Female singer Tasmara Kel has a voice that reaches the high vocal ranges. From time to time, she reminded me of Toyah Wilcox, but the compositions and her voice sound the same most of the time and that also applies to the rest of the band. A nice keyboard intro by Martijn In 't Veld is not enough to keep the audience's attention permanently. Guitarist Rob van Dijk asked the audience to become more active, but when the music does not attract you, it is difficult to get in the right mood. That is certainly the case if most people in the audience came for the headliners. Unfortunately, the music taken from the albums Depth Of Illusions and Emotions Revealed didn't cause the spark that was so badly needed. Even the two new pieces My Third Eye and Entangled By Lies taken from the CD-single Turning Point couldn't change my verdict about Sylver Myst. So please, restrict yourself for the time being to practicing before playing in front of a live audience.

That advice I will surely not give to Stream Of Passion. Their music and stage presentation is of a very high level. Founding member Arjen Lucassen set a high standard when he started the band in 2005 and that is still present in the current line up. Singer Marcela Bovia and bass player Johan van Stratum, who remained from the original band, managed to select some fine musicians who perfectly master their instruments. SOP reached the same high quality level during this live performance as on their second album The Flame Within. The lead vocals of Marcela Bovia are very impressive. She has an incredible strong and clear voice that sometimes reminded me of Christina Booth (Magenta) although that didn't strike me at all when I listened to the studio album. It's a pity that we couldn't hear Marcela playing the violin more often. I would advice her to use this instrument a lot. By doing so, the comparison with Evanescence becomes less.

It was obvious that SOP presented almost the complete new album at De Pul in Uden. Only Let Me In and Burn My Pain were not performed. Although, the Radiohead-cover Street Spirit certainly was on the set list. If the audience had not asked for an encore, we would have missed this song. One of the encore pieces was taken from the bands debut album Embrace The Storm. The band performed this song with the same passion and musicianship as the pieces taken from their latest effort. Arjen Lucassen can certainly be proud of his brainchild. I only hope that during the next Stream Of Passion-tour Marcela Bovia not only speaks fluently English, but that she will also introduce the songs in the Dutch language. It was nice to hear her say some Dutch words. The response of some people in the audience was enjoyable. They screamed 'boeren, boeren, boeren', which means 'farmers' in English…

Henri Strik (edited by Peter Willemsen)
Stream Of Passion website
Sylver Myst website