Ok, the new season has begun; most of the holidays are
over and the venues are starting to program progressive music again. On the
final day of August, De Pul in Uden was hosting the Uniting The Powers Of Metal
tour-a tour which combined forces of France's
Spheric Universe Experience
and Italy's
Kingcrow. These two bands both have a style of their own, but in a
way that makes a perfect combination for a great evening. Too bad this is the
beginning of the season and most money seems to be spent on holidays, therefore
the venue did not quite sell out, but still a good number of people showed up to see two great performances.
Spheric Universe Experience
|
Vince Benaïm |
The first band to set some fire to the stage was Spheric Universe Experience, whose latest album
The New Eve was released in 2012. On stage these Frenchmen combined
a melodic type of metal with a lot of progressive elements. The metal side came
from the heavy riffs and fast fret work of guitarist
Vince Benaïm,
regardless of his smaller size, his sound was big. He
|
Franck Garcia |
was using the whole stage and was playing great in unison with bass player
John Drai,
who turned out to be the joker of the band. At one point his mouth was covered by duct tape to prevent
him from talking too much. Nevertheless, the metallic touch, the man in the back; keyboard player
Fred Colombo was
the melodic pillar and his melodies and solos were very tasteful. A surprise to
me was the performance of the band's vocalist;
Franck Garcia,
who besides being a pleasant entertainer, was in the
possession of a perfect voice. This is a voice that makes the difference and I
think this is one element for the band that lifts them way above the average
metal bands with a progressive touch. A hilarious moment occurred when Garcia
asked how to pronounce 'Thank You' in Dutch, 'Dank U Wel' seemed to come close
to the pronunciation of 'Dans Ton Cul', what means something like 'Up Your Ass' in French.
Just a little remark, I would like to hear a little
more variation in the compositions, a strong power ballad or a real heavy
monster would be welcome to the still impressive set.
Kingcrow
Within a short time the stage had been changed and
Kingcrow was ready to rock. Immediately the band grabbed you with the strong instrumental intro of
Drowning Line and when vocalist
Diego Marchesi
started his vocal part it was clear to me; this guy stands up to the expectations and even overdoes
|
Diego Cafolla and Diego Marchesi (r) |
the performances on the CD. I think the replacement of the vocalist a few years
ago and enlisting this fantastic voice was the best thing that happened to
Kingcrow. Let's be clear, this is an entertainer that finds himself somewhere in the middle of
Haken's vocalist
Ross Jennings
(who has the same kind of intensity on stage and completely loses himself into the songs) and
Damian Wilson (not for the voice, but
as a performer he can grow to become equally good). The band itself had to use a hired gun to perform
Ivan Nastasi's
guitar parts, due to the fact he had become a father and could not join the
band's tour. As a replacement Kingcrow brought in
Michele Capraro,
|
Diego Marchesi and Francesco D'Errico (r) |
who had to learn the songs in about two weeks. Therefore
his stage performance was focused on playing and not attitude. All my respect
goes to this impressive guitarist, who played flawlessly in my opinion. The guitarist
on the other side of the stage was
Diego Cafolla,
who has a different approach to playing the guitar, closer to
Porcupine Tree's
Steven Wilson. His wah-wah solos sounded great and through the
rough (ab)use of his guitar during
Fading Out Pt III,
he had to finish the song with only five strings left! This was
something the band made up for by playing the song again during the encore. All
songs played that night came from the bands last two albums;
Phlegethon
from 2010 and
In Crescendo released in 2013
(see
review)
and it would be hard to recall a song that was the highlight of the
evening to me. Because of the intensity of the vocals and the interaction on stage, I enjoyed every song as much as
the next. With all the power on the front side of the stage, including the sophisticated bass playing of
Francesco D'Errico, there was someone in the back that usually does not get the
attention and appreciation he deserves, but keyboard player
Cristian Della Polla'
s contributions are of great value, better they are a prominent factor to the sound of this
band. He is a humble player that concentrates on the music, not on the fuzz in
front of him. Backbone of the band, drummer
Thundra Cafolla
had the best job of the evening; hitting hard and keeping the boys in motion. The set
ended with an impressive version of the title track of their previous album
Phlegethon
and then it was almost over, but the Italians came back and wanted to play the song that went wrong, due to
the broken string one more time, a very appreciated gesture.
This was the first time for me seeing either of these bands
live and both of the bands have left a great impression on me with their
flawless performances. After the show we were catching up with the musicians
and you could notice the way the two bands already have bonded together. For
myself, I am glad I went to De Pul that evening otherwise I would have missed
the presence of two bands that could use some more attention. They certainly deserve it.
Ok-one highlight of the whole evening, because I need to mention it,... the vocal
performance of Diego Marchesi, a voice that touches you somewhere inside!
Pedro Bekkers (edited by Robert James Pashman)