June 26th 2008. After a stressful day at work and a small aperitif occasion with some friends, I was definitely ready for a dazzling sludge party at De Centrale in Ghent. Syndrome and Kingdom, two Church of Ra projects, would arrange the warming up. The warming up for the phenomena Amen Ra (often: Amenra). This show was presented exactly one month after the release of the fourth production of Belgium’s greatest sludge performers, the browbeaten and core-crushing “Mass IIII”. It was organised by independent music club Democrazy from Ghent (http://www.democrazy.be) and it also was the perfect opportunity for the post-hardcore mammoth to present the 7-inch edition of “Mass IIII”.
The cellar room of culture house De Centrale was filling up nicely. Amen Ra always attracts a very broad and diverse, yet specific audience: hardcore lovers joined in with “post-music-devotees” and more alternative weirdoes. A beatific combination!
The Syndrome act opened the show and Amen Ra guitar player Mathieu Van De Kerckhove appeared on stage. Together with Tine Guns, partner in crime behind the electronics, he pulled off some heart-rending noisescapes. Syndrome emerged as an attractive showcase with distorted variations. Sometimes the set seemed a bit inconsistent or too less smooth. The atmosphere was serene, yet intense and sensitively. With a monophone drone metal appearance, pierced with some great electric guitar feedback and laptop sample sounds, Van De Kerckhove dictated a slow, impressive and ambient character. These sfumato soundscapes, especially in combination with the visuals, are just made for relaxing and sprawling out on a lounge chair... alas! These visuals imprinted some morbid, nonetheless lively and animated evocative elements. Syndrome putted on a strapping and rather addicting show: I wouldn’t mind repeating the experience!
The sweltering finale of Syndrome resulted in a decaying drone sound, which immediately was the introduction line of Kingdom, another Amen Ra sideproject. Building on these string tones, the small complement of three musicians took their place: Van De Kerckhove claimed the vocal parts and the guitar work, Vincent Tetaert got furious on the drums and Colin Van Eeckhout played the bass guitar. Kingdom definitely was ear-catching. With a more mainstream sound (than big brother Amen Ra) and metalcore vocals the Kingdom members portrayed alternative hardcore metal at its best. The second vocalist Colin Van Eeckhout granted Kingdom the typical Ra dash. I can certainly consider myself among the instant fans. The sound and song lines are lighter and less complex. More easily digestible, too. But the dark creative wall sound is overwhelming. The audience enjoyed the raw sledgehammer songs and Kingdom whetted the appetite for Amen Ra perfectly. And the enthusiasm of the drummer was contagious for the guests of De Centrale.
The break time was a bit rough, but looking back at it, I find it very appropriate to gauche the value of the sideprojects. At the end of the pause, the crowd showed up in droves and the Church of Ra prophets took up position. Now Bjorn Lebon and Maarten Kinet were present too. Priest of the service Colin Van Eeckhout was turned with his back to the audience, conform the customary Roman Catholic church tradition and the obstinate image of the postcore band. This styling posture could seem a bit lordly, but I have to admit that it creates a very strong, monumental effect (this is no posing to me). Moreover, Van Eeckhout has a very distinctive appearance and the styling posture fits the aura: Amen Ra has build up a devastating underground reputation and is now a well-established and already internationally acknowledged post-hardcore titan. This Belgian hare brings genuine world-class music: It is eulogized frequently by a diverse nit-picking, critical audience and often (deservedly) compared with giants as Neurosis, Isis, Pelican or Cult of Luna. It is already a source of inspiration.
I could not get my hands on the playlist, but I believe the opening song was “De Dodenakker”, a new track from “Mass IIII”. Mass IIII actually is the second real full length album of Amen Ra. “Mass I: Prayer I-IV” and “Mass II: Sermons” were merely demos (by the way: Corazine and predecessor FishComCollective already reviewed the major releases of the Ra guys, some split projects left out of consideration). “Mass III” announced the real birth of Amen Ra as a music entity and the lads of the band advanced an own peculiar style; the newest album should have been the perpetuation. But it certainly is more than that! And that was proven in Ghent! Amen Ra is even more despondent, unwieldy and sluggish now. The repetitive guitar sounds created a whirlwind with peculiar doom elements. The synchronic headcleaving was tempting. Amen Ra has its main origin in Spineless, a fairly respected member of the Belgian H8000 scene. This roots has left some very interesting hints and discernable blends in the Ra godsmacked music style, together with the pounding hardcore continuation. “Mass III” wasn’t forgotten, and “The pain. It is shapeless” set fire to the powder. The public was in a subdued mood till then, now they went berserk! After this killer song, the instrumental “Terziele”, the already generally applauded intro of “Razoreator”, introduced what the crowd was longing for. With “Razoreater”, a “Mass IIII”-jewel, the Amen Ra quintet showed to be a highly versatile music group. Screamer Van Eeckhout turned around towards the spectators and unfolded his mightily harsh screaming. My personal favourite of the evening followed next: the rather receptive “Am Kreuz”, with visuals of an almost deserted and burned down church. Amen Ra always has eye for aesthetics. Brilliant!
The revelation of Amen Ra at De Centrale was massive. Amen Ra is known for its solid live performance. Yet, there were some minus points. The sound in the cellar room wasn’t optimal. The divine grunts of the vocalist didn’t make it through the air and that was visibly unpleasant. Vincent Tetaert was annoyed too, when a snare of his guitar broke… twice! However, the crowd (the atmosphere that night was somewhat reserved too) saw a restrained continuation of the sludge pounding beat. This did no harm to the show, quite the contrary! Nothing was rashed, providing a heavy ponderous flow. Furthermore, I personally wanted to hear the mastodon song “Ritual”, and maybe some older song, like the blistering math-influenced “Hibernate”. But hey, you can’t have it all!
Comments
There are no comments yet
AUTHOR: Hamirubi
Hamirubi is becoming a Corazine-senior. He has, besides his obsessive dedication to the French néo metal scene, a very healthy interest for low profile underground music to the most commercial songs. You can also find him reading Benelux literature, riding his bike, drawing/collecting comic books and writing local history in his spare time.