FEMME METAL FESTIVAL 2011

DATE:

VENUE:

Sunday 29th May - Monday 30th May 2011

The Asylum in Birmingham, UK

SUNDAY

MONDAY

REVAMP; WHYZDOM; APPARITION; SOLSIKK; FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH; WINTER IN EDEN; SCARLET'S WAKE

THEATRES DES VAMPIRES; SARAH JEZEBEL DEVA; DIE SO FLUID; REGARDLESS OF ME; THE MARIANA HOLLOW; DYONISIS; WINTER STORM

Whyzdom in The Asylum, Birmingham, 30th May 2011

Photograph copyright © 2011 Mark Holmes - www.metal-discovery.com

Reviews by Mark Holmes & Hannah Sylvester; Photography by Mark Holmes

APPARITION

Oh dear. Where to start. Well, I’d heard much talk outside earlier in the day about the fact that Apparition had a new singer, and that the old one was “awful”, so a band making a good, fresh start you might think. Hmm, maybe not. In short, this band (but especially the singer) epitomise everything that is wrong with this style of music and a they are clearly trying to be something that they’re not. It’s announced early on in the set that their new singer, Mariana Cassaigne is from Mexico City and that this is one of her first gigs with the (UK-based) band (so I’m guessing they can’t have rehearsed much with her ), but good for her making an effort to do something that many people might not ever have the guts to do. But, from the off, it’s really quite noticeable that Mariana has really wavery vocals, and she frequently slides off-key, and continues singing sharp or flat for most of the set. Seriously offputting and cringeworthy. Other amateurish aspects include when she hands out cards to the audience throughout one song, which just doesn’t look right and, even worse, spends the whole of one song with a camera in front of her face filming the crowd. Okay, so it’s your first time singing with the band in this country, but quit with the tourist thing. To make matters even worse, she also makes use of the token fan onstage (keeps the make-up from melting under the stage lights and makes the long hair flail around in the breeze) which is to be expected with this style of music, but this doesn’t do her any favours either as she spends a long time constantly pulling her hair away from her face! Effectively, Mariana comes across as an excited kid and far from pro, but the plethora of adoring male punters in the audience are seemingly far too taken in with her pretty smile and attire, and the fact that she’s more than happy to hold their hands while she sings to notice how appaulingly amateurish she comes across. But what about the rest of the band? Well, the keyboard sound is reminiscent of a cheap Casio kids keyboard, and totally lacks depth, and the band, as a whole, looked totally disjointed with songs that are far from memorable. Massively disappointing, especially for a band that far up the bill, when way better bands had played before them. (HS)

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MONDAY 30th MAY - PART 2

WHYZDOM

Making their UK live debut at 2011's Femme Metal Fest are Whyzdom from France, and it's also the occasion of vocalist Clémentine Delauney's third ever show with the band after it was announced in December last year she was the new frontwoman following the departure of original lead singer Telya Melane six months previously. Opting to eschew the generic Symphonic Metal tag in favour of what they label "Philharmonic Metal", it's a rather apt term to describe their music and compositional style. Think Nightwish but with bigger and more extravagant orchestral arrangements that are integrated with the metal parts and you'll be part way there in comprehending how Whyzdom sound. That is not to say they sound like Nightwish, rather they've crafted a musical identity of their own but it carries a similar vibe to how Tuomas Holopainen approaches the orchestral/metal fusion. Largely unheard of in the UK, mainly due to being incessantly overlooked by the British metal press, this evening is a vastly important show for the band in terms of raising their profile on these shores, and highly important their performance goes ahead without any glitches. So with the festival schedule only allowing twenty minute change-overs between bands and five members of Whyzdom (bassist Xavier Corrientes is strangely absent) together with a three person choir to rush on stage and potentially cramped as they would be in front of ReVamp's gear that's already set up behind where they would play, I guess it's worrying times for all. Add to that equation a lack of any proper soundcheck, with so many musicians involved and an orchestral backing track to mix coherently into their overall sound, there's much that can go wrong. As the intro to 'Everlasting Child' plays through the PA complete with its hauntingly effective ethereal vocals, band members appear one at a time and launch into the song good and proper. Reassuringly, all is well sound-wise. In actual fact, Whyzdom have a near-perfect sound and well balanced mix from the start so kudos to the band's guy on the desk. The band themselves look immensely comfortable on stage from the very first bar of music they play, coming across as professional and slick in their collective performance. And it's difficult to believe that Clémentine has only played two gigs with Whyzdom prior to tonight as she's a front-person par excellence with all the right moves, an amazingly powerful voice, and a commanding presence where she interacts well with the audience. With only one album to their name thus far, 2009 debut 'From the Brink of Infinity', the majority of Whyzdom's forty five minute set is drawn from here so second up is 'The Witness'. This is cue for the choir to appear, pivotal as they are for the song's opening. It's rare for bands of this ilk to use live musicians at shows for choir parts which are all too commonly placed on a backing track with other orchestrations, so I'm sure it's a refreshing sight for many when they assume position behind their microphones. Their three voices are mixed in perfectly with the other instrumentation and it's fantastic to witness them headbang between singing parts rather than stand motionless. Guitarist Vynce Leff, the man responsible for the magnificently grandiose orchestrations in Wyzdom's music as well as composing the entire first album with fellow guitar player Regis Morin, stands proud on The Asylum's stage, seemingly thrilled his musical vision has come to fruition and looking like he's enjoying every single moment of the set. Of the other tracks aired from Whyzdom's debut, 'Atlantis' sounds particularly awesome, and the two new compositions they play from what's announced to be a forthcoming sophomore full-length, 'The Spider' and 'Cassandra's Mirror', are well received by the festival audience. In short, I cannot fault Whyzdom's live UK debut at all. They came, they conquered and have undoubtedly widened their fanbase in the process. If ever a band deserved a big break then it's this talented bunch of French musicians. Let's hope they start receiving the wider exposure they deserve. (MH)

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REVAMP

After the entire day running well ahead of schedule (unheard of for a festival, and testament to the excellent organisation of the event as a whole - a band pulling out last minute helped too), ReVamp take a fair while to set up and sound check but, wow, seriously worth the wait! Powerful, driven, totally professional and passionate from the start, Floor & co pound headfirst into their awesome set, including not only tracks from their eponymous debut album, but also delving into the After Forever back catalogue for fan favourites ‘Face Your Demons’ and ‘Energise Me’, and a cover of Nirvana’s ‘Heart Shaped Box’, which works incredibly (and surprisingly) well as a sympho-metal version. There are a few techy issues on stage, with Floor’s mic cutting out & having to switch between two until it’s finally sorted, but being the consummate professional, she takes it all in her stride. Jord’s (who, incidentally, provides excellent backing vocals) guitar backline unfortunately also runs into problems, leaving time for Floor to announce that she isn’t much good at stand-up comedy to fill in, but instead introduces Koen Herfst (who played drums on the album), giving him time for a drum solo (which seems to impress the crowd) and plugging his band I Chaos (usual drummer Matthias Landes was on tour 2 hours away in the UK playing with another band). The band also make full (over)use of the onstage smoke machine, made even more evident when the stage looks rather ‘clear’ all of a sudden… followed by the swift entrance of another roadie onto the stage, armed with a bottle of smoke fluid and ear defenders to fill up the smoke machine; not something you expect to see halfway through a set, and perhaps a hint to maybe use less smoke! I just hope that the next time ReVamp venture over here, some of their (almost stalkerish) adoring male fans are a little more considerate to not only the band, but also those stood fairly close behind them, and not hold cameras up right in front of Floor for entire songs to film her and block other people’s view and enjoyment. But, I digress; Floor’s ability to seemingly effortlessly switch from guttural growls to beautiful operatics never ceases to amaze, especially in the live setting, and considering they are a relatively new band, they have the appearance of a group of people that are very well suited to playing together and look like they’ve been that way for much longer than just over a year. Ultra-slick and flawless from start to finish, ReVamp are without doubt the benchmark for “Femme Metal” as a whole and are absolutely the most fitting headliners for this great festival. (HS)

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Reviews by Mark Holmes & Hannah Sylvester; Photography by Mark Holmes