MANIC MOVEMENT • OCEANS OF SADNESS

Sometimes you may get the chance to combine business with pleasure... or something like that. However, in this case we were on the road in Belgium to meet friends. Our best host was Geert Baelus who is also the boss of Zjosuah Promotions. He nearly took every Belgian (and also dutch) band under his wings that are crawling and smurfing there in the scene. So, he also has organized the concert on this given evening, what gave us the possiblity to see two bands I didn’t know of previously, except the names maybe. The club Labyrinth was well-filled with around 150 peoples. And then we got a live show of the first class...

:: OCEANS OF SADNESS ::

The Belgian newcomer started out with Try To See, a new song, which you can heard on their new album in the next year. And they started off pretty slow and melancholic - for the moment. I already was starting to lean back dreamy, reminding me of the first tunes of old Anathema. That’s what you think!!! After these tunes such an energetic metallic storm broke out I never would have expected in this way! First highlight was Re-Erase, an absolute neck-breaking crusher. Singer Tijs Tijs was growling and shouting his voice out of his soul. Musically I got reminded of In Flames with some progressive influences and the keyboard part got a bit touched by Dimmu Borgir. The single tracks were pretty varied and powerful enough that I couldn’t stop to bang my head. And at all, this club had has an extremely good sound. Some big organizer can hide behind this PA. But ... meanwhile the Belgian audience stood restrained, which was a pity. Well, I got to learn Belgian people are that way in general. Also on the stage there was not that much movement. Only the singer used his local space. These five guys played mostly songs from their debut album For We Are, except the already mentioned Try To See and Sinner’s Dream, which is a new song as well. OCEANS OF SADNESS will hit the studio again in the spring of next year to mill their new outpoorings on CD. In the meantime, I hope to see them maybe outside of Belgium or at Graspop Festival again?
Setlist: Try To See; For When You Sleep My Love; Re-Erase; Again The Wölf Wins; Low; The Apocalypse; Sinner’s Dream; Your Faith / Judas

:: MANIC MOVEMENT ::

Well, at least from MANIC MOVEMENT I already had heard one song and I read something interesting about them somewhere. So I was pretty curious. And also I got the same effect. The exceptional good sound and the musical show nailed me for the first on the wall behind me. Wow! These lads served us a temperamentally and powerful first class show. What a pleasure! In a musical way the guys are close to a Dream Theater adaption (from their old good days), with a lot different influences. The progressive parts are managed by the keyboards, not by the guitars. Those are extremely powerful and you might think to recognize assorted riffs from time to time. Behind all that you will find an extensive background story. The single tracks are pretty complex, even though not quite sophisticated enough. The setlist contained nearly all songs from their brand new album Future Dreaming Self ... inclusive of the Anne Clarke cover version as addition. Only songs like Thousand Sufferings, Torn Into Divinity and T.I.T.S. are from their first album Thousand Sufferings. Here I also have to nag about that I couldn’t musically differentiate the individual dream sequences on which this album is built upon. I can imagine that it is pretty hard to present these chapters live on stage in the proper way. Especially when the structure of this album is so complex and extensive. And the audience again deigned to keep up its immobility. All the energy which came from the stage formulated into nothing, instead of getting reflected by the crowds. Are Belgians that reserved? I can vividly imagine what pandemonium they could cause on a German stage. However. Fortunately the guys were obviously more movable than their predecessors.

Upshot: An evening which was really worth it ( of course because of the Belgian beer too *lol ) and two bands which should get a big deal finally, to spread their music outside of Belgium too. After this concert there was also a nice aftershow party with all band members, their friends and lot of people at the well-knownest metal club in Gent and surroundings called Frontline.