Since :: FVNERALS :: had to cancel their festival appearance on short notice and unreplaced, we were allowed to sleep one hour longer. I was not too sad about this fact after the heavy first festival day ;)
So, :: SPIRITUAL FRONT :: was the first band opening the second festival day. What I was hoping for from yesterday's opening act, now the Italians served: rhythms full of verve, making everybody dance. The latest album Amour Braque was considered shortly, the band relied on older classics, mainly from Armageddon Gigolo', with an accompanying black and white movie on the screen behind. SPIRITUAL FRONT still plays as a trio, no additional musician for keys or accordion. Hm, would have brought even more dynamics into the set. I anyway danced and was now wide awake ;) Great show!
Band: Simone H. Salvatori, Giorgio Maria Condemi, Andrea Freddy Nio
Setlist: The Shining Circle, Cold Love (In A Cold Coffin), I Walk The (Dead) Line, Darkroom Friendship, Jesus Died In Las Vegas, Disaffection, Slave, Bastard Angel, Children Of The Black Light
:: EÏS :: to taste, to feel, to see, to hear… all at once? Yes, that is indeed possible ;) Wasn't EÏS put on ice… erm hold? They made an exception for the festival’s anniversary edition? Well, no, seems like EÏS will play other shows too. So, they can officially declare the end of their winter sleep then.
And I actually did not lick or nibble on the band. There was an ice-cream booth outside the festival area (probably unauthorized and away after 3 minutes) I could wrest two scoops from ;)
Inside the cave, EÏS played Galeeren tracks from the GEÏST era and stuff from Wetterkreuz. Since there was a mini EP already released, EÏS might now up the ante with a regular new album ;) Black Metal as its best! Another stunning show!
Band: Torrent, Dante, Alboîn, Abarus
Setlist: Galeere, Bei den Sternen, Winters Schwingenschlag, Unter toten Kapitänen, Spätsommerabende, Mann aus Stein
At this point I have to say, Prophecy Productions truly have a knack for dramaturgy ;) The curve from Spiritual Front via Eïs to :: E-L-R :: could not be grosser. With phenomenal success. Shortly before the pandemic I have seen E-L-R playing live supporting Amenra on their tour. Their almost completely instrumental, drony and doomy Post Rock with reverb singing downright captivated me. The impact of the music did not fail in the cave either. Much the opposite. The Swiss trio worked even better in the cave, leaving the fans stunned and mesmerized. Definitely one of my highlights of PROPHECY FEST 2021!
Right after the show a stream of fans walked to the merchandise area to buy E-L-R CDs, vinyl and shirts. How great is that? Some of you, who know the music of E-L-R a little bit better, might have wondered. You didn't know the songs? Me neither. No wonder, it was all new material from the upcoming sophomore, already mixed and mastered and ready for release in early 2022. I'm much looking forward to this :)
By the way, since Dool's Ryanne van Dorst was there too, E-L-R could have played Lunar Nights as well ;) Last but not least, what still needs to be sorted out is, what E-L-R means. An abbreviation it is not anyway…
Band: I.R., S.M., M.K.
Setlist: Opiate The Sun, Three Winds, Ambrosia, Fleurs Of Decay, The Wild Shore
After this wall of sounds :: KLIMT1918 :: was rather relaxing I have seen the Italians only once, at PROPHECY CONCERT NIGHT 2015. There was actually a long period of silence around the band. Eight years are between the last regular records and Sentimentale Jugend already dates back 5 years too. Musically, KLIMT1918 settled into Shoegaze-tinged Post Rock but still look like a Brit Pop band. Nice to listen to, nice to relax to and nice to get some food to.
Band: Davide Pesola, Francesco Conte, Marco Soellner, Paolo Soellner
After a short breather the festival went on with epic power. Now, Hupogrammos and Sol Faur revealed their real potential with :: DORDEDUH ::. Everything fell into place: music, atmosphere, sound, instruments and the band as a unity. The band's sophomore Har was released in May and I would call it a visionary masterpiece. Exactly that DORDEDUH proved here live on stage. Similar to E-L-R, the fans were downright absorbed into worlds beyond and drifted away. Marvelous shows! Next to Arthur Brown and E-L-R the third highlight of the festival!
Band: Flavius Misarăș, Sol Faur, Hupogrammos, Putrid
Setlist: Timpul intailor, De neam vergur, Descant, In vileistea uitarii, Jind de tronuri
:: DOOL :: right after boiled up the cave and brought everything on the highest possible energy level. As every other band, DOOL were so keen to finally play live again - they were brimming over with energy and passion. Except for the hit single from the debut album and the Killing Joke cover, all other tracks came, less surprising, from the band's second album Summerland. DOOL really killed it. They always were a high voltage band, but tonight they topped it and enthused the crowd.
Band: Ryanne van Dorst, Nick Polak, Omar Iskandr, Job van de Zande, Micha Haring
Setlist: Sulphur & Starlight, God Particle, Be Your Sins, Wolf Moon, Summerland, A Glass Forest, Love Like Blood, Oweynagat, Dust & Shadow
To keep up this high level of energy was impossible and actually was not intended. But those, who thought that the set of :: DEINE LAKAIEN :: would be now kind of boring, found themselves mistaken.
DEINE LAKAIEN was surely the second band of the billing that was out of the ordinary here in the cave, as well as regarding the label roster. Moreover, Alexander Veljanov & Ernst Horn is a hardworking duo, with the first album via Prophecy Productions out (Dual), the second one in the pipe (Dual+, out November 2021) and a third one in the works.
I was really curious how the crowd would react on this band and was surprised. The fact that a Steinway & Sons piano was brought on stage promised something big. And we got something big. Only accompanied by this piano, DEINE LAKAIEN presented an acoustic show of many classics. Most of them I was able to sing along too.
Again, one could sense the hunger for live shows, even if Mr. Veljanov acted as reserved as always. As more Mr. Horn hit the keys and displayed his musicianship. It was cold in the cave and Ernst Horn needed some exercises to warm up his fingers before.
The crowd again was still mostly sweaty and knackered from the Dool show but celebrated DEINE LAKAIEN likewise frenetic after every song. I did not expect that but it makes me proud to belong to such open-minded community as the one of Prophecy Productions is:) Well, what can I say? It was fantastic!
Band: Alexander Veljanov, Ernst Horn
Setlist: Where You Are, Wunderbar, Over And Done, The Game, Because The Night (Patti Smith cover), Unknown Friend, Return, Down, Down, Down, Gone, The Walk (The Cure cover), Dust In The Wind (Kansas cover), Love Me To The End // Where The Winds Don't Blow, Dark Star
And here we are, at the end of festival day two and the grand finale of the PROPHECY FEST 2021. Another band celebrating a jubilee, the 25th of course. :: EMPYRIUM :: was the reason to found Prophecy Productions back in time, so one wouldn't exist without the other ;)
Having played PROPHECY FEST two times, EMPYRIUM headlined this festival for the first time. It is difficult to say if that was beneficial for the band or not. Many fans were tired, had left for their trips back home, while workers already started to remove festival equipment. Rather suboptimal surroundings.
Also EMPYRIUM released a brand new album by the name Über Den Sternen, the band played only two songs from. Instead, the band focused on the classics, offered us a retrospective, a journey through 25 years of the band's history. The single wish of a birthday girl to play Schwäne im Schilf was not considered (Happy Birthday from here anyway ;)). However, EMPYRIUM presented us an excellent show to finish an exceptional festival in strange and unusual times.
Band: Schwadorf, Thomas Helm, Fursy Teyssier, Eviga, Allen B. Konstanz, Aline Deinert, Alsvartr
Setlist: A Lucid Tower Beckons On The Hills Afar, The Blue Mists Of Night, Mourners, Where At Night The Wood Grouse Plays, Heimwärts, The Three Flames Sapphire, Ode To Melancholy, The Franconian Woods In Winter's Silence, The Ensemble Of Silence, A Gentle Grieving Farewell Kiss // Many Moons Ago
Summary: As mentioned in the foreword, PROPHECY FEST 2021 was a very special festival. It was highly intensive, passionate, emotional and just awesome! You could see it in almost every face, how much everybody was longing for such an event, to experience live music in familiar surroundings. Also bands were utmost crazy to finally play live again, were keen to be seen by the fans and to see the fans reacting and responding to the show. Fans and band members likewise cuddled and hugged each other, meeting after such a long time. PROPHECY FEST 2021 will hardly be topped regarding its emotional level.
And, PROPHECY FEST 2021 was the first PROPHECY FEST without delays. That I call an organizational record. Okay, change-over times have been extended – that helped a lot. Yes, it stalled here and there, but we talk about 5 at worst 10 minutes. Hats off for the effort!
What is left to say? If you want to support the PROPHECY FEST to compensate the imbalance between debits and credits, you can donate » HERE «. If you donate more than 40$, you will get the wonderful 25th anniversary anthology book for free.
Besides, there was an US edition of PROPHECY FEST announced for 2022. And we will see us again in 2023 in the legendary Balve cave! :)
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