Darkwave.ro electro/industrial music magazine | news – reviews – interviews – concerts – festivals – parties

Viva Music’s Darkwave.ro Fest took place on November 12 at Kulturhaus Bukarest. It is no coincidence that a club with a name inspired by German institution, namely a hall for public events, hosted an event such a Darkwave.ro, which, after all, brought to a Romanian public top acts from Germany’s electro and gothic scenes. The combination of rigor and flamboyance from Kulturhaus’s backdrop contrasted and at the same time found a soul mate in the music performed by SLAVE REPUBLIC, PAINBASTARD, DESTROID and FRANK THE BAPTIST.

SLAVE REPUBLIC – The first band to cut the ribbon of the festival was SLAVE REPUBLIC. A young band with great label backup from Accession Records, who released this spring their first album, “Electric One”(read our review here: https://darkwave.ro/2010/08/16/slave-republic-electric-one/), the Dresden/Berlin duo managed to get things slowly heated and the electro grooves of “The Driver”, “Electric” or “Less of Me” got the initial audience a great insight into private emotions and fears, but also into an unflinching optimism, contagious energy and a special touch of vocal intelligence. The message of SLAVE REPUBLIC is so close to the heart: in an epoch where unrequited love has the best of us, keeping together and responding to simple sentiment is still an option.

Slave Republic photo gallery:

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PAINBASTARD’s act may be poles apart from the suave but decisive tempo of SLAVE REPUBLIC, but their message is the same: reaching out from the distorted image of tumultuous times, the uniqueness of experience and personal ideals needs a solid voice and industrial expression in order to render an individual’s ordeal of living in contemporary surroundings. PAINBASTARD were highly appreciated by the audience, and their convincing sound carried on for long enough for everyone to get the right feeling. “Seele in Not”, “Skin on Fire”, “Kriegserklaerung” are just a couple of highlights of a very articulate and sincere show. Their setlist was completed by numerous new tracks from their latest album, “Kriegserklaerung”, reviewed by Viva Music here: https://darkwave.ro/2010/10/27/kriegserklaerung-from-painbastard-review/. A warm and communicative stage presence completed their show; which brought together numerous connoisseurs as well as novices to the sound of PAINBASTARD.

Painbastard photo gallery:

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DESTROID – A loved act of incredible energy and clarity, DESTROID literally subdued their audience and resolved the priorities of the evening for everyone: be pensive, but enjoy your lives. A genuine act of devotion, musical style and respect for their audience, DESTROID pulled up their best in order to keep their audience entertained and riding sails up to their percolating sounds, great vibes and quality electro. A rich setlist including own score and their flawless cover of SISTERS OF MERCY, as well as DEPECHE MODE/ARCHITECT improvisations made everyone feel at ease. Daniel Myer exchanged at moments the role of a vocalist to that of a percussionist in a well-concerted exercise with band mates Dejan Samardzic and Sebastian Ullmann, rendering their play with music both innocent and wise.

Destroid photo gallery:

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FRANK THE BAPTIST – The act who concluded the evening was eagerly awaited both by Viva Music’s and the club’s regular guests: FRANK THE BAPTIST. A wrought up mechanism held all four band members in a web of minute synchronization and perfect communication – it did not perspire one second that it was Bojan Heyn, the band’s drummer first live show and neither did it show at any moment that the effort they put into their 90 minutes tired them one bit. Frontman Frank Vollmann captured everyone’s attention, while Ralf Huenfeld and Justin Stephens charmed the audience with their gothic spree. A glorious suite of songs that included the band’s best known tracks as well as less known pieces had the audience commune with the band and set a special cadence to the end of the fest and got standing ovations, a well-deserved response to the anthem quality of FRANK THE BAPTIST’s songs and their stage presence.

Frank the Baptist photo gallery:

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Viva Music is happy to have brought this new experience to Bucharest’s club scene and concert landscape, and keeps its commitment to promoting quality dark, electro, industrial, Gothic, synth, EBM and aggrotech music in Romania. Our 2011 calendar of events will provide a rich experience and is sure to attract with internationally acclaimed acts – stay tuned!

Our event in other news:

thegig.ro’s review of the event in Romanian,

hai la concert’s review of the event in Romanian,

Kulturhaus’s photo gallery.