29 november 2004 – Heilige Feuer V

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Last weekend was filled with noise. I’ve been at the industrial fest “Heilige Feuer V” wich happens early, and this time it happened in Moscow instead of St.Petersburg where all the previous 4 fests took place. Anyway, apart from the bad organization I’ve got my piece of pure and raw energy from some bands, but let me describe everything in order.
The first were Moscow band Reutoff. I was never big fan of their work because I haven’t seen purity in it. It was all cheap tricks and everything smelled with plagiarism and vulgarity. That’s my point of view, maybe someone is big fan of this band, but not me sorry ;) With their new program their sound changed to something more rhythmic and pop (like dark electro/rhythm noise). I couldn’t resist to think about them taking popular ideas and using them just to keep interest in them. I cannot stand that.

Next were Les Bruits Russes, which actually use another name on other gigs (The Noises of Russia, spelled in russian). Again, I cannot get the band’s idea. They generate rather nice sound, but they use female vocals and someone who reads weird instructions for medics and morgue staff. These wicked female voices and persistent reading of the instruction together with heavy noise looks and sounds pathetic for me.

The next participant was especially awaited by me. It was Deutsch Nepal. I’ve got to see Lina and other noise masters amongst the crowd long before they went to the scene. And I’ve noticed that he drunk beer non stop. And it turned that he continued drinking it on stage, smoking cig after sig. Well, the music and his vocals were very nice as usual. And video was rather good showing some grotesque figures with giant and distorted genitals. But as he started to drift into the drunkedness his vocal became more and more torn and his constant drinking was disgusting to look at. So, we decided not to look at him and continue listening to him in another part of the hall which was partitioned by some curtains from the scene part of the hall. It turned that all my friends were there because of the same reason. Indeed, that constant drinking was disgusting to look at. But still, Lina enjoyed his stay which cannot be bad ;) Afterall, he’s really cute guy even being such a drunkard ;)

Next was Proiekt Hat. I never heard this swedish project before, but heard that it was strictly cassette/vinyl underground one, so it was interesting what he was going to show. It turned to be rather nice noise/industrial with perfect video showing some industrial scenes, old caricatures showing capitalists and US military, etc. The only flaw is that it wasn’t that loud. In fact, it was very quiet. Anyway, I’ve enjoyed this project.

Next were the elders of the noise scene – The Grey Wolves. Their performance was very powerful and full of energy and hate. I liked it the most. Their video was japanese movie – Tetsuo – Iron Man, which I haven’t seen before and wich startled me by its brutality and wickedness. Along with harsch power electronics it created special atmosphere. I’d say that The Grey Wolves where the best band of the first day.

So, it was the first day. We returned home somewhere about 7am and were expecting second night with anticipation of something even more brutal.
And it turned that our expectations didn’t fail us. The next day started with someting weird. Imagine, stage was filled with people from various projects: Reutoff, Der Blutharsch and Les Bruits Russes. It turned that planned earlier performance of The Tribe of Circle with Der Blutharsch got canceled because they weren’t able to get visa for The Tribe of Circle guy. So, the spontaneous performance followed. Well, what can I say. Only 3 pieces were performed wich were weird. I can find the reason of this. Seems like people were rehearsing only one day before the gig and one cannot expect something worthwhile with such a raw program. It’s a pity because I expected to hear proper Der Blutharsch.

Next were Ritual Front – russian neofolk project which I spent being out of the scene part of the hall relaxing at the bench with my gf ;) As I heard it, Ritual Front were monotonous and very serious. Maybe they were good for the neo-folk people, but it’s not my cup o tea.

Next were the grands of industrial – Brighter Death Now. The preparations took quite some time due to some weird reasons. But the performance itself was incredible. Well, what else to expect from the leader of the CMI records and Lina Baby Doll playing together? It was brutal and weird. While we were waiting for the performance near the scene, guys from the Grey Wolves asked us to inflate some balls. We were kinda puzzled. But it turned that these balls were used by Roger Karmanik during performance. He threw them into the crowd. Just imagine, harsh noise, distorted vocals and bass guitar, and flying balls ;) It all created bizarre sence. Also I liked when Roger used to scream ‘Fuck you!’ to the crowd, and was giving mic to people for them to scream back, but the responce was rather weak, but as Roger started to spill beer bottle on the crowd, someone from the crowd emptied full bottle of the beer back on Roger. It was nice to realise that the crowd reacted back and not just silently accepted abuses. The provocation created by the music worked :) The funniest part of the BDN show was when Lina stepped on the stage being dressed with some woman’s bathrobe kind of a dress and weird white wig with two giant braids. It was also part of the BDN’s message and worked rather well ;)

Next was Con-Dom. Harsh noise from the UK. I liked this band the most. Here was pure provocation, hate and energy. I’m still under influence of this performance. I never was a big fan of the power noise, but after meeting it live I got hooked. Live power noise is something special indeed. I wish here would be more such gigs.

The next and the last participant was Hladna from StPetersburg. I’ve seen him at the other show so I was aware of what to expect. Indeed, it turned to be rather nice electro/noise. The guy used iron sheet as noise generator. He moved toys on it and it created rather loud and harsh noises. The show was rather original.

So that’s it. The fest was over somewhere about 4am and we headed home being charged by the mental energy and exhausted physically.
Afterall, the fest was good, but I think it was good because there is no alternative to compare with, which is bad… I wish it would be more industrial gigs here in Moscow. And don’t forget to check images here.

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