MERCENARY, WINTERLAND and CHICKEN DESTROY
I promised I would write this review if my evening was not too alcoholic, and I was in a state to remember the events. As it happened, there was no danger on this count as beer cost 5 Euro for a thimbleful. The locals at La Scène Bastille took the same view, as did a Dutch couple I met, so the bar was empty. In spite of this, it is an excellent venue. It’s a nice compact room, along the lines of the Islington Academy, with a decent sized stage for bands to move around. At least three times while there, I had people apologising to me as we got in each other’s way. This must be England, I thought. The security staff were very pleasant and helpful too. No, it can’t be England. This, believe it or not, is Paris, France.
The first band on was Chicken Destroy, a French band. Most of it was fairly average Death metal of the heavier variety with a punkish element about it. It didn’t help that the set was plagued at the beginning with sound problems. The vocalist, who looked like a choir boy on day release but had the hoarse tone of the guy from Omnium Gatherum, seemed to struggle. His voice wasn’t powerful enough to sustain menace for long periods. For the first 6 tracks, the only plus was the drummer, who was really good and enthusiastically set the tone. And then out of the blue came an instrumental called “Slowly”, which had the makings of an epic soundscape developing along the lines of Isis (who the vocalist had never heard of when I spoke to him later, so there was no plagiarism there). Had the vocalist come in when the scene was set and finished us off with quality growling, then our lives would have been complete. But he didn’t, but that’s not to say it wasn’t good. To their credit, the last number “Over the Rim” was everything the others weren’t. Sharp guitar work and biting vocals accompanied the ever ebullient drumming. The vocalist, who later confirmed to me that the band had been together since 2003, told me that the bassist was new and maybe that’s why it was a little disjointed. So, on this performance Chicken Destroy weren’t perfect, they weren’t bad and showed signs of promise.
Next up should have been Chaos Theory, a French Melodic Death metal band, but they couldn’t play because three of the members were taking exams. Replacing them were another local band Winterland. Before the concert, I kept meeting people from Winterland. I realised why when I saw 6 of them appear on stage. I was led to understand that Winterland were going to play Melodic Death metal. Maybe this was lost in translation - Mercenary were doing sound checks at the time in our defence. After an intro worthy of a big band, what I heard in “Forever and Ever” was Finnish Power Metal, complete with keyboards, in the style of Stratovarius or the similarly named Wintersun. There was some Death in it but it was Finnish metal meets French bombast, but in a nice way. Now French audiences are extremely reserved from my experience, but Winterland were getting reaction from the 100 or so people who had gathered by this stage. The jollity of it made me smile too as they moved onto the rumbustuous “I Wish”, although I have to say the vocalist’s behaviour was part of it. He was a piss-take of a Frenchman with his grandiose gestures and posturing. The keyboard player meanwhile provided competition as he raced up to the audience looking for admiring applause, while the rest of the band smiled and power-metalled merrily along. Then came a rather tedious lighters-in-the-air song called “Ices Weep Rebirth” before going back to the simply structured but ultimately happy Power/Death track “Play with Fire”. While the vocalist and keyboard player were having a mutual love-in, the guitarist upstaged them with a brilliant solo. Then came a defining moment: a version of In Flames’s “Cloud Connected”, Winterland style. Brilliantly interpreted, and the audience appreciated it too. The last two, “Haunted Sight” and the drum/key-led “Kill for Life” definitely had the air of Swedish Melodic Death metal about them. It was fast, furious and catchy. Impeccable, mes amis. Winterland were an interesting, entertaining and crowd-pleasing band who developed a good relationship with an initially reticent audience. I’m not sure how they’d go down in England with all the posturing, but their happy-go-lucky outlook suits the style and as we were in France anyway, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. Speaking to some of them before the show, there is no doubt that they are an intelligent bunch of guys who think and care about their music.
Then it was Mercenary from Denmark. This was the seventh time I’d seen them and I know them well. Whilst they have set themselves high standards in Progressive Thrash/Power metal, things haven’t always gone smoothly when I’ve seen them. I also perceive from the reaction of others that because of the sophisticated layers within their style, they’re a difficult band to pick up live if you haven’t heard the recorded material first. Well, tonight at La Scène, they took the place apart. This can be put down to a number of things. The sound quality was brilliant, so in addition to the usual thunderous wall of sound, which forms the backbone, the vocals, keys and guitars could all be heard distinctly. According to one spectator I spoke to, the sound quality at La Scène is normally no more than average. Then there was the set list. It was spot on. Starting with the thumping and catchy “Soul Decision” was inspirational. The universally popular “Firesoul” followed, and then a particular favourite of mine “My World is Ending” with its sinister tones and memorable lyrics defined the range of the band. By “My Secret Window” the moshing had started. The normally reserved Parisian crowd were with Mercenary from the start and although the room was just over half full, the atmosphere was highly charged as the audience cheered, clapped, and displayed empathetic horns. After the anthemic “Seize the Night”, a pause was taken, during which members of the band planted themselves in the audience for a laugh – well done guys, a nice trick – before rejoining vocalist Mikkel and keyboard player Morten and crushing us with the mighty “the Hours that Remain” and “11 Dreams”. The strength of Mercenary is that all the individual parts make up an even greater whole, and they exploited this to the full. It was a night of headbanging, power and individual brilliance. Martin’s guitar solos were absolutely dazzling as always but blended seamlessly into the set. Mikkel was utterly dynamic on vocals, and developed a warm and friendly relationship with the increasingly impressed audience. Meanwhile bassist Rene, guitarist Jakob, Mike on drums and Morten on the keyboards managed the considerable engine room. All credit too to the sound engineer for his work and to the tour manager Folkbar who was clearly managing a well oiled machine. A couple of the band members explained to me at different moments how in order to respect their audience they had prepared for each concert of this long tour through self-discipline and by generally looking after themselves. It showed, particularly in Mikkel’s voice and in the overall level of organisation. If I have one criticism of the Mercenary show, it’s the slapstick relationship which can develop as here between Rene and Mikkel. Sometimes it looks bad, and it wasn’t clear at one point whether Rene was joking with Mikkel or there was a cock-up over the set list. There is a place for humour, and Rene has a fantastic personality which comes across in an audience-friendly way but it needs to be projected wholly at the audience and not at the expense of colleagues or the overall team effort. At another point Mikkel was slightly thrown by the audience, which led to hesitation. Helpful hint: there’s no law against having a set list at the front of the stage. Then there was the French language – all touring bands have this problem, but the presentation would have been better with a few more well-chosen phrases. Embarrassment is ok, but it’s an opportunity missed. Joking about the lack of linguistic knowlege just insults the audience. Above all though, Mercenary delivered where it mattered and put on a powerful performance which was appreciated by everyone without exception in the crowd. The 75 minute set just seemed to go in no time.
At the end of the day, a metal audience is the same wherever you go. Everyone filed out of La Scène Bastille at the end, glowing with pleasure after a thoroughly enjoyable and convivial evening.
Andrew Doherty
LA SCENE BASTILLE, PARIS 25/04/07