Revolution Music Tour at Sysseltinget, Hjoerring, Denmark, 01.11.2008

This Fusion Kills, Megalomania999, Downswitch, Memorial & Hatred Conspiracy

Danish underground rock and metal magazine Revolution-Music.dk, owned and run by my friend Carsten, has put together four of the best and hardworking metal bands from the Danish underground scene. The tour basically consists of the headliners Megalomania999, along with Memorial, Downswitch and Hatred Conspiracy.

First event on this tour was to take a place at the only venue in Hjoerring town, a good old ‘Sysseltinget’. I arrived at the venue app. about the announced starting time, but I must say that I was a bit disappointed that the whole thing started after more than an hour long delay. Maybe it was all due to the starting problems, which usually happens when launching something new. Another possible problem could have been the sound. Let it be said immediately – the sound was more or less terrible the whole evening, which is a huge shame because all of the four bands playing this cold November night were keen to show the best of their abilities. But let’s start from the very beginning…

First band to hit the stage was announced as special guests, a local young band, This Fusion Kills. It was obvious that these guys are not that experienced playing live, and this gig was only their third. Anyway, I enjoyed each second of their short gig. It was short, but intense & delivered a blend of hardcore/death metal/grindcore. With songs from their EP “Mental Suicide” and “Epic Disaster” they really got some circles going on in the audience. A very decent performance by this new and inexperienced up-coming band from Hjoerring. [3/6]

Following band on stage was Megalomania999 from Odense. The band has only existed for four years now but their mixture of hardcore, death metal was already well received by the wider Danish audience and metal critics. It is filled with a lot of groove, hooklines and technical outbursts. It was great to see the two vocalists supplementing each other, the one with deep growls and the other one with much wider voice range. There was a lot of hardcore screaming this night from Megalomania999 and their 30 minutes long show contained both the old and new material. Of the songs that stuck most to my mind were “Joy” as well as a couple of the songs from yet-to-be-released material “Michel de Notredame”, “Drowned In Confusion” and “Party of the Spoiled” (I hope that I understood the titles of the songs correctly?!). This show was really energetic and extravert and this music is simply made for a mosh-pit, so make sure to see Megalomania999 live on some of the other venues touring around our little kingdom this autumn. [4/6]

Now, after another bigger delay, it was time to see Downswitch from Koege. Downswitch is another fairly new band, but all of the members of this band are well known and experienced musicians in the Danish underground. The band released the EP Deprived Human Behavior late 2007 and it had received remarkably good response for their groovy metalcore in almost all major Danish metal magazines and metal-sites, including our own Metal Revolution. It was also from this EP that most of the songs performed this evening were taken from. “Perception” was an awesome song, soon after followed by another pure death metal, kick-ass track called “Sacrifice”, taken from their 2007 demo The Plague in Us All. Of other tracks I remember “Righteousness” a song that also can be heard on their official myspace site. Currently the band is finishing the songs for their full-length debut, so be aware of the existence of this band. You’re going to hear much more from them in the future. [4/6]

Fourth band was the one I was looking forward to most. They are called Memorial and they play thrash metal much in the vein of my all-time favorites Machine Head. Memorial is famous for their energetic live shows, and I must say this night was no exception. Despite of the poor sound the band manages to pull bigger number of the youth in the front, very near the stage. The music is filled with recognizable punches and grooves that are common in this kind of music, but what is unique about Memorial is their up-your-face approach. It feels so honest so straight-up.
It was obvious that the guys were self-confident and having in mind that they’ve supported major metal acts such as Vital Remains and Devil Driver, you knew what to expect to start with. This gig with Memorial will stand for a long time to come as a gig where I’ve seen the most hellish and insane drumming from a Danish underground act. Jeppe Soerensen is really a crazy dude destroying his drums like never seen before. I remember the band performing a song called “In Justice It Shall Be” and “Descecration” where singer/frontman Neil Poulsen asked the crowd to form a circle in the middle of the room, but didn’t received much of a response. But, the song called “Lights Go Out” got some motion in the otherwise small number of the audience. From their 2006 demo the band choose to play one of their all-time best songs “This is the Shit I Live for”, an awesome song. After this anthem the band played one of their very old songs named “Deep”, taken from Act Before You Think demo. The last song served as a fantastic closure of this perfect and tight gig was the one from their upcoming album, “Walk with the Fallen” (?!). [5/6]

Last band to play tonight, and the newest one on the bill, is Hatred Conspiracy. It is another local band, formed back in 2006, but like Downswitch with some experience from other bands behind them. The band is playing hardcore accompanied by the elements of death & thrash metal. One should not mistake their young faces, as these guys are brutal and extreme and it was clear for everyone that they enjoyed playing their hometown as there was a lot of joking and interaction between the band and the crowd. The vocalist Tore does a great job and with huge amount of alcohol inside me, I was really enjoying each second of their show, while the best song was “Blood and Alcohol” which can also be heard at their myspace page.

In my opinion it’s a controversial decision to have them headline over Memorial, despite it being the local band from Hjoerring. Yet, it was very well executed headline concert from Hatred Conspiracy, a band who’s about to release heir new and self-titled EP just about soon. [5/6]

* Next Revolution Music gig was scheduled for 13th December 2008 in “Tapperiet”, Koege.

All the relevant links:

www.myspace.com/revolutionmusictour
www.nocontainer.dk
www.myspace.com/hatredconspiracy
www.memorial.dk
www.myspace.com/thisfusionkills
www.downswitch.com

** Huge Thanx and Horns-Up goes to my friend Carsten who has enabled me to attend and cover this very first leg of Revolution Music Tour.