Music Connects – SOULSPLITTER Album Showcase

Zur deutschen Version geht es hier.

I’m back again with a special concert report! Last weekend, the guys of SOULSPLITTER celebrated the live premiere of their new album Connection. Since everything gets better once its shared with friends, they invited MOLLLUST and CHAOSBAY  to the Werk2 in Leipzig to celebrate with them.

You don’t have to ask me twice with such a promising line-up!

Huge thanks once again to the marvelous lightinmirror.de for the amazing photos and support!

MOLLLUST

The opener of the evening was this formation around HAGGARD soprano Janika Groß from Leipzig. MOLLLUST play „Opera Metal“, which is a derivate of Symphonic Metal enriched with opera elements. Due to that, it wasn’t surprising to see a violin and a contrabass on stage. I expected a slightly bigger ensemble on stage, similar to the one they had for their Wacken appearance. Presumably they had to downsize due to the size of the stage which was already quite crowded with the six people that attended.

MOLLLUST presented impressive symphonies which had a slightly vanguard touch. A total ice breaker was the guitarist’s excursion into the crowd which really humored me!

The band played a very ambitious set which certainly wasn’t the easiest thing to do in the first place since it happened to be the first live appearance for the violinist. Nevertheless, they presented a well-rounded cross section which spanned from covering Bach to a critical look at personality cults. You could practically feel how sad the guitarist was that he had to give up his crown!

Overall a very nice gig which didn’t quite manage to catch me since Symphonic Metal is not really my thing at all. If you are a fan of Rachmaninoff and NIGHTWISH while they still played with Tarja Turunen, then this band might be a hot tip for you!

CHAOSBAY

Well, what more do I have to say about CHAOSBAY? I love the energy this band brings to the stage every time. In comparison to their gig back in September at the Kulturlounge, they now didn’t opt to play a snippet of their album Vasilisa, but that is understandable given that they only had 45min. They nevertheless used their time to the fullest by playing their single Lonely People first which really gave the audience an impression as to what would soon follow.

I’m a bit sad though that didn’t seem to have time to practice playing their single Y and then bring to the live audience. That would’ve put their performance to the next level in my book, but in the end that is complaining on a high level.

To my surprise however they still decided to play their album Asylum in full, as they did on tour. They played it without any further ado and I think it’s justified to say that it really resonated well with the attending audience.

In the end, I can only stress what I said in the past: If you have the chance to see CHAOSBAY live, then do it! The next tour is already set and announced!

SOULSPLITTER

The Headliner and unchallenged highlight of the evening were SOULSPLITTER.

I saw them live last year and was very curious as to how different Connection would be from its predecessor Salutogenesis. 

After a short, restrained announcement, they commenced on a musical journey which I can only describe as captivating. The band presented itself sigificantly more metal-like, but not less emotional, than I originally got to know them. The interaction with the audience could use some improvement, in my opinion, but every single member of the band poured their heart and soul into this concert.

The experimantal and atmospheric sounds were exceptionally well executed and if I think back to last year, SOULSPLITTER really made a leap in terms of their live-performance.

The album that was presented really resonated with me in situations in which I didn’t think that anyone could catch me there!

If I had to give some advice to the band, however, then it would be to pay attention to not leave that many pauses in-between songs. That occasionally brought me out of the experience.

Overall, it was totally worth it to attend this evening in Leipzig’s Werk2. If you’re looking for something special in Metal, then you’re well catered to if you choose to listen to SOULSPLITTER!

Definitely check out the new album, if you have the chance!