Metal Female Contest @ Biebob, Vosselar, Belgium
Review Gig and Photos by Erwin Van Dijk - Date Of The Event : 7th November 2009
Metal Female Contest is the little sister of the big Metal Female Voices Festival. Originally it was supposed to be the warming up party for this event. However, MFVF was three weeks ago so it is a bit strange to have a warming up party 49 weeks before the festival – thus the change into Metal Female Contest: the highway to stay. This is also the more accurate name for the evening because the winner will show up at Metal Female Voices Fest VIII in 2010. But I would not mind having a warming up party on the Friday before MFVF VIII like this own, especially when you take in consideration that many festival goers are already in Wieze. And Wieze and the surrounding area are rather boring on Friday night.
The idea behind this event is somewhat like the Eurovision Song Contest. Five bands (or, in this case four bands) will show that they are good enough for a slot in the MFVF VIII line up. The true headliner is usually a larger band that have already proven itself. Last year we had the band Haggard as headliner (In my opinion a very good band, somewhat like Therion on The Miscolk Experience live album but only with female background singers and therefore not MFVF material) and Whyzdom did win the contest. This year Dejafuse was the headliner. We have done an interview with Nienke de Jong, the singer of this band (she is also Autumn's former singer) Dejafuse is already confirmed for MFVF VIII.
But this is a contest and the five bands fighting for a change to be on MFVF were Erynies from France, Virus IV, Sad Siberia and Skeptical Minds from Belgium and Morning from The Netherlands. Due to illness Virus IV had cancelled their gig at the Biebob. Bad news for me because I really wanted to see Magali Luyten's band.
The Biebob is a relatively small venue in the city of Vosselaar, near Turnhout and very close to Tilburg in the Netherlands. There were many people from Holland, giving me not really the idea that I was abroad. The sound was good at the venue but the lights could have been better. As you might know, violet colours and digital camera’s do not go along with each other very well and the stage was flooded with violet light. And is was cold. I am the last one to complain about a good air conditioning but many visitors kept their jacket on because of the low (Siberian) temperatures inside the Biebob.
From the four bands Erynies (singer Carole Rainsard here on the left) from France was the weakest. Not because it was bad music but it did not really have anything special compared to the other three. In my opinion they could better have waited a few years, gather more experience and try again. They have not yet the skills to be ready for a festival like Metal Female Voices Festival.
Sad Siberia (singer Jamie Lee here pictured on the right) started the wrong way with some cyber gothic intro which is not my kind of music. Singer Jamie-Lee was wearing a real stage outfit. (and it cost her a while and a few extra hands to get it right during the sound check). For Gaelle, the keyboard player this was the second time on the MFC. The first time was with Valkyre, a band that was also present on the MFVF V in 2007. In fact, Sad Siberia was already present at the warming up party at Ten Wyengaert in Brussels that year. It is a small world in the Belgium music scene. But after the intro we got some very good music. Think of Epica without the movie scores.
Regular visitors of MFVF will have seen Skeptical Minds singer Karolina Vell Death (photo here on the left) before (this is her stage name of course). She is always present in the VIP area and I would not be surprised that many people think she is one of the singer of the bands that day. But today she was wearing something black, tight and relatively simple although the black feathers added a nice Raven touch. Like Sad Siberia, this was not the first time for Skeptical Minds to be present at a MFVF powered gig. Years ago in 2006 to be precise Skeptical Minds was present at MFVF, together with Tristania and Delain. In that year Kristell Lowagie was still the singer of the band but she left in 2007. She was also at a time the leadsinger of Valkyre and this connects Skeptical Minds with Sad Siberia. This band is more ‘Lacuna Coil’. How would I describe it? More heavy metal electro pop songs. Think of Lacuna Coil before they sold their collective souls to the not so almighty anymore dollar. On stage Karolina is a real front woman, like Telya from Whyzdom or former Transentience singer Carmen. I think the performances of Sad Siberia and Skeptical Minds came very close to each other tonight. If it was to my choice both bands would appear in 2010 at the Octoberhallen but I had only one vote.. And we had an encore. Ace of Spades from Motörhead. It as a bit strange to hear a petite girl sing this song but Skeptical Minds got away with it.
Morning (singer Saskia van Heugten pictured here on the right) has never been the fastest band in the world but today the band must have selected only the heavy songs. Saskia might still not have a sense for fashion, she was the best singer today. Sadly they did not brought their fan club with them like Sad Siberia and Skeptical Minds did so I am afraid their changes for MVFV VIII are slim.
We did not have to vo
te for Dejafuse (singer Nienke De Jong here pictured on the left) because this band was already announced for the 2010 edition of MFVF. Dejafuse rocks more than Autumn has ever done. Nienke is still a great front woman. I have not seen here since the gig at Het Paard in 2007 (one of the last Autumn gigs with her) and nothing has changed. She is still one of the best from Holland.
At some point during the gig Nienke found a lost Morning set list onstage. As always with this band the set list was decorated with pin ups (sexy but fully dressed – you should have seen the porno girls on a The Shavers set list!) and she put is on the microphone standard for the lonely men among the audience.
Besides this Dejafuse did not really need any special effects like a guitar filled with liquid like Skeptical Minds or a singer with mask like Sad Siberia. Like Morning they led the music speak and that should be enough in my opinion.
If you are interested, the complete album of the event is located here.
Links :
Skeptical Minds Official MySpace
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