The German Progressive metal band Disillusion had been issued their milestone „Back to Times of Splendor“ in 2004. Meanwhile this record in this genre achieved cult status. 20 years later, the Leipzig-based band embarked on a tour to present this work live again in its entirety. Art Against Agony  was part as support act.  A stop was made in Münchenstein for a Swiss concert. Leaden Fumes was included as local support. Disillusion blew me away with their amazing performance last year. For this reason I visited Münchenstein  again. Admission was at 7 pm. Leaden Fumes could perform as first band of the evening. The Sludge’n’Doom metal band from city of Basel has been completely unknown to me. Therefore a possibility to meet a new band. It started at 7:30 pm. The three-piece consists of members Florian Schönmann and Christian Sigdell who were active in the Swiss Stoner Doom band Phased. Christian on bass with Castrol Cap contributed vocals and Florian shone with guitar solos. It was a real, dragging, hard steamroller that overran us. The force made me think of the craters on the moon. Florian played his instrument with a beer bottle during a song  what created cool sound effects. Both shared the vocals, while Jonathan Schmidli was a convin-

Presented by Rockfact Music Club & Jaunty Productions

Rockfact Music Club, Münchenstein,  Switzerland – 07.05.2024

cing drummer. Christian's request to lie down on the floor wasn’t followed by the audience. The three musicians said goodbye after 40 minutes. A solid performance. A short break occured and then it was the turn of Art Against Agony. Here’s an artists collective founded as an instrumental Progressive metal  / jazz band in the city of Stuttgart in 2012. They focused on photo- and video art apart of experimental, musical efforts. This band has been completely unknown to me either. All members came with golden masks on stage because their philosophy considers any focus on physical features to be insignificant in terms of the creation of art within the project. That’s why every member has an alias. The show started with „SOI Intro“. What immediately stood out was the tribal drum which incoporated a kind of ethno influence into the progressive metal sound. You could also hear traces of modern metal and the mixture blew out the speakers. However, there were no vocals and the music spoke for itself. Tribal drummer Mridangam formed his hands to a prayer and bowed out in gratitude after each song. Honestly it’s difficult to describe this band precisely because their live performance is an extraordinary experience. The guitarists The Sorcerer and The Void generated enthusiasm with their simultaneous guitar playing and when taking a closer look, you could see the guitar heads were missing. It wasn’t a problem because both were completley immersed in the sounds. Unfortunately the performance time was very short and all members left the stage after „Spur“. They received much applause for the good appearance. Setlist Art Against Agony SOI Intro Etry SWT Nandi Daughter’s Nyarla Magilla Spur Then came the time and the lights went out at 9:40 pm and an intro sounded. The band members of Disillusion came on stage one by one. I was excited how the Leipziger would perform. Violinist Lea-Sophie Fischer, who accompanied the group last year, was back again. Singer/guitarist Andy Schmidt was full of energy and put a lot of emotion into his vocals. Bassist Robby Kranz was allowed to shine with background vocals and looked cool. Guitarist Ben Haugg convinced with guitar solos and switched from electric to acoustic guitar in between when quieter parts were played. Their style is a mixture of progressive metal, death metal, thrash metal and alternative metal. The intensity changes like the tides ebb and flow. Many evoked feelings take the audience on a trip. There was a lot of movement and every member worked like clockwork. Andy said "it's just unbelievable to go on tour with this record. It doesn't feel like 20 years. The record is alive". And this sensational masterpiece "Back to Times of Splendor" was performed in its entirety. Lea-Sophie's violin playing gave the sound more depth.  She and the other band members went to the backstage area after „Driftwood“. However, the audience was so enthusiastic about the performance they wanted to hear more. Calls for an encore became louder and made them return to the stage. The encore was the steamroller "Tormento" from the chart album "Ayam". The band went all out again and played the complete set. Andy, Robby, Ben, Martin and Lea-Sophie drenched in sweat and happy took their bows in front of lucky fans. They were given a frenetic round of applause for their amazing performance. You could stay at Rockfact Music Club after the shows of the bands and get drinks. Furthermore it was possible to buy articles and chat with musicians at the merchandise stand. Stefan Walker was responsible for the light. Thanks to Madeleine Fuhrer of Jaunty Productions for this interesting, varied evening. It was a pleasure to be there. Livereport by Dominic Latscha