Upcoming Gigs

[sheridan]

Though speaking of NDH and the Islington Academy - one of the times I've been there was to see (the only UK gig?) of Oomph! who were NDH before Rammstein existed.


For those lost on all this - NDH stands for the genre Neue Deutsche Härte.

[Jim_Campbell]

Seeing Eisbrecher on Tuesday.

Well, that was fantastic. Managed to catch Maerzfeld's support set, too, and enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to. For all the macho posturing that Eisbrecher's music conveys, frontman Alex Wesselesky is self-deprecating and very funny. The band seemed to be enjoying the gig as much as the crowd and a splendid time was had by all.

(Although, I'm used to seeing old lags like the Sisters and the Fields, where you generally feel like you've done well if you get an hour out of 'em — a ninety minute set, on top of forty-five minutes by the support, proved to be pretty hard on my ageing knees and ankles!)

This was Eisbrecher's first UK gig, but Wesselesky promised it wouldn't be their last... although his unplanned wardrobe failure during the first encore means he probably won't be buying any outfits from Camden Market for the next one.

If you like your metal shouty and German, this is pretty much as shouty and German as metal gets... and it's fucking great. Cautionary note: if you think "sort of in the middle and quite near the front" is the ideal place to see the band, you're going to find yourself in the middle of the mosh, which looked pretty full-on!

[Jim_Campbell]

If you like your metal shouty and German, this is pretty much as shouty and German as metal gets... and it's fucking great.

Blimey... there's YouTube fan videos up already...

[Barrington Boots]

Cautionary note: if you think "sort of in the middle and quite near the front" is the ideal place to see the band

This is the best place to see any band!* How are you feeling today Jim?

I watched the video you linked and quite enjoyed it. I didn't know anything about NDH as a genre but based off Wikipedia I believe I've seen a bunch of bands that would fall under it's banner when I used to go over to Germany for Wacken in the early 2000s.

*I'm 47 now and I was battered to bits when I did this earlier this year

[Jim_Campbell]

How are you feeling today Jim?

I'll confess that I did not mosh... but, even so, close on three hours standing, jumping up and down, and the occasional bit of head-banging has taken its toll on my-apparently-not-so-young ankle, knee and shoulder joints!

I watched the video you linked and quite enjoyed it. I didn't know anything about NDH as a genre but based off Wikipedia I believe I've seen a bunch of bands that would fall under it's banner when I used to go over to Germany for Wacken in the early 2000s.

A cursory Google suggests that Wacken kind of favours more... metally metal than the typical NDH style, which is also known as tanzmetal. It's pretty much literally metal guitars and vocals with a dance beat and often a synth/keyboard line running through it.

As with all genres/subgenres, it's pretty elastic — there are bands who identify under the NDH banner who (IMO) don't have many/any of the defining characteristics, and others who don't but tick all the right boxes. Whatever the ins and outs, they clearly love this stuff in Germany — my workout playlist now runs to eight and a half hours... and it's fantastic workout music.

[Barrington Boots]

Oh yeah, Wacken is a pure metalfest. I haven't been in must be coming up for 20 years as it's no longer to my taste really, but back in the early 2000s it would always have a bit of a mix of bands on that Germans really liked. The guys I spotted on Wiki's list of NDH bands are what the press used to call 'Gothic Metal' - Die Apokalyptischen Reiter, Crematory, Atrocity (who used to be a death metal act).. I'm positive I saw Oomph! there one year and I've definitely seen Knorkator. It wasn't just this kind of stuff, I've even seen marching bands there a couple of times which the Germans adored.

Looking at what you've said about tanzmetal that sounds more the definition of what I thought this kind of music would be. My tastes generally lean to heavier stuff but I'm genuinely interested, I'll be checking some out tomorrow at work, I think.
FWIW My workout playlist is generally synthwave and more electronic leaning stuff. It's much better to work to than metal for some reason.

[Jim_Campbell]

Looking at what you've said about tanzmetal that sounds more the definition of what I thought this kind of music would be. My tastes generally lean to heavier stuff but I'm genuinely interested, I'll be checking some out tomorrow at work, I think.

I hope you enjoy it!

It's kind of weird, because I'd always had this idea in my head of what 'heavy' is, but it's kind of hard to deny that Eisbrecher rock really hard but in way that's sort of, well, disciplined...? I'm struggling to find the right word for it.

As with all 'scenes'/subgenres, there are always competing narratives but it seems to be broadly agreed that around '93/'94 the three foundational NDH bands formed: Oomph!, Rammstein, and Megaherz.* Oomph! definitely got an album out first, though. Rammstein, obviously, need no further explanation, but Megaherz are interesting because founding members Alex Wesselesky and Noel Pix then left to form Eisbrecher — the early Megaherz albums share far more DNA with Eisbrecher than the later ones do. I quite like their later stuff, but it's more 'straight' metal than the Wesselesky/Pix years.

If you're shopping around your streaming service of choice for more of this sort of thing, I also like Stahlmann a lot. Unzucht have some good stuff, too. Schattenmann and Erdling both started out firmly in the NDH camp but have veered off into 'symphonic rock' territory latterly. Heldmaschine put the emphasis more on the repetitive dance beat than most of these bands, but have some decent tracks... and I've recently discovered Maschinist, who have an element of menace that I like a lot.

Honourable mention also to Hämatom, who (to me) seem to occupy an interesting middle ground between thrash and punk (that I find hugely entertaining) more than strictly NDH.

*Oddly, Die Krupps never seem to feature in these sort of discussions, despite weaving a path between electronica and industrial since the early 80s.

[sheridan]

Funny that Die Krupps came up, as spotify has decided my weekly playlist should include DK, Oomph!, Apoptygma Berzerk et al this week!

[Jim_Campbell]

Funny that Die Krupps came up, as spotify has decided my weekly playlist should include DK, Oomph!, Apoptygma Berzerk et al this week!

Die Krupps have been popping up on playlists for goth nights I've been to since the early 90s, but somehow I never grasped exactly how long they've been around... until I found out that one of their founding members left to form quintessentially 80s electro-pop band Propaganda. Just one of those weird "how did I not know that?" moments.

[Dandontdare]

I'd forgotten just how much I'd missed live music.

I'm really glad I went, because live music is the absolute best thing.

Cautionary note: if you think "sort of in the middle and quite near the front" is the ideal place to see the band

This is the best place to see any band!*

Whilst I don't share your love of loud shouty Germans, catching up on this thread has made me realise how long it's been since I've seen any bands (too long). Barring a few pub bands, my last proper gig was Courtney Barnett in pre-lockdown times.

I lasted half an hour in the crowd till the sciatica kicked in, so I got myself a pint and moved towards the back. Along the back wall of the venue were many men like me, leaning and clutching plastic pints. "So is this the wall of middle-aged men?" I asked and they nodded. I finally accepted that I have become one of those people my teenage self derided, the ones who hang back at the bar and just listen rather than surge to the front.

Well, unless it's really shit-kicking. I can't stand still to reggae, ska, northern soul, or old fashioned rhythm'n'blues. In those cases, it's tomorrow-me that has to worry about the back pain, 'cos fuck it, I'm dancing

[I, Cosh]

(Although, I'm used to seeing old lags like the Sisters and the Fields, where you generally feel like you've done well if you get an hour out of 'em — a ninety minute set, on top of forty-five minutes by the support, proved to be pretty hard on my ageing knees and ankles!)

Hope you had seats for The Cure! Getting on for three hours and the bar was outside the main auditorium.

[Jim_Campbell]

Hope you had seats for The Cure! Getting on for three hours and the bar was outside the main auditorium.

Hah. Three hours of The Cure sounds like my idea of purgatory! Never could stand 'em.

Still, that's certainly value for money if they float your boat...

[NapalmKev]

Tonight I'm going to see the mighty 'Carcass'

Cheers

[Colin YNWA]

Well again but seen a couple of bands at the wonderful Dorothy Pax in Sheffield last week. Mik Artistik's Ego Trip was genuinely inspiring - the man is a genius and can't recommend him highly enough if you get the chance.

Then Thursday saw the new (to me, they aren't new at all) The Burning Hell, who were introduced to me a couple of months ago by a friend from work. They are similarly fantastic and the atmopshere in 'The Pax' was just amazing.

To keep with the title of the thread off to see Kirsten Hersh after far too many years in October and might pp in to a Boo Radleys (less Martin Carr but a friend tells me they are still fantastic) around then too...

[nxylas]

Then Thursday saw the new (to me, they aren't new at all) The Burning Hell, who were introduced to me a couple of months ago by a friend from work. They are similarly fantastic and the atmopshere in 'The Pax' was just amazing.

I'd never heard of The Burning Hell either until last September, when Bird Queen Of Garbage Island popped up on my Spotify Discover Weekly. Now they seem to be everywhere.