Lingua Mortis Orchestra feat. Rage / Orden Ogan
The Lingua Mortis Orchestra, which actually consists of Rage-bandmembers and some additional musicians, released their ambitious “LMO“ a short time ago. They have already played some shows on major summer festivals like WOA. Now they are making a mini tour (2 dates until now, more should follow later this year). But maybe the timing of this tour shortly after the festivals is a bit bad. There is actually no other excuse why there is such a little public interrest in this show tonight. Only a few hundred headbangers come to the Turbinenhalle, which has a capacity of a few thousand.
But the participating musicians – especially the guys from Rage – do not care about this. They are just too happy that they managed to bring this project on the road. “You have to be a little bit insane to do something like this“, Victor Smolski, guitar player of Rage and main songwriter of “LMO“ says. And he is right! Beside the 3 Rage guys plenty of musicians are standing (and sitting) on the stage. First of all, there are 3 additional singers: Henning Basse (ex-Metalium), Dana Harnge and Jeanette Marchewka. They are also part of the “LMO“ record. And there are also 18 orchestra musicians, including strings, horns, piano and conductor. So all in all, there are 24 people on the stage. Unbelievable for a club tour!
Tonight it is really interresting to watch the musicians on stage and to take a closer look at their performance. First of all, there are the three members of Rage. Well, all of them should be known, but it is really nice to see how much fun they have and how much effort they put into this project. Especially Victor is really proud of this work. So this not only another show they play, it is obvious that this is something special tonight!
Regarding Henning Basse I have to say that I did not recognize him, although I have seen his former band multiple times live. Compared to his time at Metalium, he has a beard and is also a bit heavier now 😉 But this is not a handicap for him. Instead he is really wild today and motivated to give everything. So it is not only his voice which enriches the show, but also his stage acting, which makes him a perfect counterpart to Peavy.
Regarding the two female vocalists I have to say that they absolutely know how to sing. They are just like Henning an enrichment for the whole sound. But the stage acting of the two is totally different. While Jeanette acts a bit reserved, Dana is really enthusiastic. She does headbangig, plays air guitar and raises the devil horns. I am really surprised to see a classic soprano acting like this on stage. There are many Metal front women who could learn something from her!
Also the orchestra is really surprising for me. Victor tells us that it is really difficult to find classic musicians who can play Heavy Metal, because these two styles are too different. But these guys can play it – and they obviously enjoy it too. You can see some of their heads jiggle to the music, others are raising their instruments and some are also showing the devil horns. Especially the pianist, a young guy with long hair and a tiny beard, who would fit perfectly into a Metal band anyway, really seems to enjoy this show. His permanent smile says everything.
The majority of today`s songs are of course from “LMO“. But there are also some older Rage tracks, especially from “13“ of course. But also the long and difficult `Suite Lingua Mortis`, which was actually not made for live shows, is presented today.
All in all it was a nice evening, but it was not magical. Also the warm up band Orden Ogan did their work to make everything nice. They played 40 minutes and warmed up the crowd perfectly. Although they are were not many people inside the venue when they began, the band was motivated and enthusiastic. Highlights of the set were `To The End` and `The Things We Believe In`. Both had nice parts for singing and shouting along and the crowd did indeed join in. After the show many people could be seen at the merch stand buying shirts and/or requesting advice which of those OO Cds they should be buying.