Dornenreich
02. May 2014, Werkstatt, Cologne, Germany
Dornenreich on tour (with Heretoir und Wassermanns Fiebertraum) to promote their new album “Freiheit”, but it is still so completely hidden and if you don’t know the band already, you’d never guess to look for their live concert. I did not come by a single poster or flyer about this, so how can it be that the venue had already a long queue to it even before the opening hour, and already by the first warm up band, the room was nearly all crowded?!
The venue is small, dark, with a hint of trashy. The stage is only slightly higher than the main floor, no backstage, and so the whole experience is like you are in the band, musicians on stage extend into the audience and it all becomes a whole. In case of Dornenreich and their unique style and the ambient they create, this works very well.
The Austrians start off with a short acoustic set, just the magical violin, guitar and Eviga’s whispers. I look around and all I see are people with their eyes closed, as if in trance, slightly nodding along the whispers, with blessed expressions on their faces. It is like a group meditation, it is calming, dreamy and very pagan, that I cannot help but see myself amidst the nature, at night, moonlight, with a fire just calming down, somewhere near a waterside… I don’t know how Jochen “Eviga” does it, but he weaves magic…
Later the set shifts from acoustic to electro, when the drummer joins the band, and they played older heavier songs. Now Eviga whispers less and add some screams and more metal sounds to it all, but with the same violin along it all, still keeps this fairy dreamy mood around the music. Audience is now headbanging, even to the slower parts of the songs, and I cannot remember when did I ever see headbanging to a violin last in this context, where it was not your typical straight-forward heavy metal show. Again, this all is very surreal, it is like I am a character in an audiobook.
They must’ve played for more than one hour, then came back with an encore, but it felt all too fast, as it often happens when you are really enjoying the concert. The set was a good mix of acoustic and plugged, old and new songs. What is good to see that after already 18 years in their path, Dornenreich are not experimenting or trying to reinvent themselves, with every new album their music is diverse enough to keep you curious, but at the same time, it is faithful to their style. I can only call it natural. I won’t expect anything more or less from them, and I do hope they will tour more. It will make a great act for a pagan festival, in the open air, somewhere in the nature, where it belongs.
Their tour has only just took off, so if you have a chance, don’t miss it! And have a look at the interview with Jochen “Eviga” to get more insights what all this magic is really about.
Setlist:
1. INTRO
2. FREITANZ
3. IM ERSTEN ALLER SPIELE
4. DES MEERES ATMEN
5. MEER
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6. FLAMMENMENSCH
7. JAGD
8. DER HEXE FLAMMEND’ BLICK
9. AUS MUT GEWIRKT
10. WOLFPULS
11. TRAUMESTRAUM
12. SCHWARZ
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13. ERST DEINE TRÄNE LÖSCHT DEN BRAND
14. TRAUERBRANDUNG
15. WER HAT ANGST VOR EINSAMKEIT?
Stalker.cd thanks the band’s label Prophecy Productions for arranging this possibility for our journalists.
Author: Marina Minkler, transl. K.Weber, Photos: Marina Minkler