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Loading ...Recently my Mozilla Thunderbird was upgraded to 5.0 on three different machines. I always prefer to use lightning to access my google calendar and keep track of my schedule. So Lightning 1.4b was installed on all machines.
But out of a sudden today Lightning stopped working on my laptop. There was not even a configuration tab anymore nor any icon in the Extensions tab. So what did I do? Restarted Thunderbird – Lightning does not work. Tried to remove Lightning – Thunderbird crashed, Lightning was not removed. So clear 6 steps brought me to the goal:
- Remove Lightning 1.4b – DO NOT AUTOMATICALLY RESTART THUNDERBIRD
- Close Thunderbird
- Open Thunderbird
- Install Lightning 1.5b
- Close Thunderbird
- Open Thunderbird again
Safe and clean method…
New firmware version, new issues – and new points to think about.
If you often login to your NAS shell you might have seen weired letters (applies to special characters like German Umlauts and other language-specific letters) using ls or dir to display the folder content. This results from different character set used by Samba clients and linux itself. Most NAS devices might use UTF-8 as characterset for the filesystem whereas Windows clients use CP850 and MAC clients also use UTF-8.
If you are editing files directly from the NAS with an editor which checks for changes of this files you might have troubles after saving the file with this editor and afterwards asking you if it should use the “updated” version. This is due to time differences between server (NAS) and client. So the goal is to keep both synchronized.
What can you do to change this? You need to do the following steps:
1. change the settings for Samba
2. translate / convert existing filenames into the new character set
Please first check the last point! Maybe you only need to change the character encoding of your SSH client to display the filenames correctly!
So let us just go through these two simple sounding steps.
1. CHANGING SAMBA SETTINGS
- Edit smb.conf (usually located in /etc ; /etc/samba OR /etc/smb – on QNAP NAS systems use /etc/config/smb.conf) by typing something like
vim /etc/config/smb.conf
- Look for the old value for dos charset or something similar and replace with / add the folowing values:
dos charset = CP850
unix charset = UTF8
display charset = UTF8
time server = yes
dos charset is the character set used by your windows client. You should set it to CP850.
unix charset is the character set used by the linux on your NAS. Often UTF8, might also be ISO 8859-1.
display charset is the character set used in Samba messages (i.e. error messages). You might use UTF-8 as display characters set on your linux box.
time server sets the Samba server as source for time synchronization.
- Restart samba using something like (this is not really necessary as Samba should pull the new configuration but it is good to know that it uses the new configuration NOW):
/etc/init.d/smb.sh restart
2. CONVERT EXISTING FILENAMES
- Be sure perl is installed – if not you should install it. On QNAP NAS and similars use ipkg:
ipkg install perl
- Get the latest version of convmv and extract it (first change to a folder where you want to extract the tool, e.g. your home directory):
wget http://www.j3e.de/linux/convmv/convmv-1.14.tar.gz
tar xzvf convmv-1.14.tar.gz
cd convmv*
- You can now use convmv to convert filenames between different encodings. It might be interesting to first check the conversion with some examples (go to a folder where files or folders with special characters are located and use convmv WITHOUT –notest to just display the changes, when using –notest all changes are written to disk). Here is an example for first converting old CP850 dos filenames to UTF-8:/root/convmv-1.14/convmv -r -f cp850 -t utf8 * --notest
Be aware that this is a full recursive conversion!
And now play a little bit around with special character filenames. If you check the filename in the filesystem using a client like putty please keep in mind that the SSH client tool should display the content in UTF-8. (in putty use Change Settings / Load Profile and change the translation in Window -> Translation to UTF-8)
Any feedback is appreciated!
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Now something completely different.
Yesterday I was looking for a way to recover my QNAP TS-410 NAS server system. Containing lots of data and making it available over the net to various places, this little high tech helper is simply essential for me. Of course I do regular backups which are even stored in totally different locations (besides of local script based backup), but the NAS makes working a lot easier. Confronted with the thought to maybe have to work without it for at least four weeks was enough motivation to get it back to work.
What happened? I discovered a new firmware update (3.2.2) for my unit which had some great improvements. Because of the smooth update process with the last firmware updates I thought to just do it. Anyhow the update process was cancelled (because of too much traffic from the NAS at that time?). Second try gave a success message, so I confirmed the request to reboot. But nothing happened afterwards. Only the green (power) light flashing red and green. You could not see any hard disk access during boot up process.
Conclusion: flash image damaged.
The net only gave me a solution for older models which did not work with my TS-410.
So here is the solution which I luckily found out after 2 hours of search and 4 hours of download process (yes, the QNAP ftp server is really slow!):
- Power down your NAS system
- Unplug all hard disks (pull out the hot swap drives)
- go to ftp://csdread:csdread@ftp.qnap.com/NAS/live_cd/ and download the right ISO file for your NAS system (or click the links below – always use right button and “Save as…”):
TS-109, TS-209 – Data_Recover_live-cd_2009-01-15_TS109-209.iso
TS-110, TS-119, TS-210, TS-219, TS-219P – Flash_Reburn_live-cd-2009-09-24(TS-110&119&210&219&219P).iso
Important Note for TS-110 provided by user achipa: If the recovery does not seem to work (no reaction when you boot), doublecheck that you have the correct .iso file. I have a TS110 and discovered that I had to boot the Flash_Reburn_live-cd-2009-12-09(TS-410&410U&419P&419U).iso and NOT the other one (even though that one had the TS110 in the filename and the docs referred it).
TS-410, TS-410U, TS-419P, TS-419U – Flash_Reburn_live-cd-2009-12-09(TS-410&410U&419P&419U).iso
Note from user achipa to check if you have the right ISO file: After boot-up with the ISO log in as root (user root / password root) and do ls -l /tftpdroot/
- download the according pdf file which contains a manual for flashing your NAS system:
TS-109, TS-209 – TS109-209_data_recovery_with_Live_CD.pdf
TS-110, TS-119, TS-210, TS-219, TS-219P, TS-410, TS-410U, TS-419P, TS-419U -Flash_Reburn_TS-x10&x19_Series_Firmwar_Update_Through_Recovery_Mode&Live_CD.pdf
- burn the ISO image to CD
- boot burnt CD on PC or laptop and wait until the login prompt appears – ignore all error messages
note: the following steps only apply for all TS-x10 and TS-x19 models! for other models read pdf file mentioned above!
- connect your PC or laptop network port directly to your NAS (no switch in between!) – use LAN port 2 if your NAS has two ports
- use a thin tool like a paper clip to press the reset button on the back of your NAS
- hold the reset button and power on your system
- you will hear a long or two short beeps
- the flash image will be loaded from your laptop or PC – during that process the orange LAN light flashes
- next, your NAS will try to re-program its flash memory – red light remains lit
- do not do anything until you hear a long or two short beeps
- your system is now rebooted and back at work
- you may now put the hard disk drives back in
- good luck with your next try to update your firmware.
HINT
If you own a QNAP NAS with small flash (up to 16MB) memory you will NOT have to recover your settings. They will be loaded from the hard disks. Your flash memory only contains a loader for the operating system (actually a bit more but that is not the matter) – lucky ones (like me). On a “professional” model (like 419P) re-programming the flash memory may cause loss of your settings (not verified – just be aware that this might be possible).
Anyway you should save your configuration binary every now and then!
Great news: the view in my Servant Salamander file manager is now updating when I create or remove files on my NAS!
Hope this helps some people having problems with their NAS.
Feel free to post comments or link back to this article.
We presented this event with our METAL NIGHTS event series but actually it was pulled up by the BLEEDING NOSE guys. So I was really curious. The advance sale was great and the venue was completely sold out which means more than 1500 people would attend this show.
The good soul from our event crew – Tanja – had birthday this evening and we wanted to celebrate it at the show. So I went there straight by train. After a short visit in the venue seeing DEADLOCK doing the sound check I went back to a restaurant where we had a nice meal first. Good one. Afterwards we had some bubble water and beer at the parking lot.
Now we went back to the venue which was already really crowded. There was no space for one single more person. Unfortunately we missed DEADLOCK but regarding their sound check I have to admit that front girl Sabine Weniger did a good job – and did not look metal at all during the sound check.
SWASHBUCKLE were already on stage when we finally got our place. So time for another beer! The party boat was about to sail cross the ocean of people… To be honest we always made fun of SWASHBUCKLE. Anyway they seemed to be very nice guys who simply had fun and fired their songs straight out of the boats canon into the audience. Cool gig – despite my prejudices!
SWASHBUCKLE
A lot of people were waiting for DARK TRANQUILLITY. I do not know why they were not put on the billing as co-headliners. This would have suited them much better than playing in the middle of a very modern package. Anyway Stanne seemed to have much fun on this last gig of the tour. He enjoyed standing on the crash barriers all the time. And the audience seemed to enjoy this passion as well. The only bad thing I have to point out about this gig is the sound which was very high pitched and not quite transparent.
DARK TRANQUILLITY
As CALIBAN entered the stage I thought that they could not go beyond the euphoric reactions of DARK TRANQUILLITY and I was right. Somehow this band is not that interesting anymore but at least the kids went crazy. The first crowd surfers were spotted. A solid performance – nothing more and nothing less…
The security crew was looking forward to HEAVEN SHALL BURN and to have a lot more crowd surfers. The so-called “Grabenschlampen” whom you might also see at the Summer Breeze Open Air in front of the stages (the security guys who always wear red shirts) are enjoying shows like this one themselves. Their boss “Mille” asked me to join them behind the crash barriers and pull out some surfers. New experience – so I did it. Like expected, HEAVEN SHALL BURN started very powerful and the crowd went straight. First surfers were on their way to the stage. And me? Well I was hit by the head of the bass guitar in first instance. But nothing more. The sound was great and the guys really kicked ass! Songs like “Iconoclast (The final Resistance)” simply blew the audience away – and me too. During the encore, the singer made a funny announcement: “These guys behind the crash barriers have trained with me – it did not work out for me – but for them – people – make them prove that they are strong enough for you!” BAM! Dozens of crowd surfers at the same time. The first time I had to go up and pull out some surfers – and it was hell – good feeling though because most people give you a “Thank you!” when you have put them on the ground smoothly. After just a few minutes I was out of breath. But I could have kept going forever. Cool side note: at the end of the show, the singer was standing behind me and mixing up my hairs – now that is what I call a nice boy, hehe.
Great show, guys – and I am really looking forward to see this band again!
HEAVEN SHALL BURN
After the show is before the show. So we had to put down the light and get everything loaded in different vans. HEAVEN SHALL BURN left off to Leipzig and the rest of the tour package was leaving for home as well.
Finally, at 4 in the morning I could go home – not to mention the short stop at the SCR office where we had to unload some shirts (the new AGRYPNIE shirts for their upcoming “16[485]” album).
HEAVEN SHALL BURN – MySpace – Merchandise
CALIBAN – MySpace – Merchandise
DARK TRANQUILLITY – MySpace – Merchandise
SWASHBUCKLE – MySpace – Merchandise
DEADLOCK – MySpace – Merchandise
Thanks to Simon for taking me and the shirts “home” and to Björn for helping unload the shirts.
Thanks to Gregor for the pictures!
Today there was need to be at the venue in time. I was teaming up with the guys from Cyclone Empire (my distribution partner and also the label of BEFORE THE DAWN) for some exchange of goods and to just have a beer.
You might now the opener AMORAL from their first albums playing progressive sounding death metal. Well – no death metal anymore – they recently have changed the singer who now concentrates on classic heavy metal vocals. So a totally different sound from the same band. Funny thing was the floor fan for the singer which made his hair float during the whole show. The music itself was nice though but nothing more and not as special as before. Music-wise it did not fit into the billing to be honest.
Of course we were looking forward to the show of BEFORE THE DAWN from Finland. In a fully crowded location with approx. 600 people they fulfilled our expectations. Good show with a lot of energy and you could see that these guys have fun sharing stage with each others. Anyway the sound was not good in all positions of the room. So I could only enjoy the last part of the show after finding the right place with good sound. A good combination between clean vocals, melodies and more heavy parts with growls was for sure a good warm up for a band like AMORPHIS.
I guess everyone already knows what you can expect from AMORPHIS after they have changed the singer. The new singer Tomi Joutsen has an awesome vocal range including the deepest growls and the best clean vocals you could expect from a live show. Main focus was the new album “Skyforger” but also other new albums like “Eclipse” were given a lot of attention. “Stone Woman” and the sorts of course could convince with great vocals. Like I use to say – Tomi is one of the best live singers of our time. Although the whole band seemed to be a bit tired from touring (this show was at the end of the tour), not a single note is wrong, perfect time – this is almost inhuman. And AMORPHIS actually live from their front man these days. After more than an hour the band closed the evening with an encore which of course included “Tales from the thousand lakes”. After all this time this song is still really, really big.
An all over all very nice evening with nice bands including a short interruption for a web cam foto of me and Hage (Cyclone Empire) at the Ettlinger Tor (the web cam is mounted at one building that surrounds this place and only shoots a picture every 70 minutes – so timing was very important and my colleague saved the picture at home). The AMORPHIS show was not as surprising as the first shows with the new singer anymore but very solid and still very powerful. BEFORE THE DAWN did a good job and AMORAL was nice to see but not a must-have…
AMORPHIS – MySpace – Merchandise
BEFORE THE DAWN – MySpace – Merchandise
AMORAL – MySpace – Merchandise
My decision to go to the so called SATANS CONVENTION (what a stupid name by the way) was based on the fact that I would reside in Lengerich this weekend anyway.
First shock was the fact that SIX FEET UNDER had cancelled the show. This alone would have been no issue for me because it was in no means one of the bands I wanted to see. But to to me this is a reason to lower the ticket prices. To still ask for 35 Euros for a show where the headliner is missing is a rip-off in my opinion. Including the fact that the
Unfortunately we missed the first three bands TRIOSPHERE, ABIGAIL WILLIAMS and UNLIGHT. But we met our friends from UNLIGHT later who were of course absolutely surprised about my appearance on this festival. Concerning other reports TRIOSPHERE managed to do quite well but did not fit in the billing with their sophisticated power metal music. ABIGAIL WILLIAMS seemed to be a matter of taste. UNLIGHT were claimed to be the best black metal band this evening.
We were quite in time to see the start of DESTRÖYER 666, a band which I wanted to see for ages but always missed. The black thrash mix of the Australian band surely met my taste. To be honest I had expected a bit more stage action from this four piece. Quite nice show and maybe the first highlight for me this evening although I had expected a bit more power.
DESTROYER 666
I have seen GOD DETHRONED already several times and last time was in October with Endstille, Hollenthon and others. As far as I can recall they never had a weak show so far and this should not change on Satans Convention as well. Again, female guitarist Susan was eye candy. But of course a metal show is about the music. GOD DETHRONED covered almost all of their albums and played a powerful set.
GOD DETHRONED
TAAKE singer Hoechst was still in my mind with his misbehaviour the last time TAAKE played in Essen. Showing up with a Swastika on your breast in Germany is not even rudimentary funny. This time he seemed to concentrate on the music instead. But rumors spread that he had made some strange statements in the backstage area which resulted in a close fight which Hoest lost against Schmier from DESTRUCTION. Maybe TAAKE should think about the quality of their performance instead of wasting time with bullshit… this was for sure the worst performance this evening.
Thrash metal veterans DESTRUCTION was a pleasure for my ears after the black metal vacuum cleaner (and do not take me wrong – I like black metal and even like the TAAKE recordings). Hell yeah what a power. I have not seen a strong performance of them for a long time. Maybe it was more powerful this evening than ever before. The audience seemed to agree as there was a circle pit and a lot of headbanging, in one word – enthusiastic responses. And DESTRUCTION enjoyed this show as well. Well done – winner of the evening!
A huge task for ARCH ENEMY to cheer the people up again after this intoxicating thrash metal set. Of course I expected a lot from the guitar front as ARCH ENEMY have two great talented guitar players in their line up. Maybe Michael Amott might be little bit more known due to his work with CARCASS but his younger brother Christopher is a bit more varied and plays insane lead stuff. It is always a blast to see this guy play. Turning up the volume for the (renewed) headliner is a common thing to do but if this leads to a bad sound it might be something you should NOT do. Unfortunately the second case happened to come true this evening. Being really tired and being not able to hear the sole guitar sounds from the mush of sounds made us leave the venue after 3 songs from ARCH ENEMY.
So we went home in an icy winter night with approx. minus 15 degrees Celsius with both, good and bad memories in our mind.
Time is something which is rare for me these days. I still have a handful of live reports to post. But there is also lots of things to prepare for our upcoming releases and of course the shows. One of the shows was happening yesterday. A rude mix of sludge, doom and stoner was meant to hypnotize the attendees.
DOOM DIVISION were the first outfit to make time slow down. Combining elements from Crowbar and Pantera this music is meant to be played live. Heavy riff-oriented metal rolling over you and nailing you to the wall. It is always a pleasure to see these guys on and off stage.
DOOM DIVISION
I have been fighting to get VERSUS THE STILLBORN-MINDED on the billing. There were a lot of troubles but in the end they entered the stage of the Club Zentral as second band. Being not that far from the sound of B.SON they follow the same concept with their live appearance and try to do an intense show from the bottom of their hearts. I would say they succeeded. Very powerful and bass oriented the sometimes very calm songs leave you nothing but distressed wondering about the dense atmosphere.
VERSUS THE STILLBORN-MINDED
The more traditional doomsters MIRROR OF DECEPTION are widely known for organizing the Doom Shall Rise festival. But also musical-wise the band is highly acclaimed. The highlight of the evening was of course the song “Der Student von Ulm” with Swabian lyrics. This 12 minute piece contains the quintessence of the sound of MIRROR OF DECEPTION but also emphasizes the uniqueness of their sound. I advise you to listen to this song on their myspace page and then decide if you like the band or not. For me it was great to see them live after a long time and to finally have them on one of my shows.
MIRROR OF DECEPTION
After the appearance on the Doom Shall Rise festival and the gig with AHAB on the last night of doom I was curious if BLACK SHAPE OF NEXUS could top these shows on part 3 of the Night Of Doom. Accompanied by dark light the band started into an one hour set of pure atmosphere. How can you describe a concert with B.SON? Hard to say. The band starts quite nice with heavy riffs, sound walls and maybe some samples. With the next songs this six-piece is forcing you to pay full attention, getting somehow involved into the music. The intensity increases with every song played. The band seems to get totally lost in its own music. Musicians kneeing on the stage or before the base drums or simply screaming out desperation. Through the fog you can see these guys merging with the tones they play. And so does the audience. Total mind destruction. The band is forced back onto stage and ends the set with an improvised song. Conclusion: Mission accomplished – an eerie touching live experience finished a great and intense evening with four very different bands. Be sure to be there the next time (November 2010)!
BLACK SHAPE OF NEXUS
There was a lot of talking about the secret warm-up show with OBELYSKKH. There were a lot of people wondering what was so secret about this show. Well, the show with the protagonists OBELYSKKH was not held at the Club Zentral but in the basement of an apartment building not far away from the Club Zentral. There was only one way to get information about the show: you had to visit the “Doomed Souls” forum and “apply” to attend this show. We went to the place after we have finished our work at the club for the first time. This was a nice and very familiar way to get fucked up after midnight…
Links:
BLACK SHAPE OF NEXUS: MySpace – Homepage – Merchandise
MIRROR OF DECEPTION: MySpace – Homepage – Merchandise
VERSUS THE STILLBORN-MINDED: MySpace – Homepage – Merchandise
DOOM DIVISON: MySpace – Homepage – Merchandise
OBELYSKKH: MySpace – Merchandise
Metal Nights Homepage: Event Details – Gallery
As promised I keep you posted and add all the reports for the concerts I have recently visited. Today we are going back to my birthday which – what else? – was celebrated on a concert.
I made an appointment with the event manager of the new venue called “Arena” which was mainly build for basketball because the EnBW Ludwigsburg team is in the premier league. But the concept was also to build a small arena for other sports events and for concerts. So Markus (A&R of SUPREME CHAOS RECORDS), Tanja (Catering management for the METAL NIGHTS event series) and I wanted to check out the new venue and its possibilities. Yet, this venue might be too large for any kind of events in the size we are doing but it is always good to know what range of venues we can possibly offer as local promoter. Thomas showed us even the smallest amenity of the venue and was quite patient in answering all our questions. At some points it was kind of hard to keep cool for us when we were next to Micheal Akerfeldt who was sitting around there phoning or when standing next to the gear of John Petrucci.
Anyway after the inspection of the Arena Ludwigsburg we picked up some beers to celebrate and bridged the time gap to the concert with boozing and talking about music.
I wanted to see UNEXPECT because I liked their myspace stuff. Unfortunately they were not able to transport it onto stage. Sure, they did a great job but simply did not meet my expectations. After approx. 20 minutes they had to leave the stage. Good and very progressive start for this night. Complex, sometimes even weired songs garnished with melodic female vocals and grunts. Interesting music.
After getting another beer and meeting some people, I was surprised by the clear sound that came from the stage. BIGELF blew me straight to the wall. Not with any kind of aggression but with sheer musicality and maybe a bit of nostalgia. 70s inspired rock with a modern progressive touch convinced me with its pure authenticity. Loads of analogue synthesizers and Hammond sounds played by the singer who was surrounded by various old fashioned keyboard instruments. The four piece was dressed up in proper style with bell-bottoms. And you could see and almost feel that they were breathing this kind of music every day. Great!
BIGELF
One reason to visit this concert was eventually to see OPETH. The Swedes have disappointed me on the last club shows with the new line up (Frederik on guitar). But after the furious show on Rockhard festival this year I was really curious if they could prove themselves this evening. And they could! “Windowpane” is nothing but a great start for a very soulful set followed by “Lotuseater”, maybe one of the best OPETH songs ever. OPETH abstained from most extreme parts this evening and concentrated on the more progressive rock songs – maybe to fit better to the other bands. Good playing, great and this time very funny announcements from Mikael who could emphasize his great voice with these songs. The only downer was that they missed out either of their hits “Deliverance” or “Demon of the Fall”.
Setlist OPETH:
1. Windowpane
2. The Lotus Eater
3. Reverie/Harlequin Forest
4. Burden
5. The Leper Affinity
6. Hex Omega
OPETH
Last time I saw DREAM THEATER they played in the Beethoven Saal of the Liederhalle in Stuttgart which is built for opera and classical concerts. The sound there was really bad because of all the reflecting walls. But in the Arena everything sounded right. Even James LaBrie did a good job and was showing a solid performance although I could not get the idea out of my head that he was behaving like a diva stepping off the stage all the time he had no vocals to do. DREAM THEATER is of course also about the musicians and their abilities. John Petrucci showed some good guitar solo stuff but he tried to keep it short. He got my sympathies for this and also for the fact that he had long hair again. And he must have done a lot of muscle training the last two years. Somehow he looked like he got out of prison right before the tour started. Of course Jordan Ruddess had his special show but looked really absurd with his wizard hat he put on for some songs. John Myung kept in the back mostly and you could hardly see anything of him. Too bad. Mike Portney of course was posing like always. My real highlight of the show was “The Mirror” / “Lie” from the “Awake” album which was played as the fluent combination like you can hear it on the album. Simply amazing. Because I am not into the “newer” stuff I cannot point out any other highlight. This might be also due to the fact that their real one and only hit song “Pull me under” was missing.
Setlist DREAM THEATER:
1. A Nightmare to Remember
2. The Mirror
3. Lie
4. Prophets of War
5. Wither
6. The Dance of Eternity
7. One Last Time
8. In the Name of God
9. The Count of Tuscany
What a nice evening and maybe the best birthday present for a music enthusiast like me. Although OPETH did not play “Deliverance” and DREAM THEATER threw aboard their hit “Pull me under” this was a great experience musical wise. But also the inspection of this new venue which was opened 1st of October made this evening unforgettable maybe even added an adventurous note.
Be sure to keep coming back. The next days I will put up the interview I did with Peter (OPETH) back in 2005…
DREAM THEATER: Homepage – MySpace – Merchandise
OPETH: Homepage – MySpace – Merchandise
BIGELF: Homepage – MySpace – Merchandise
UNEXPECT: Homepage – MySpace – Merchandise
Arena Ludwigsburg: Homepage
Well actually no real live report but a kind of short side note about a small concert.
On Saturday I wanted to have a relaxing evening but somehow a friend of mine send me a text message that there is a small concert and if I would like to join them. As the venue is just 10 minutes away from my apartment I decided to leave. As expected there were only 20 or 30 people visiting the concert. I missed FRAMES OF MIND. It was just too spontaneous. Would have been funny to see them again after we have shared the stage with them one week before.
So I joined LEGION OF FATE and saw a very nice band playing a mix of death and thrash metal. This was just the style I remembered of our gig together with them. A little bit more talking with friends and the organizer / local social education worker of the youth centre. He is the singer of PSYCHOTRON, a local thrash metal act. We were talking about the future for this youth centre because the city is planning to demolish it and build a new one at a different place.
NUCLEAR WARFARE play old school thrash in the vein of old Sodom and the sorts. Apparently nothing new. Funny to watch though. So I had a good time with friends and maybe will contribute some vocals for their next album – who knows. My favourite was of course “Dosenpfand”, a song complaining about the deposit for (beer) cans. Naturally I was enjoying the free beer as well.
After this short concert interruption of the evening I went to the park, having a walk finding some geocaches. A nice one was a lost place: an old mini golf court. Reminded me of the virtual mini golf matches I have played this day. Eventually I really liked the fresh air and the calm park in the midst of the night…
MySpace Links: NUCLEAR WARFARE – LEGION OF FATE – FRAMES OF MIND
I know that it has been silent for some days again. First I was replacing the server with the NAS which finally arrived Tuesday customizing the whole piece which took about two days. Then surprisingly the power supply fucked up as I wanted to switch over to the UPS. I was so happy before this happened, upgraded the whole net to gigabit LAN.
But let us get back to the music. I want to report about the last shows I attended and will start with the latest which was today. I really had a full schedule these days and it will not stop until Tuesday.
Today it was time to get some old school feeling back into my mind. Why old school? There has not been a big death metal show in the good old Rockfabrik for ages! And it was Cannibal Corpse which I saw there about 10 years ago. Of course some of the old metal heads showed up…
Arriving a bit too late because OBSCURA started quite early at 7 pm I got at least the chance to see some of their songs. I had the Summer Breeze show in mind where the sound was a bit fucked up in my opinion. Maybe it was also because of the fact that a band like OBSCURA is made to play in clubs. Today the sound was better although the guitars were very quiet and hardly to hear sometimes. Anyway it was a pleasure to see them playing mostly songs from their latest output “Cosmogenesis” with a lot of joy and with a technical level of their own (although singer/guitarist Steffen later told me that everyone in the band was about to get really sick). This was a great start for an evening with four very different death metal outfits.
2009 was a great year for Swedish deathers EVOCATION so they had the chance to join this tour as well. To be honest I only saw one song because I have seen the bands so many times the last months that I was not really curious about the show. Additionally the sound today was really weak – no power at all – so I preferred to talk to some friends and have a beer instead. I also met EVOCATION singer Thomas and he was somehow confirming that this was a bad day sound-wise. We met in a quite funny situation. I was talking with some guys from their label Cyclone Empire with whom I work together very closely, and Thomas seemed to remember me from some extreme festival boozing sessions which I obviously can hardly recall… a really a nice guy – if you are around and see these guys – have a beer with them!
How long was I waiting for this to happen? Back in the times when I used to work as DJ in the Rockfabrik (which must be more than 10 years ago) I have listened a lot to DYING FETUS and now I finally got the possibility to see them live. A friend of mine was later asking how anyone could like this music. I have not found any decent answer. They just kicked my ass like hell! Having in mind their “Destroy the Opposition”, “Killing on Adrenaline” records and the “Grotesque Impalement” EP they just left me without any wishes. I had to go really crazy on them. Bass player Sean Beasely looked like a beast holding a full scale bass guitar which looked like a toy in his hands. He shared the vocals with guitar player John and Tray showed up from time to time behind his drums to cheer up the crowd. Their precisely played high speed death grind resulted in the first circle pit of the evening, some crowd surfers were flying off the stage and the people went mad. Great live band – finally I got the proof that I missed something – nothing to add!
Rockfabrik and CANNIBAL CORPSE have something like a long-term relationship. Seems like they like to play in this venue. As I guessed from the CORPSE shirts every second attendee was wearing everyone was waiting for the real headliners. Maybe I have seen them live too often, maybe I should have listened a lot more to the last albums, but I simply cannot say more than that it was a good show with a moderate sound. But it was also nothing less. The venue was really crowded and the people really enjoyed the headliners of this evening. After all those years some songs being censored CANNIBAL CORPSE could perform titles like “Hammer smashed face” or “Fucked with a knife” which was of corpse dedicated to all the women out there.
As conclusion I can state that this was a very nice death metal evening with 4 killer bands, maybe the perfect mix of different styles. I have to add that the audience was really great and caring this day which I miss on some concerts with extreme music these days…
I will keep you posted with new goodies and reports every day of this week and try to get some pictures for the reports – promise!
The links:
CANNIBAL CORPSE: Homepage – MySpace – Merchandise
DYING FETUS: Homepage – MySpace – Merchandise
EVOCATION: Homepage – MySpace – Merchandise
OBSCURA: Homepage – MySpace – Merchandise
