Bohren & der Club of Gore

OCTOBER, 15th 2002 at the KKC / Essen, GER

" Life is a dirty long river "

Some concerts are very different to others, not only because of the music. So it was at that Tuesday. BOHREN are a local band, that have released some very interesting unique music the last ten years. But they got nothing in common with loud guitars, although they are playing very heavy music.

BOHREN got no opening act, and so they've played an Electric Wizard album before the set to bring the people into the best mood.There were a lot of chairs to sit on, because that's the best position to listen to this music. The stage was totally black and when the band entered the stage it stayed the same. Only the skull on the bass-drum and a few spots on the instruments were giving a little bit of light. The faces of the musicians were buried in the black, and it underlines that for BOHREN the flow of sound is more important than the face behind it. The band started with the opener "Midnight Black Earth", the opener from the new album "Black Earth". Like on the album, the band played very exactly and the low-end bass sound was crawling into my stomach. The drummer only uses his bass-drum, the high-hat and a few times the snare, the piano sets a few ambient accents and the saxophone was just giving a more melancholic jazzy vibe to the whole experience.

BOHREN are ultra slow, and there's a slight drone over the whole sound and I was fastly swallowed by it. After the first track, the sax-player announced the name of the band and that they are playing eight songs this evening, and one song more if the audience will like the music. Most of the presented songs as "Maximum Black" or "The Art of Coffins" are from the new album, other are from "Sunset Mission". Nearly 150 people were quiet and banned from this soundtrack, where no movie has been made to. Time means nothing and from song to song it became more sinister. In a few songs the sax-player was also playing bass and so you can imagine how low and fat the sound of two basses were. The walls were starting to vibrate. I don't know, when the gig ended, because I was totally lost in the blackenend sad sound. After the last song was finished, the band has chosen the Teeth Of Lions Rule The Divine album to fade-out this evening.

If you've got the chance to see this band somewhere live, than do it. Boredom was never so amazing, heavy and interesting like at this evening. And I give you the good advice to find yourself a place to sit down, because it good be hard to just stand still an stare into the black.

(KK)