GRYPHONPARTY II

AGATHODAIMON 

NODE

DARKMOON

13 November 2004 -  at DYNAMO WERK 21  - ZÜRICH - CH

presented by gryphonmetal.ch 

 reviews  by dalia di giacomo - Matthew Haumschild - Boris Witta

- all pics © by Stefan Vogelaar

The public use of these photos needs permission

INTRO 

DARKMOON

NODE

AGATHODAIMON

Gryphonparty II in Zürich at the Werk 21, on 13 November 2004: hails and ave to the bands who played it, cause they have delivered an awesome concert: Agathodaimon from Germany, Node from Italy and Darkmoon from Switzerland. Hails and Ave to Stefan,  Gianrichy (who also plays with "his" Darkmoonies), Boris, Eli, Matthew: practically an half of the GM staff present here, in flesh and blood. Hails and Ave to all friends who helped, and to all metalheads who joined the event, showing faithfulness and loyalty to their musical "party". In the Werk 21, one of the most atmospheric and equipped venue of Switzerland, tonight 3 bands so appreciated and meaningful for our zine got a very positive impact with the demanding Swiss scene of the metal extreme, in spite of other rock events running elesewhere in "Hellvetia". A good number of  metalheads from Switzerland and South Germany is witness of the energy of Darkmoon and Node and of the intense dark participation of Agathodaimon, headliner of this event. These  3 acts represent variety in the coherence of the Death/Dark extreme, and  express many of the characteristics of our zine and of its readers: the clear orientation Death/Black, the strength of the technical Death/Thrash with modern influences à la In Flames, and finally the heavy but inspired and refined darkness of Agathodaimon that is an appeal to our soft spot for obscure realities. It was a fu*king great concert, but, on the other hand you have to see it as a "normal" event, fully inserted in the average of Zürich, from the moment that so numerous great gigs follow one another incessantly in this town. So high quality average? Yes, but spiced up with the fresh, new presence of an exceptional band that, as far as i know, appears for the first time in  the German Switzerland : Node. Node, the band that is the revelation and the undisputable hit of the evening.

gryphonmetal.ch,  Metal Forces and friends

dalia and Boris

dalia and Daniel, vocalist/guitarist of  Node - thanks Daniel!

"Garfield" and a friend

I know, this may look strange to all of my readers, but yes, I went to this show. I know it was in Europe, but hey this was my first European show. And it was marvelous! European shows, as I soon found out work much differently than American shows. To start off with first, are the fans themselves. More people, so it seems, have longer hair than American fans generally do. To be honest, I could give an explanation for this. It was cool though!  Instead of the usual mosh pit that would start in an American show, all the guys with the long hair, banged liked you wouldn’t believe! Oh damn, that was way cool, very reminiscent of the 80’s in terms of crowd reaction, and to be honest, I had never seen this before. The guys would go to the front row and bang all together in unison even! Another thing to point out was a lack of a barrier between the front of the stage and the floor, people were just walking up on stage and getting off, it reminded me of my Arizona days at the Mason Jar. Cool as hell!

Finally the day is here: Gryphonparty II! 5 years of Gryphonmetal and 50’000 clicks, that’s a reason to celebrate, isn’t t? Three great bands will attend this evening, namely the German Dark Metallers Agathodaimon, the Italian Death Metal-maniacs Node and last, but of course not least the local Black/ Death Metal-heroes from Liestal, Darkmoon. But the party starts already before: When I arrive at the Dynamo in Zürich, there are alredy a lot of cool people, most of all the Gryphonpeople: Eli from Great Britain and Matthew from the USA. Oh, and of course Dalia, Stefan con figli. Plus some close friends from Lörrach, namely Daniele and Garfield (hails!). So we drink together, talk a lot, listen to the soundchecks of Agathodaimon and later on Darkmoon and just enjoy the great atmosphere and the cool evening. Most of all Matthew has a lot to tell and it is very great to have a conversation with him, and of course also with Eli. One thing is clear: Everybody in Gryphonmetal is a real Metal-maniac in his way!

Then the first fans arrive, and soon, it gets fuller and fuller, so at 20:00 p.m., there’s already a large, enthusiastic crowd. Good, because I was a bit afraid if we would be the only people this evening, because I made some bad experiences with underground-gigs…

DARKMOON  by dalia 

20:20 Darkmoon hit the well prepared stage, in front of an already substantial audience. Our death/black celebration couldn't start off best way. This Swiss band is one of the best expression of the national underground. every time i saw them play it was a success, the reaction of the crowd absolutely positive. They are attractive and captivating: their music is, the was they play live is. But now they appear even more concentrated, totally aggressive, even more solid and reliable than before. Strong as iron, resolute, they begin with On her Grave. No mercy for the weak, this is the motto of the concert. Fierce , energetic , gloomy they attack with a tight rhythmic session, harmonic drops and inclement vocals. Hammering but also melodic they proceed with Drowning. Headbanging in sync and laying on much self- confident attention, Darkmoon show to be mature, making good use of the situaton. After having introduced themselves they go on with Evil Goddess of the Night, followed by Lost Soul, Bitter End, and their classic Black Domain, title track of their last work. Vocalist and frontman Matthias sings modulating his voice from brachial/almost growling tones to clearer and shouting ones with ability, supported by an always effective and exact drumming and by dynamic and powerful guitars, that produce abrasive, violent tunes as well as sinuous melodic chords sort of little arpeggio's. No matter if we deal with chunky, massive violent passages or with melodious ones: Darkmoon are always aggressive, menacing and... delightful. The great emotion for me and my mates is when Matthias greets gryphonmetal and invites the crowd to enjoy  Node and Agathodaimon. With this gig, the crowd begins to be pumped up, the first rows,  with young banging metalheads, react so positively at the point that a mosh bursts  towards the end of the concert and an encore is called with excitement. The song proposed in this encore is The Damned, Matthias really delivers both wrath and inspiration. Pity that they don't propose Winds of Death. You cannot have everything, but ...pity!  It must also be said that, at times, the sound was too loud so that some passages were affected by  a kind  of re-sound through the hall that produces a certain bombastic distortion, but it is a questions of short moments. Live is live . The sound of very aggressive bands is not easy to be engineered. And the sound appreciation is also subjected to personal taste and can differ from one point of the pit to another. Therefore,  all in all, the acoustic was satisfactory  and the qualities of the band could emerge. No mercy for the weak.

On Her Grave
Drowning
Evil Goddess of the Night
Lost Soul
Bitter End
Black Domain
The Damned

DARKMOON  by Matthew 

The first thing I noticed about this band was that they all had Ibanez guitars. Well, at least he guitar players did, I haven’t seen this since 1998, bout’ time someone recognized how great these guitars are! Dark Moon plays a style of metal that is an interesting mixture of Black metal and Death Metal. The band pulled this off quite well. The crowd was really getting into it and seemed to know the music pretty well. The lighting for the band complimented their music very well and I thought the “Darkmoonies” put on a great show! I wish there were more bands like this in the U.S., I’d go out more often.

DARKMOON  by Boris

Finally it’s time for Darkmoon. The Swiss quintet starts full of motivation and with a big, fat, good sound. The first highlight is the “Black Domain”-Song “Drowning” with its characteristic bass-intro and the heavy, bangy rhythm. Apropos bangy: Already at this time, there are lots of people who absolutely enjoy the gig and let their heads and hair rot, so the atmosphere in this cool, friendly ambiance is very good. “Evil Goddess Of The Night” is a hymn, which I hear for the first time, and this one is an absolutely killer with an insane fantastic chorus and this song will surely be a highlight on the following Darkmoon-CD. Great Black/ Death Metal-art! After a short half an hour, “Black Domain” arrives, and the first moshpit begins to rule in front of the stage. It’s interesting: Although I heard this song about a hundred times, it’s always a great experience to bang to this killer. Because the applause and cheering is so loud, Darkmoon have to play an extra-son called “The Damned”. The whole band plays very tight, starting with Matthias and his brutal, deep Black Metal-vocals, then the guitar-duo Richy and Christian, and also Patric on the drums is very fit today. Superior, gentlemen, and please to repeat as soon as possible! I think Matthew will agree with this…

NODE  by dalia 

Daniel Botti, Marco Di Salvia, Klaus Mariani, Gary D'Eramo. Please, keep well in mind these names cause they are four "devils",  with pretty handsome look and infernal force. They are four lads that take no prisoners, they play in awesome way, they have a super and winning presence on the stage, they mix assaults that remind of In Flames and Shadows Fall combined with catchy amazing thrashy loops,  they are technical but enthralling, they are Italians who mesemrize you like a lake and then kill you like burning lava, they are all what an expert metalheart needs: they are Node. 

I was impressed by their album "Das Kapital", but now, to realize what a damned brilliant live band Node are, it is a surprise that frankly goes behind any expectations. Indeed i can say that Node are one of the best live bands i have ever seen, and i think i can share this opinion with  everybody. Gathering random some comments from different persons, i only receive very positive comments. Impressive. But if you analyze well, they are very far from doing hyperbolic or exaggerated  things. They simply play terribly good, with such a fluent technicality,  have charisma. Vocalist- guitarist Daniel Botti is the central point of the band, he just needs to raise his arms like a messiah and to switch his voice to a louder timbre in order to shake the folk. Their drummer, jaysus, he is talented! Propeller, headbanger, creative, he has the possibility to extend  his skillfulness also because his mates don't loose any pace and don't make any relevant mistake. Moreover he just need to stand up, to show horns up or to bang a bit in order to create an impressive presence behind the skins. Gary d'Eramo and Klaus Mariani add  indomitability. Gary's  short backing vocals, in full round macho-voice,  are simply a lash of a whip in our ears. And our ears are already enslaved by the hellish evil shouting of Daniel that never knows any low moment. 

When Node hit the stage, the venue is well crowded, practically everybody is in the concert pit, where the atmosphere begins to be hot and sweaty. Everybody is curious to see who and how Node are. The intro is the well known epic sound -track to  Star Wars trilogy. The attention of the crowd is caught, everybody is waiting. The contrast between the end of the monumental intro and the violence of the opener Outpost (Das Kapital) is tremendous. Pitiless rhythm, rapid acceleration and of rapid slowing down, loops, stop -start, thrash/death galloping, unpredictable but enjoyable changes of pace. So many details put together in such a natural way, make songs like Thanatophobia, Children, Weaknessphere, Das Kapital, the absolute killers for our necks. The response of the pit consists in much attention, headbangings non stop and even a couple  of crowd surfing . Daniel doesn't need to say many words in order to entertain: people just look at that blonde silhouette wearing a black shirt who speaks briefly  with lucifrian voice: "ZURIGO!!" (in Italian!) or , "you will understand the title of this song DAS KAPITAAAL". The answer comes promptly: "yeahhhhhhh" with natural transport. " Do you want AGATHODAIMON? " ,"AGATHODAIMON!!!!" and the lively reaction is ready. So simple and easy things are, when you have personality. When Daniel  greets gryphonmetal and, totally unespected,  expresses  his own and the band's  wishes  for my b-day, with related applauses i think i'm going to faint. But the applauses are all for their various thunderous and abrasive, modern death/thrash! It's no common thing  that a technical band can be so overwhelming! Thanks for joining and for  this show, guys!

Intro
Outpost
Thanathophobia
Children
Weaknessphere
Das Kapital
Buried Dreams
The East-Ghost
Jerry Mander
As God Wills

NODE  by Matthew 

Before flying over the pond, I did download one of Node’s songs, “Das Kapital” so I could at least say that I have heard one of these bands before coming over. I usually workout to “Das Kapital” at the gym and I really liked what I heard so I was a bit anxious to hear what the rest of the band sounded like. Holy g-d damn! These guys are indeed as heavy as they portray themselves on their website and a perfect demonstration of what just the one track had to offer. The very first thing I notice about any band is the drumming. If the drumming is mediocre, I’m not going to remember the band. They may no suck, but in order for a band to stick out, they have to have a badass drummer, look what happened to Shadows Fall when they hired Jason Bittner, the band’s sound became a million times better. Node has the badass drummer that distinguishes this band from your average local metal group. Node’s music was very original. The only other bands I can compare Node with are, Children of Bodom and Sepultura. The whole band got the crowd into it too, everyone, including yours truly (minus the hair) was head banging like there was no tomorrow. There was still crowd surfing during this bands set. Way cool…if they come to your town, buy lots of beer, get fucked up, and see this band. I highly recommend them.

NODE  by Boris 

Next station: Node. The Italian band plays technical and virtuous Death Metal, but at the same time always good to comsume and to bang along. After the “Star Trek” or “Star Wars”-intro (I don’t remind it exactly anymore), they give everything from the first second on and receive enthusiastic reactions from the crowd and it’s again moshpit-time. The best man in the band is certainly the drummer, who doesn’t just play the most difficult parts easy as it would be nothing at all, no, he also bangs along at a crazy high speed! The best song is the titletrack of the actual album of Node, called “Das Kapital”. Also Matthias from Darkmoon enjoys the gig, like lots of other fans. Also one of the guitarists is very cool, he always screams and shouts along, bangs his short hair and is totally excited. Great git, and I hope to see Node again!

one last words that sums up the whole gryphonparty II concert: unforgettable.

Cellos For The Insiatiable
Ne Keama Pamintul
An Angel's Funeral
Tristetea Vehementa
Limbs Of A Stare
Departure
Serpent's Embrace
Novu Ordo Seclorum
Past Shadows
Tongue Of Thorns
Banner Of Blasphemy

Ribbons/Requiem

AGATHODAIMON  by Matthew 

I don’t even know how to pronounce this bands name. HA! The headliners of the evening. They played a really long set which was full of heavy guitars and awesome samples and keys. At this point of the show, it got really smoky and I had been up for 30+ hours, so unfortunately I only caught the first song and the last two songs because I was outside getting fresh air. The band sounded great, I just cannot give a full synopsis of their set. From what it sounded like outside, I would like to find more info on and so should you. A great portion of the crowd that night was there to see this band. So…check em’ out!

Overall it was a wonderful evening. Three great bands, I would have to say they all had their differences in sound but overall were great! I’d see all these bands any day of the week! Buy all their CD’s, see their shows, and support all these bands! This American gives all of them a huge FUCK YEAH from Saint Paul.

AGATHODAIMON  by Boris 

And then it’s time for one of the most important German Extreme Metal-bands: Agathodaimon. But hell, this is loud, actually it’s too loud, but it doesn’t really matter, because Agathodaimon play a lot of dark, melodic, aggressive, destroying, filigrane, fast and slow hymns, one better than the other. Akais, frontman, vocalist and guitarist in one person, looks very impressing, poses very much, but always appears true and honest. Sathonys, leader of the band, plays indeed fantastic, most of all the melodic lead guitars, although he has a lot of sound problems (he told me that after the gig) and almost can’t hear himself. The new man on the bass is the most motivated guy from Agathodaimon, he’s always banging, has always a content smile on his face and pushes the fans to celebrate with the band. The highlight of the 60-minutes-set is certainly the classic “Serpent’s Embrace”, with the Soilwork-reminding keyboads, a fantastic chorus and a beautiful and melodic clean vocals-part of Sathonys. By the way, it’s the birthday of the keyboarder of Agathodaimon and of course the crowd pays  a fee to that. Too soon it’s over (well, but soon enough for my neck, hehe), and with an ultimate dark hymn as extra-song , Agathodaimon finish their concert.

It was indeed a very great, a very beautiful and also emotional evening and I just want to thank everybody in Gryphonmetal for being a part of it, you, or better we really rule! Hails to Eli and Matthew, I hope from the bottom of my heart to see you again, and of course also big hails and hugs to the Di Giacomo-Vogelaar-famlily, we are a great team and you’ve done a great job in the organization of this evening, with a perfect billing and a friendly, beautiful location. We’ll be there again in 5 years!

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