CONCERT REVIEW: SKYND Take Their True Crime Music To Amsterdam

For those who are not yet familiar with SKYND, this band plays music what they call True Crime music: the group takes on the grossest, most heinous acts of human nature throughout modern history and turns them into music, influenced by industrial, metal, rock, goth – you name it. “In their own words, SKYND’s lyrics reach deep, deep down into the sinister abyss of the human soul”, and that is exactly what was being portrayed during their incredible performance.

SKYND consists of two musicians (and in a live setting a third musician behind the drums), whom as far as we know, remain anonymous. With 9 songs released so far, SKYND have a cult-like following, consisting of 122.000 monthly listeners on Spotify alone and all of their music videos raking in millions of views due to the incredible production value, the quality of the songs, and of course the subjects of the songs.

Playing a sold-out show in Melkweg, which was upgraded last-minute, SKYND played all of their released songs, as well as 4 songs that have yet to release. Before each song, a news item about the horrible person/act of violence was played as introduction.

SKYND’s music makes them instantly interesting, considering not many artists out there are doing the ‘True Crime music’ theme, but besides that, the trio also performed music on an exceptionally high level. One of our highlights was the performance of the track Chris Watts, whose heinous crime has been documented in the Netflix documentary American Murder: The Family Next Door. The song is a little more calm than most of their discography and perfectly highlighted what SKYND’s vocals are capable of doing. Hauntingly beautiful.

The performance was something special, both musically and visually. Please enjoy Eva van den Bosch’s photos right in the gallery below and make sure to catch SKYND on the road.

CONCERT REVIEW: Electric Callboy Bring The Hypa Hypa To Amsterdam

There’s arguably no metalcore band with bigger momentum than Electric Callboy right now. Since the release of Hypa Hypa, the band from Germany’s popularity has skyrocketed, with no signs of slowing down with the singles that released after that: Pump It and We Got The Moves.

With the new album TEKKNO on the horizon, Electric Callboy are touring through Europe, with a sold-out show in Amsterdam’s Melkweg de Max, with another Dutch show already in the books for the start of 2023 in a venue with twice the capacity to undoubtedly play some more new songs from TEKKNO.

When arriving at the venue, many fans are wearing the 80s inspired clothes that are being featured in Electric Callboy’s new singles, and I’m sure it comes to no shock to anyone when we say that the band wore just that for the first song of the set. After an introduction, the curtain dropped and Electric Callboy quickly kicked off Pump It, wearing the attire and all. This song set the tone for the entire evening, with one exception being an acoustic rendition of their song Prism, which was played right about halfway through the set.

Electric Callboy came to party with hard-hitting metal-and-electronicore songs, old and new, but it was very apparent that many fans in the audience were extra pumped (it) for the new releases, from which the singles that have been released have all made the setlist tonight: Pump It, We Got The Moves, Spaceman, which was already being sung back loud and clear by the fans, eventhough it released merely two weeks ago! Closing song of the night was the song that ‘started’ the hype surrounding this band: Hypa Hypa. The new album TEKKNO can’t come soon enough.

The band from Germany made a very calm impression, it has become second nature to the musicians to be up there on the stage. In between songs, the vocalists Nico Sallach and Kevin Ratajczak would take their sweet time in-between songs, just chatting it up with the excited audience.

The fans remained joyous throughout the set, as the party never seemed to end. One party-song after the other, the amount of beer we’ve seen flying up in the air throughout the evening was insane. A Electric Callboy show is just as crazy and as much fun as the music videos of the recent singles make you think it is. Especially with the ecstacy raising to a whole new level during the new songs, we can only imagine the band’s popularity once the album has dropped, but we’ll be able to find out on their tour early next year when we’ve had a few months of listening to TEKKNO.

The songs they played on this fine evening, as well as the photos can be found right below.

Setlist:
Pump It
My Own Summer
Hate/Love
The Scene
Castrop X Spandau
Supernova
Best Day
Back in the Bizz
Crystals
Prism (Acoustic)
Spaceman
Rehab
MC Thunder II (Dancing Like a Ninja)

Encore:
We Got the Moves
MC Thunder
Hypa Hypa

Check out the photos from the show by Eva van den Bosch below.

CONCERT REVIEW: King 810 Bring Hellhounds Tour To Dynamo

After a streak of shows in bigger venues and arenas, we finally got to witness our first ‘sweaty metal show’ since the world has opened up again. KING 810 came to Europe to celebrate and promote the release of their most recent album K Concerto No. 47, 11th Movement in G Major and they did not come alone. In 2019, KING 810 played the same venue a top the bill of the Never Say Die! Tour, but this time around, the band came with a slightly smaller line-up.

For these shows all across Europe and the United Kingdom, KING 810 were accompanied by CABAL, a heavy act from Denmark, as well as YAVID, the hiphop project from KING 810 vocalist David Gunn and Born A New.

CABAL, who released their latest album Drag Me Down in 2020 and recently released a brand new song Magno Interitus featuring Joe Bad (Fit For An Autopsy), came out swinging with relentless intensity and impressed from the get-go. Drawing inspiration from black and death metal, as well as djent and hardcore, CABAL had something to offer for everyone. Powering through their songs, they might as well have been the main act, judging from the audience’s joyous response and whirling moshpit. I think CABAL are going home with a few new Dutch fans, including ourselves.
With songs being played from their first two albums, CABAL also played the latest single Magno Interitus, as well as yet another new song which has not yet been released. Both new songs sounded exceptional live and left us hungry for more. Hopefully, that album announcement is coming soon! Check out what CABAL’s show looked like in the gallery below and keep reading for our KING 810 coverage!

KING 810 kicked off their set with AK Concerto No. 47, unsurprisingly from the album K Concerto No. 47, 11th Movement in G Major. The band members came on stage, while vocalist David Gunn sang the first song from backstage, before appearing on stage, shrouded in black. The band members also added to the mystique, with their terrifying masks, while the mic stands and backdrop were overloaded with flowers.

The setlist continued with two absolute fan-favourites Alpha & Omega and Murder Murder Murder, all while Gunn still looked like a dementor from the popular movie franchise Harry Potter, adding something mysterious and creepy to the show.

KING 810‘s setlist consisted of a nice mix from the 4 albums that the band has released in their career. Thanos would be proud, ’cause everything was perfectly balanced, with 4 songs being played from each of the albums. In a field with so many heavy music bands, KING 810 have something distinctive, as it turns out not only in their music, but also in their live show. The whole ensemble was impressive and the quality of the music left nothing to be desired.

As the band started a little late (with the line-up being as big as it is), KING 810 didn’t do the traditional encore. Rather, they remained on the stage and ended their performance with another fan-favourite: Killem All. Curious to see what their set looked like? You can check it out in the gallery right below. All photos by Eva van den Bosch.

CABAL

KING 810

CONCERT REVIEW: Parkway Drive Set Amsterdam Ablaze With While She Sleeps & Lorna Shore

It was the show many have been looking forward to for months. Parkway Drive would finally make their triumphant return in The Netherlands after 3 years of absence, and they would bring along their friends in While She Sleeps and Lorna Shore.

Lorna Shore have been making some major waves in the scene since the release of the first single with new frontman Will Ramos: To The Hellfire. As a result, the room was already filled when the first opening act took the stage. While their performance was a tad static, the band’s musical prowess trumped all expectations as they kicked off their set with the aforementioned To The Hellfire, with the audience standing in shock and disbelief as Ramos performed the gnarliest breakdown of all time in phenomenal fashion. The band’s first EP with the new line-up has been very well received and the singles from the upcoming album haven’t killed that hype. The future is looking very well for these talented musicians. Lorna Shore continued to impress with the live renditions of Suneater, Cursed To Die and Into The Earth, making us hyped for the album release later this year.

While the fans were audibly still discussing what they had just witnessed, it was already time for While She Sleeps.

It’s been a fun ride, seeing While She Sleeps progress over the years. Both in songwriting as well as popularity. I remember seeing the band on their co-headliner with Cancer Bats back in 2014 in a small room that was only half full, to now see them as direct support for bands such as Parkway Drive and Bring Me The Horizon, as well as playing huge shows of their own. With an extensive and impressive discography, WSS had their pick of the litter when it comes to compiling a setlist, with big focus on the new releases. Personally I was surprised nothing from Brainwashed or This Is The Six was played this evening, especially as the flags from the Brainwashed era were on stage as part of the decor, but their newer albums SLEEPS SOCIETY, SO WHAT? and 2017’s You Are We were the ‘only’ 3 present on the setlist. While She Sleeps played a great set, with lots of energy and saw frontman Lawrence Taylor crowdsurfing a few times. Bassist Aaran Mckenzie was particularly energetic on stage, jumping around and sweeping up an already rowdy crowd. WSS are always a treat to watch and tonight was no exception.

The night was already made with those 2 incredible artists performing, but of course we had the headliner still to go. The almighty Parkway Drive, who recently unleashed their brand new album Darker Still unto the world and saw mixed reviews from fans and critics alike, as has been the case since IRE. The show started in a unique fashion, with many hooded figures coming onto the stage with torches, slowly building up to the musicians taking their rightful places on stage. Kicking off their extensive set with the debut single off of Darker Still: Glitch. Bad reviews or not, the fans in the packed AFAS LIVE didn’t care, and many were already shouting back the words to the new songs.

When you regularly go to Parkway Drive shows whenever they roll through your town, you have grown accustomed to a certain standard. It must be rough for Parkway Drive to uphold or even surpass that high level of showmanship throughout each tour. This tour didn’t see an upgrade on pyro or pyroworks, but rather upgraded on a more emotional level. With more songs similar to Cemetery Bloom on the setlist, with the title track Darker Still being the best example, Parkway Drive showed how diverse their musical talent is, even bringing a string quartet on stage for the performance of Shadow Boxing and the aforementioned Darker Still. During these shows, the moshpit evaporated and became a quite literal beacon of light, with many fans holding up their phone flashlights. While this is not for everybody, this is the side of Parkway Drive that has come out more with each album release. They are not the same people as they were 20 years ago (obviously) and this is reflected in their music.

This current Parkway Drive tour is one of the best they have had so far, partially due to the insane support acts. Check out the photos from the evening in the gallery below. 

Lorna Shore:

While She Sleeps:

Parkway Drive: