Live review: Gost and Svart Crown at Stroomhuis, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, March 8th, 2020

On Sunday March the 8th a varied evening was booked in the venue of Stroomhuis in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. The headliners of that evening were the darkwavers of Gost and the evening was opened by the blackened death metallers of Svart Crown. Both bands make music that’s very intense and brutal, but the way they do so clearly differs from each other. I already saw both bands perform live before: Gost in Doornroosje, Nijmegen, of which you can read my live review here, and Svart Crown at Veghel Black Fest in Arnhem, of which you can read my preview as well as my live review here (preview) and here (live review).

I already was present at the Stroomhuis venue quite some time before the show started, because I had an interview with Svart Crown’s JB Le Bail and Clément Flandrois, which you can read here. Outside it was quite cold and unfortunately inside the venue that wasn’t that much better. Svart Crown also noticed that and due to that, and of course to intensify the show experience, they want to get the present audience, unfortunately not that much people showed up for this evening, as close to the stage as possible. Especially frontman/guitarist/vocalist JB Le Bail and guitarist/vocalist Clément Flandrois are making this very clear, already starting as soon as they enter the stage. At that moment they are making clear to the audience to stand up off of the sitting spots in the back of the venue and come closer by shouting and making gestures. That clearly works and contributes to the intense energy of this show. With the huge amount of power that Svart Crown blasts off of the stage they make you notice the cold temperatures less and less while headbanging. As you can read here in my review of Svart Crown’s recently released album, titled Wolves Among the Ashes, its vocal aspect stands out very well with all four band members contributing to the vocals on the album. Live this vocal aspect is also very clearly and powerfully present. Drummer Nicolas “Ranko” Muller only delivers  his very pounding drums tonight, but JB, Clément as well as bass player/vocalist Julien Negro are delivering different vocal styles raging through the speakers tonight. In addition to that, JB and Clément also stand out in the way of delivering those vocals, including very intense looks and powerful poses. A very powerful, intense show that immediately lets you forget the cold temperatures!

After that show the drum kit and guitars make place for a stage more equipped for an electronic show, with more lights, a screen and electronic instruments. However, a bass guitar is also still present, played by Gost’s Carreau, who performs with an intriguing mask. However, Gost’s mastermind Baalberith is most in the center of this show. Unfortunately his vocals during the main part of this show can’t be heard that well. That isn’t due to Baalberith himself though, but seems to have something to do with technical difficulties. The fact that his vocals aren’t to be heard at all, or in a low volume, isn’t benefitting the show. On the moment his vocals do sound clearly audible they do sound very intense. Especially his screams, which he interchanges with clean vocals, are intense as fuck and so are his accompanying looks. Carreau’s bass as well as the lower sounding, electronic parts of Gost’s music are droning through the venue, accompanied by a very fitting lightshow. After the show, which seems to be stopped earlier than planned, the audience is applauding loudly. In my opinion this show unfortunately missed the power that Gost showed at their show in Doornroosje, Nijmegen a few months ago, especially due to the issues around the mix of the vocals.

Unfortunately Gost’s show on this varied evening was a bit disappointing, due to technical issues. Svart Crown’s show was very nice though!

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