MaYaN – CD Release Show
MaYaN – CD Release show @ Tivoli de Helling Utrecht (Netherlands)
Saturday 31 January 2013
It’s always nice and potentially surprising to go to a CD presentation show. The Antagonise show was the second one in two weeks for me, and I reviewed both albums. This made the shows less surprising because I already knew all the new songs. I had the opportunity to listen to the albums beforehand to be able to do the review. However live is something different and the overall experience may change your thoughts and sometimes also your score.
The show was on a well-known venue for metal fans, Tivoli the Helling in Utrecht. It was announced as the official CD presentation show (release data was set January 31) but MaYaN had a try-out the day before at Mezz in Breda. Some in the audience came again to this show and were able to get the album already the day before. For them the show was a reprise but for most the songs were completely new.
For the official show initially Izegrim was programmed as support. They had to be replaced due to very pleasant last minute opportunity. Izegrim was invited for 71,000 Tons of Metal. It’s fully understandable that they used that possibility. X-Tinxion had the challenge to replace them as support.
X-Tinxion’s describes their music as feisty thrash metal: catchy and fast, yet grooving and heavy! Bold drum work, tight riffs and edgy solos, pounding bass lines, grunts, screams and rough melodic vocals. They are also known because of their energetic live shows. This is because of the guitars, the riffs and solos, from the duo Sepp Coeck (guitar) and Conrad Hultermans (guitar) and the great rough vocals of – and what’s in a name -- Monica Janssen. The rhythm section completes the line-up: Haico van Oosten (bass) and double base man Peter van Toren (drums).
After a the demo album, Twisting the Knife, X-Tinxtion self-released a second demo, Act the Injured Innocent. X-Tinxion played only three songs from that demo (marked *); the other songs I couldn’t link to a release. I assume these songs were new. Although a little bit in the dark, the show was indeed very lively and energetic. X-Tinxion definitely had fun and was happy to be on stage. Monica impresses with her screams; her clean vocals were less convincing. They tried to interact with the audience in a good way but the crowd was clearly waiting for MaYaN. At the end some of the energy on stage was brought over to the crowd. All-in all a decent warming-up to the big event.
Set list:
The Divine The New Hive (*)
Genetic Sickness (*)
Destruct & Reanimate
Civilized
Narrow Path
One Foot in the Grave (*)
During the intro MaYAN appeared on stage. It started with the instrumentalists: the newly added Merel Bechtold (guitar), Frank Schiphorst (guitar), Jack Driessen (keys), Ariën van Weesenbeek (drums) and Robin Zielhorst (bass, substitute for Rob van der Loo). The “canned” music opens and after that the show started with full speed and power. Marcela Bovio (Stream of Passion) took care of the female vocals. Mark Jansen came to the stage for the screams and grunts. Still a little strange to see him without a guitar. Henning Basse came when clean vocals were required. That completed the line-up for the first songs. With the first song the crowd was immediately in the energetic mode and reacted enthusiastically to everything that happened on stage.
MaYaN played the complete album Antagonise in the album sequence. I will not repeat the album review so I will focus on some highlights related to the show. First of all the energy of MaYaN was amazing and totally not limited by the too small stage. They had also a lot of fun and were full of confidence. Henning made a mistake when introducing a song and later when the actual song “Devil in Disguise” came he apologized and committed he needs glasses when he wants to read the set list. Marcela did an excellent job, but Floor is difficult to “copy” so she did it her way. At one point in the show the crowd started to shout Merel’s name; it proves that she’s “accepted” as a full member.
We needed to wait a long time for the last member of MaYaN, Laura Macrì (vocals), to appear on stage. Her interpretation of “Insano” with the modest keys of Jack and the violin of guest Dimitri Katsoulis did give you goosebumps.
After that Laura, Marcela, Mark and Henning took care of the vocals and that gave some hints to Therion, only the setting not really the sound.
Another thing to mention that was great to see was a kind of “quatre mains” on two guitars by Merel and Frank. One hand at their own guitar and one hand the other guitar. They had fun and it sounded OK.
With all the band, the four vocalists and Dimitri on the small stage, “Faceless Spies” was a great closure of the Antagonise part.
After a short break the show ended with a set of songs from the first album Quarterpast. The new songs are a little more “mature” than the old ones, but those are great too and were performed with passion. At the end of the set they took their time to thank the enthusiastic audience and already started partying at the stage.
A special word to Ariën. I got his towel after the show. If you look at the special YouTube video that focuses about 10 minutes just on his performance, you will be sure to understand why it was so ‘heavy’. He is an amazing drummer and to use the words of Simone Simons (Epica), he must have an additional battery pack in his ass.
Set list:
Intro: Descry
Bloodline Forfeit
Burn Your Witches
Redemption-TDI
Paladins Of Deceit
Lone Wolf
Devil In Disguise
Insano
Human Sacrifice
Enemies Of Freedom
Capital Punishment
Faceless Spies
War on Terror
Celibate Aphrodite
The Savage Massacre
Bite the Bullet
Outro: Inception
Photos: Sonic Cathedral Facebook
MaYaN was very supportive to MarLeo Video and allowed to film from the light cabin. The footage in HD can be found on YouTube. An example (the beautiful “Insano”).
At the after party there was sufficient time to have a drink and talk with the members of the bands and their support. They all came to the public area. In this case the bar didn’t close but after the CD release show another show was scheduled (different music, different audience) that sadly changed the atmosphere a little. The bands (and the guest performers) stayed for quite a while and fans had sufficient time a get a picture with his/her favorite. I got mine with Laura.
As said in the beginning, the live experience can add something to an album. The quality of the musicians and their passion make that the songs live sound even better than on the album. Antagonise is a great album, but if only a little of the energy on stage was on the album (hard to do for a studio album) it would mean a superb album and with that also a higher score. With the experience of today I should have rated the album a little higher.
