On the second day of the Freak Frequenz festival organised by Black Speech Productions and Devilicious Couture at Le Ferrailleur, we knew the atmosphere was going to get darker. Heavy clouds hovered over the venue and a light rain put us in the mood to dive back into the electro/industrial frenzy of the lovingly-curated line-up, which combined new and emerging projects with cult artists.
MATT HART
Well, you know, we're talking about darkness and all that, but it's true that the evening began with Matt Hart, the gentleman with the famous moustache whose enthusiasm and energy have already made him a familiar face on the European industrial scene. His blend of EBM, industrial metal and dark electronica in the broadest sense is all about efficiency: it's catchy, the choruses are easy to remember, and the man gives his all to win over an audience that's just discovering him. Although he's usually accompanied by a guitarist, that wasn't the case this time round, but Steve Nine on synth (seen in particular with Alien Vampires) prevents the Londoner from appearing on his own, and he too is brimming with the same infectious energy.
The concert went on like a well-oiled machine, from the countdown on the screen to Terrorfying, lining up tracks like the recent Black Abyss anthem, Rotations or Gone to Shit with its very Nitzer Ebb tension. Heavy guitars, martial rhythms, chanted lyrics that leave a lasting impression: Matt Hart ticks all the boxes for a performance that works, whether you're familiar with his futuristic universe or not. But his greatest strength is the sympathy he radiates, the impression that he's delighted to be here, that he's having fun: how could you resist when, courageously, he launches into an acrobatic attempt to pronounce ‘le Ferrailleur’ and all its quirks at the end of the show, which must have seemed quite obscure to non-French speakers? Thank you le Fwreuyayé, it was so cool!
ANTANIA
Here we are, now the fun is over. Setting foot in Europe for the first time, Antania travelled in the luggage of Psyclon Nine (also a first for us) and, after the Paris date of the day before, the duo came to plummet the atmosphere in Nantes. A mix of doom & bass and guttural vocals borrowed from extreme metal, with lyrics about serial killers and sordid news stories: it's heavy, heavy, creepy and even a quite mystical.
On the show side, Antania play on both the minimalism of their set-up (Doc Luna on machines, Kali Mortem on vocals) and the eerie presence exuded by their costumes. The singer, a mysterious figure with a macabre aura, masks herself behind a funerary veil, and neither of them will show their faces for the whole show. With their crushing, bass-heavy approach, the duo modernise dark electro and spice things up with pachydermic riffs: it's hard-hitting and uncompromising... Their radical choice of set design sometimes makes us regret the absence of a little something extra, a screen for example, to give the audience, deprived of faces to focus on, an extra push to penetrate this universe. In any case, Antania can't be accused of repetition or lack of personality: you don't go there to dance, you go there to be shrivelled up, which suits us just fine.
PSYCLON NINE
At last! In almost 25 years of existence, Psyclon Nine had never played in Europe. There was one cancelled gig several years ago, but that was it. One of the pioneers of the mix between black metal and dark electro, this cult project from Nero Bellum was the major event of this second edition of Freak Frequenz. So, what does Psyclon Nine looks like live? Well, it looks very well!
It's obviously Nero who gets all the attention. With his make-up, contacts, clawed gloves and theatrical gestures, he has all the makings of a demonic, grimacing gargoyle, and knows how to play it up. He's backed up by Jon Siren on drums (who's worked with IAMX, Frontline Assembly, Mankind is Obsolete, Dawn of Ashes...) and Todd Buller on guitar and machines.
Psyclon Nine put on a great show. If we were wondering what the setlist would be like, given the evolution of the project (first towards a more metal sound, then towards a more atmospheric rendering on the latest and very good Less to Heaven), we're in for a treat: there's something for everyone. Divine Infekt, Parasitic, Better Than Suicide and Behind a Serrated Grin take us back twenty years ago, alongside the gloomy peaks of recent tracks See You All in Hell and Money and Sex and Death, with their trap and dark ambient inspirations and furious explosions.
As the set drew to a close, although the room wasn't packed to the rafters, the band seemed to have had a good time, so they played the predictable encore and stepped out of character to warmly thank the audience... Come on, let's make a bet: we won't have to wait another twenty years to see them again!
DIVINE SHADE
The tension has died down. You can breathe a little easier in Le Ferrailleur, which has emptied out considerably. But there's still one concert left, and once again the programme is classy, with Divine Shade, an estimable industrial rock project from Lyon... but with a twist! It's a solo set, with Rémi Thonnerieux defending his work alone, torn between his machines.
Inevitably, it sounds less rock than usual. The hard-edged energy that Divine Shade usually generates live mutates into a kind of cold minimalism that relies more on elegance than visceral rage. It's a first for the artist, but we suspect he's already a bit familiar with the process, thanks to his techno/darkwave side-project Ren Toner. If he can't let go that easily, he takes us on board, aided by dark lights and clouds of smoke, into his nuanced universe. We particularly appreciate the sombre poetry of Oublier and its French text, or the introspective mood of Stars, which lend themselves very well to this more sober setting. This restrained melancholy is a perfect conclusion to the festival, a good way to come down with the frenetic intensity of Psyclon Nine but also to find the coolness of the night as you leave the venue...
... Unless you want to prolong the pleasure with a little DJ set. After all, we're in a good place, there's good rum in the bar (and Ferrailleur is located on Quai des Antilles...), there's a good crowd in the room, we can chat and enjoy the event a little longer.
On the turntables, Max and Zoé from Herrschaft kick off their set with the latest single from the industrial metal band, Aphrodite. It's the perfect opportunity to mark the occasion and, for Max, to start a frenetic dance... before he gets his feet caught in some of the junk left on stage, prompting him to calm things down. Bad Omens and Poppy, Combichrist... There's plenty to keep you awake. And while the night owls are having a good time, we sincerely hope that, despite the drop in attendance, Black Speech will be able to offer us another edition. Of course, with Suicide Commando, Hocico or Combichrist, it would have filled up more easily, and that would have been fine. But we've seen it all before. Instead, we got to see artists who'd never been to France before, some of whom we'd been waiting over 20 years to see, as well as keep abreast of future trends on the scene with a few projects that will be making a name for themselves in the years to come. The line-up was as varied as it was high quality, and avoided taking the easy way out... In short, everything you could ask for. A class act. To support the initiative, you can make a donation to the association and, who knows, come back to the banks of the Loire one day as part of this very enjoyable mini-festival!
