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Castle Party 2013


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Another, exceptional and full of musical sensations, edition of Castle Party festival is over. The biggest drawback of this event every year is the fact that it ends too quickly. The charming character of the place, in a way lofty atmosphere of the castle and most of all music, vibrating with its dark magic and flowing down the Bolków’s streets make it very hard and sad to pack your stuff on Monday morning and come back to reality. But let’s start from the beginning which took place on Thursday 11th July in a form of concerts given in the former evangelical church. However, before we went to the church, we climbed up the castle hill. The weather was rather gloomy and though it might seem to fit the character of the event, it aroused a kind of anxiety. Previous years experience taught everybody not to ignore weather’s whims and still the rainy and cold one does not favour open air events. We were standing in the middle of the empty castle yard, in front of us there was an enormous stage carelessly falling banner. It is an unusual place and every year it surprises me with its unusualness. It’s hard to imagine better place for this dark souls celebration. Already there was a certain excitation in the air, tension connected with countdown the last hours before the festival beginning, it was just ahead of us, in a moment this empty yard would be filled with all shades of black and amazing people on the stage would charm the fans who are coming here very often a long distance. Meanwhile we went down to the church, where a long queue was already waiting. When it comes to the place itself it is not very spacious and rather stuffy and the interior has lost its sacred character completely. We are reminded about being in a church only by the architectural structure. The first band performing on this day was Splendor representing not very well-known genre, namely visual rock. Musicians undoubtedly got the attention thanks to their stage image. In terms of music it was quite interesting although momentarily excessively mannered vocal was just boring. The following band also pays a lot of attention to their image, however creating completely different atmosphere. Victorians, completely immersed in 19th century style of Victorian England, were quite convincing presenting the material with symphonic and operatic elements. Batalion D’Amour resembling Closterkeller in comparison with two previous bands was not the best one. Next, completely different in style, electrifying Das Moon mixing elements of electro and industrial music. And to close Thursday’s concerts Agressiva 69 presenting themselves in a very electronic way.



On Friday the main square in Bolków looked quite worrying, almost empty, as if nothing was happening. From time to time wet Goths flashed by looking for some shelter. Unfortunately the heaviest rain started about 3 pm when Hyoscyamus Niger began their concert on the castle stage. Behind this pretty name there is a Polish band creating somewhere in between electro-darkwave, psychedelic and cold wave. Just after them Japanese, colourful and spontaneous Gothika representing electro and EBM. The next hour belonged to French project Soror Dolorosa. It was a concert in guitar and cold wave manner. After the Freanch the time came for Polish-English project 7JK. The violin combined with warm vocal and electronics gave pretty intriguing effect and virtuoso abilities of Sieben simply delight. Friday evening belonged to really great stars. Being a classic of Czech gothic music, XIII. Stoleti were in a great form giving one of the best festival concerts and despite bad weather they gathered a considerable audience. Being a cult star in Poland, Petr Štěpán along with the band player such hits as "Karneval", "Prokleti domu slunecnic", "Justina", "Fatherland", "Mystery Anna",or "Nosferatu is dead" and unbeatable "Elizabeth" which made the whole audience dance. The vocalist’s voice itself brings to mind the darkness of middle ages, ghosts and haunted castles and in such a scenery it was just the essence of festival atmosphere. The next band on the festival stage was already legendary KAT with Roman Kostrzewski. Despite the fact that their music not really fits the event and the poetry of the lyrics is not that much grandiloquent it is not possible to deny Kostrzewki’s charisma and the band’s abilities to play well. The energy produced on the stage was undoubtedly shared by the audience so this concert may also be described as successful. Unquestionable star and the only master of their kind was Lacrimosa throwing majectic and romantic concert. Tilo Wolff and Anne Nurmi once again proved their class. The concert was the last one of their tour promoting the latest album "Revolution" and among the songs played we could hear "Weil Du Hilfe Brauchst", "If The World Stood Still a Day", "Liebesspiel", "Revolution", "Not Every Pain Hurts", "Alleine zu Zweit", "Ich Verlasse Heut Dein Herz", "Verloren", "Ohne Dich Ist Alles Nichts", "Ich bin der Brennende Komet", "Der Morgen Danach", and for the end "Stolez Herz" and "Lichtgestalt". Lacrimosa, thanks to emotionality of their music and unusual charisma of Tilo Wolff make their concerts magic and unforgettable. A perfect concert work of art.



On Saturday, with better weather, the concerts on the castle stage were initiated by Lecter. The creative output of the band can be placed within the sphere of alternative rock with some elements of electro. This band recently is growing in popularity and indeed appeared to be quite interesting. Equally interesting was also German-French project Noblesse Oblige. What is worth attention most of all is a comprehensive female vocal which is also a kind of exotic element of the whole. The following concert is a comeback to darkwave/gothic atmosphere since on the stage The Breath of Life performed. Actually there was nothing special in this show. Just after them in the similar manner Whispers in The Shadow. The cult The Beauty of Gemina gathered quite a lot of people hypnotizing with his deep voice. The Swiss played among the others "Kings Men Come", "Kingdoms of Cancer", "Suicide Landscape", "Dark Rain", "Last Night Home" or "Shadow Dancer". A completely different sphere of musical experience was offered by the next band, namely Sirrah. The band was renewed not far ago making happy their faithful fans who clearly were also satisfied by the festival concert. It must be said that there is something seductive in the sound of the violin. However, the real mistress of seduction appeared to be Anneke Van Giersbergen who has this rare ability to win over the fans by her amazing openness and charm. Perfect contact with the audience and a perfect concert during which we could also hear the hits from The Gathering period. This frail and warm woman has got a voice which is so powerful and strong that nobody can resist and the festival concert is just another proof of her uniqueness. The setlist included among the others "Strange Machines", "Locked Away", "Too Late", "Saturine", "Beautiful One" or "My Electricity". The Saturday evening ended with a monumental and tremendous concert. Corvus Corax firstly astonished and right then entranced. It is a huge work of art. Meticulously reconstructed historical instruments, musicians’ image and lyrics sung in medieval dialects brought us straight to dark ages and perfectly fitted the castle atmosphere. I guess nobody stayed indifferent since it is music which cannot be resisted. Phenomenal show which was worth admiration not only because of the atmosphere but also because of unusual, timeless strength of the musicians who not only held those heavy instruments all the time but also danced with them and conveyed their energy to the audience.



Sunday belonged to electronic music but before it, the concerts were started by rather average Hatestory. At least in the sphere of image Lolita Komplex was distinguishable, however in the sphere of music, not really. The whole thing seemed to be forced. The next band, Asgaard playing kind of black, doom and gothic metal gathered more people. However, the question aroused if swearing from the stage really makes the concert better. A really good show was performed by German Mono Inc. with a charming drummer. The band had a great fun on the stage which was soon shared by the audience especially during the cover of "The Passenger". A great contact with the audience had also Aestetic Perfection starting the electro marathon. Just after that another successful show by Norwegian Zeromancer. They played among the others "God bless the models", "Flirt with me", "Auf wiedersehen boy", "Photographic" (cover Depeche Mode), "Neo Geisha" or "Clone your lover". There were more and more people on the castle yard and it was almost full during the concert of Icon of Coil which can be described as a minimalistic version of Combichrist. Anyway it was very energetic show. To finish the festival concert on the castle stage British VNV Nation threw a concert with its really positive and charming frontman Ronan Harris. Pleasurable music and unbelievable openness of the vocalist created very optimistic atmosphere and made the mood of everyone better. There are certain bands which can have truly perfect recordings but their live shows are one and the only and VNV Nation surely belongs to them.



In such a way another edition of the festival came to end. It’s hard to believe that it is already over. It should also be mentioned that along with the concert on the castle stage there were also concerts in the former evangelical church where it was possible to hear among the others Percival Schuttenbach, X.Exe, Luna Ad Noctum, Eternal Deformity, Digital Angel, Vic Anselmo and many more. We can only hope that this year will pass as quickly as the last one and soon we go to Bolków again. Meanwhile we already wait for new festival news.
Stay tuned!
Author:
Translator: morrigan
Add date: 2013-08-29 / Live reports


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