### Mnemic, M.A.N, Maramon, 2006-09-24

#### 29/09/06 || Lord K Philipson

Location: Satin, Örebro, Sweden.

Club Aska, the one club that brings metal to Örebro, Sweden, in live-form (and yes, the very club I’m involved in) debuted our fall schedule with the triple M-package. Denmark’s Mnemic headlined, Sweden’s M.A.N and Maramon supported. We hoped for a good turnout as far as people goes but weren’t expecting too much except for some competent metal being delivered. So, what did it come down to in the end? Some 200+ fans of heavier music turned up and seemed to enjoy themselves. A suprising amount of ugly chicks were present as well. We had sex with them all.

Maramon’s a local band that I have only heard one song (“Me, myself, I”) by before this night (they even have a video of this tune, go find it). Despite having a quite faggy-looking vocalist as far as movement and gestures on stage go, they pulled off a good show, for sure. Maramon’s melo-nu-semi-death (did I just come up with a new genre?) is all fine, though nothing spectacular whatsoever. I was somewhat impressed with their performance though. One thing that completely struck me was their backingvocalist/bassist’s (former member of Within Reach) way of delivering some excellent vocals, both clean and screamy. Impressive shit. The band had a decent following and obviously some of the crowd even knew the lyrics to their songs, which was suprising. I can’t see this band being on to something huge though since the market for this kind of music is quite flooded. A good enough show anyways and definitely better than what I expected. I still hate guitarist Henrik for stealing my Deutschland Zippo.

M.A.N’s got Tony Jelenkovich doing vocals. If that name rings a bell it’s becoz he’s been in a fuckload of bands such as Transport League and a million others in the past. M.A.N is his latest offering and they pretty much follow the style of music he’s been doing for years. Newer metal with the bouncy verses and catchy riffs that goes with it. Nothing new, not better than anything else out there, but still good enough material to make a fine show. While the music might not be the best thing since ham on pizza, Tony sure is one completely awesome frontman and vocalist. One of these days I want him to sing on somehting I do. That’s how good he is. Can’t say I’m very familiar with their material but it doesn’t matter all that much. This show gave me a good memory and if Tony manages to keep this band together they might stir up some attention. I don’t know if it’s deserved musically, but I wish success for Tony himself for serving metal for ages and for being a fucken killer guy. Competent performance without a doubt.

Mnemic, where mentioned Tony actually sang for a short while, hails from Denmark and loves to play modern, technical metal with the best of them. I never liked them to silly extents on their albums, but live is another story. They really pulled off a tight as fuck set and put the evening’s best show on display. The drumkit took up half of the stage, and I think that’s very metal. I can’t name a single Mnemic song and it all sounded the same to me live, but you could tell the guys were having fun. Ex-Scarve vocalist, Guillermo or something like that, had a nice connection with the audience and the insane helicopter-banging by one of the guitarists was something to remember. The cap wearing other guitarist was not a hella lot to look at. Bassist O’Beast was awesome in all areas. On stage or off stage, doesn’t matter. A genuine guy he is. About the mentioned helicopter banging… It’s impressive to play the kind of music Mnemic does and get that shit going while doing it. I suspected Mnemic to be good on stage and I definitely got my money’s worth in that area. And since I’m one of the promotor’s, I got in for free ofcourse so that sentence just doesn’t sound right.

Wrap up: Maramon and M.A.N gets a 7 out of 10 for their gigs. Mnemic gets 7,5.

Highlight of the night 1: The afterparty we had with selected members of Mnemic and M.A.N. Guess who were the last guys standing?

Club Aska vs The Bands = 1-0.

Highlight of the night 2: TPH/2 Ton Predator/United Machinery guitarist Petter S Freed answering a knock on the door to the dressing room in appromiximately 200 km/h. Slamming the door right fucken open at insane speed, knocking out the guy outside the door. Namely the Mnemic vocalist.

Petter S Freed vs Insanity = 0-1.