Alcest + Hexvessel + The Fauns @Lido, Berlin

The Fauns (7/10)
Start 19:30 / End 20:45
Surprisingly The Fauns started its show with half hour in advance, in front of a bounce of early comers. Surely a pity for the ones who missed this British quintet. The Fauns debuted in 2009 and released its sophomore album “Lights” at the end of 2013 well welcomed by the public. The Fauns delighted the audience with its really good sound (although some problems at the beginning) based on Shoegaze and Dream Pop. The songs flew smooth one after the other, alternating some slow dreamy pieces with others featured with an impressive wall of sound. Almost any word of the charming front woman Alison Garner, who hypnotized the attendees with her whispered sensual voice. A very good band which, we are sure, will have soon its headliner tour and hopefully with a date here in Berlin.

Hexvessel (7/10)
Start 20:30 / End 21:45
Hexvessel is a Finnish band, even if its frontman Mat McNerney comes originally from England. Its performance was well receipted by the audience, that in the meantime filled the venue Lido. A performance featured by a fresh and quite original sound, based on a well made mix of Psychedelic Folk Rock of the 60s with a mystic attitude reminding the uncontaminated Finnish landscapes. All was enriched by the beautiful voice of McNerney, the guitar work of Simo Kuosmanen and the melodies coming from the violin and trumpet of Kimmo Helén. An interesting band which deserves attention and we hope will continue to surprise the fans with its refined sound.

Alcest (8/10)
Start 21:30 / End 23:00
With a brand new album, “Shelter”, just released some weeks ago, the French band Alcest was expected by the fans with curiosity, because many have tried to imagine, how the new album sonority could match with the old Black Metal style of the band. With “Shelter”, produced by Birgir Jón Birgisson (Sigur Rós), Alcest partly surprised the fans because this process of going beyond Metal has started already in the other works, but only with the new release, where Post-Metal and Shoegaze sublime together in a sound, able to wrap warmly the listener. The result is that Neige could finally take the audience with him to his beloved “Fairy Land”. The setlist was composed by about 5 new pieces and many other old hits as “Percees de Lumiere” and “Souvenirs d’un otre Monde”. The songs, during the show, were the proof how Atmospheric Black Metal can merge together harmoniously with Post-Metal, helped even by the choice of Alcest to use mainly the clean vocals at the place of the raspy ones. The result was an high quality performance, which seemed to be very good received by every fans, even the most Black Metal oriented ones. We have to admit that if we were taken by some melancholy, listening live to the great old pieces, and knowing they won’t come again in the future. Definitely Alcest is a courageous band, which it’s not scare to evolve its sound, and that’s something we can only appreciate.