Have you heard of End of Green yet? This German band has been fairly active for a decade now and made a very good impression with their latest album "Dead End Dreaming".
Unfortunately, they have never played live in the Netherlands yet, so I was happy to see them in the line-up of the Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig, a festival that I was going to attend anyway. It took some advanced planning skills, but I got there in time, at least that's what I believed. However, the band already started playing earlier, so I missed the first three songs. Their show was very good and their gloomy songs were accompanied by clouds and rain, so that was quite convenient. The band showed confidence on stage and the three guitars gave the music an extra heavy touch, as well as the deep, dark voice of the singer. After the show we had to rush to Lacrimas Profundere, but I was going to see the band the next day for a brunch in a pub called Helheim.
The next morning. Had a good night partying, so it was a real pleasure to get up in time, find some tea to revive myself and go on a quest for Helheim. The place wasn't really hard to find, but it was far outside the city centre, so it took some effort to get there. Once I got there, I noticed that I wasn't the only one who had been partying all night, because the band members didn't look very awake. Maybe their drummer was awake, but he left for Berlin earlier, so I didn't get to see him. Helheim appeared to be a hospitable, nice place with a large collection of heavy metal music and good food, like you are used to in Germany. However, it's not recommended to have a hangover and then have breakfast with Meshuggah blasting out of the speakers...
The first End of Green member I recognised was the guitarist with the red beard, how could anyone miss that? I remembered him still being at the party last night when I left, so I asked him how he felt and well, let's just say it could be better. The other people seemed to be more awake though and I was really surprised about how much they could eat after a hard night. They were satisfied with last night's show and they were looking forward to doing more festivals, metal festivals only, although they agreed with me that End of Green could be successful at mainstream festivals too. Their sound isn't too heavy and the grunge elements would probably do well among regular festival visitors.
Alice in Chains is a band that most of the band members admire, although End of Green sounds a lot more gothic metal. Just don't make the mistake to compare them to Type O Negative, that didn't go down well. Especially the singer was displeased about it and it became clear that the guys really don't like Type O Negative and that they find them utterly boring. Still it can't be denied that the vocals refer to Peter Steele sometimes, although Horst (singer) has much more variety to offer. But he claimed that he got most of his inspiration from a Norwegian gothrock band called Bay Laurel and he told me to check them out. I did and I must admit that they are pretty good, well worth listening to for fans of The Sisters of Mercy and other gothrockers.
We started talking about the new album and I thought it was their third album, but it appeared to be the fifth one already, third one on their current label. They were really happy with the result and when I asked why they haven't played my personal favourite "Cure my Pain", they told me they have and it was the first song of the show, so that was one of the songs I missed. Bad luck for me, so they should play it if they ever come to the Netherlands. They loved the song themselves, so I have no doubt that they will keep this one in the setlist. They told me that the reviews for "Dead End Dreaming" have been very good, except for one... Kerrang magazine had been so kind to write that "it sounds like they are pissing on the grave of Alice in Chains" and that wasn't exactly meant as a compliment. The good thing is that the band could laugh about it now, so they are not frustrated. They were actually quite a happy bunch for a semi-gothband with a band name that symbolises the end of all hope.
After a few glasses of wine and some more talk, the band had to leave for the next festival. I got back with two End of Green matchboxes and a tour poster, just like the other people hanging out in the bar and it was a great start of the day after all. I even missed two concerts, because the brunch took a little bit longer than expected...
End of Green: great guys, great music, go check them out!
official website:
http://www.endofgreen.de
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