Verehrte Leserinnen und Leser!

Gestern Abend war ich mit meinem Vater noch einmal auf einem Konzert. Erstmalig ging es ins Luxor in Köln, eine Mischung aus Kneipe und Konzerthalle, die nur wenigen hundert Menschen Platz bietet. Mein Vater glaubt sich zu erinnern, dass das Luxor früher mal ein Kino war und er dort zu Bundeswehrzeiten das letzte Mal gewesen ist. Etwa vierzig Jahre später war er nun mit mir dort um sich British Lion und Kobra and the Lotus anzusehen.

Kobra and the Lotus starteten relativ zeitig, um etwa 19:15 Uhr. Da hatten wir gerade mal ein Bier getrunken und mein Vater eine Raucherpause gemacht, sodass wir nicht lange warten mussten. Kobra and the Lotus kommen aus Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Das kanadische Quintett um die hübsche Frontsängerin Kobra Paige spielt reinrassigen melodischen Heavy Metal und spielte mit jeder Menge Energie und Leidenschaft. 

Kobra and the Lotus hat die Menge gut eingeheizt und die Fans schnell auf seine Seite gezogen. Die Band spielte ungefähr zehn Lieder und etwa eine Dreiviertelstunde, die wie im Fluge verging. Mir hat die Gruppe sehr gut gefallen. Ich werde sie definitiv im Auge behalten und eventuell irgendwann mal eines ihrer Alben kaufen und hoffe das Quintett auch in Kanada noch irgendwann einmal zu sehen. 

British Lion war ursprünglich eine Band, die Anfang der neunziger Jahre den Gründer und Bassisten von Iron Maiden, Steve Harris, darum bat ihnen ein wenig bei Produktion und Songwriting unter die Arme zu greifen. Daraus wurde allerdings nichts, da Iron Maiden durch eine schwierige Phase ging, sich von Sänger Bruce Dickinson trennte und selbst kurz vor der Auflösung stand. Zudem kamen bei Steve Harris auch private Probleme dazu. Die Band British Lion löste sich ebenfalls auf und das Projekt schien gestorben. Um so überraschender war die Rückkehr der Gruppierung mit einem ersten Studioalbum im Jahr 2012, bei dem Steve Harris nicht nur an Produktion und Songwriting beteiligt war, sondern dort auch Bass spielte und dem Projekt seinen Namen gab.

British Lion bekamen zunächst eher durchwachsene bis schlechte Kritiken, da viele Leute sie natürlich direkt mit Iron Maiden verglichen. Die Band machte sich aber bald einen Namen als leidenschaftliche Liveband und dies konnte das Quintett auch gestern im Luxor bestätigen. In etwa anderthalb Stunden spielte die Band etwa fünfzehn Stücke, darunter nicht nur Lieder vom ersten und einzigen Album, sondern auch sechs neue Lieder und einen Coversong von UFO.

British Lion gaben live alles und haben sowohl meinem Vater als auch mir gut gefallen. Gegen eine christliche Zeit gegen zehn Uhr abends ging es danach mit der Bahn wieder Richtung Heimat. Mein Vater und ich hatten einen tollen Abend gehabt!

Als kleinen Bonus gibt es hier noch jeweils einen Anspieltipp zu jeder Band:

 Kobra and the Lotus

British Lion

Edenbridge has been one of the world's greatest symphonic metal bands in its early career. The band had the talent to mix ambitious symphonic soundscapes, intellectual progressive elements and memorable choruses in songs like "Sunrise in Eden", "Shine" and "The Grand Design" to only name a few potent examples. However, the band has lost steam since the beginning of the decade. The band started to repeat itself and was rarely able to mix the three components mentioned above as efficiently as in its early years. The Bonding presents a band that is still better than the gros of symphonic metal groups but it also can't compete with any of its own first six albums.

Things start promisingly with "Mystic River". It opens with a gripping riff before it gets more ambitious, bombastic and elegant with a great mixture of smooth and vivid passages and Sabine Edelsbacher proves that she is one of this genre's most underrated singers as her enchanting vocals are absolutely unique. Everything seems to lead to an epic finale when the band suddenly starts to fade out the track thirty seconds before it ends. That is possibly the worst ending for such a song. Fade-outs have never been good, are still not good and won't ever be good. It's a lazy and unoriginal way to end a song. If this were the very last song on the album, I could maybe tolerate this but in that case, it becomes the auditive equivalent to a coitus interruptus.

After spoiling the song that would have potentially been the best on this album, Edenbridge delivers a good genre record but fails to add anything new to the formula. "Alight a New Tomorrow" is the potential single focused on a strong chorus, garnished with exotic folk soundscapes and dramatic symphonic elements but the guitar riffs are bland and exchangeable. "Star-Crossed Dreamer" has a very appropriate title because it's a smooth ballad with classical soundtrack elements but it misses an emotional climax. "Death Is Not the End" is another ballad that comes around with wonderfully played acoustic guitars and piano parts and soothing vocals but it once again misses a climax, overstays its welcome and ends with another vapid fade-out. Every song on this record has many positive elements which is mostly due to creative multi-Instrumentalist Lanvall and Edelsbacher's fascinating vocals. However, each song has some songwriting issues and fails to get to the point. The title track "The Bonding" once again exemplifies my thesis. It features haunting atmospheric parts and strong melodies but clearly overstays its welcome with a length beyond fifteen minutes.

If Edenbridge wants to reclaim the genre throne, three things need to be done. First of all, less can be so much more. The songwriting needs to be more concise, the songs should be shorter and get faster to the point. Secondly, the band needs to find the perfect balance between symphonic, progressive and catchy elements again and this can only work by trying out new things and challenging itself instead of sticking to the formula of past glory. The idea to invite some skilled guest singers is already a good one, the guitar riffs could be heavier and the rhythm section should also be more involved to make for a more organic sound. Thirdly, the band has to find more original ways to finish its songs. fade-outs or abrupt endings aren't acceptable for experienced songwriters. A bombastic climax on one side or a smooth coda are options that should be explored more often.

In the end, The Bonding is a good album but it's also a little bit frustrating because the band has the potential to be so much better. Genre fans and faithful followers of the band should grab this release but anyone else should discover the band's early records such as Sunrise in Eden, Aphelion and Shine first.

Final rating: 70%

I got a lot of angry feedback regarding my review for Beyond the Black's debut record Songs of Love and Death because I called this band an exchangeable plastic product centered around an egoistic singer who had already started her career in a teenage pop band at the tender age of fifteen. Some people told me that my judgement was too harsh and unprofessional, others said I shouldn't review this kind of music and go listen to something else and others said I should give this band another chance. Recently, a close friend of mine spoke positively of this band and a close family member even bought the new album and was very enthusiastic about it. I'm always open to change my mind, so here I am giving Beyond the Black a second chance.

First things first, everything I mentioned in my first review proved to be absolutely right. Even though the cover of the album seems to suggest that Beyond the Black is a real band and not only centered around singer Jennifer Haben, the lead vocalist decided to kick her whole band out shortly after the release of this record. The five men that had helped her kickstart her career weren't allowed to make any comments and Jennifer Haben herself justified this split by saying that Beyond the Black was her baby and nobody else's. She started auditions to chose new associates soon after the album was released. These events only prove that Beyond the Black was never a band but a plastic product centered around an overambitious woman who used her bandmates for her very own purposes. A closer look at the line-up for this release even reveals that the former band members weren't much involved in the creative process of this album. A total of sixteen guest musicians and singers participated, including big names such as Herbie Langhans, Sascha Paeth, Michael Rodenberg, Amanda Somerville and Cloudy Yang. All these people have been involved in Tobias Sammet's Avantasia project which can also be described as an assimilation compilation rather than an actual band with heart and soul. In order to raise sales figures even further, the tour edition of this record, released in two different versions less than a year after the original release, includes the Official Wacken Hymn 2015 as well as the song for a German movie called "Die Ketzerbraut" that received massive airplay and promotion and which features Jennifer Haben as a side character. Beyond the Black has become a prime example for aggressive capitalism, clever marketing strategies and plastic pop disguised as symphonic metal.

As much as any fan of authentically crafted music with heart and soul should despise the story behind Beyond the Black, this review only takes the final product into consideration. From that point of view, Lost in Forever is an improvement over Songs of Love and Death. While the predecessor openly copied bands such as Within Temptation, the sophomore output has a more authentic and distinctive sound centered around Jennifer Haben's soft, emotional and catchy vocals. It's also obvious that a lot of genre experts were involved in the creative process of this record because nearly every song has a catchy hook that would make for a great single with a lot of radio airplay. One can't deny that the songwriting is very professional and will attract new fans to the band, especially younger female audiences who can identify with the lyrics and image of the band. The atmospheric, bombastic and dramatic opening title track "Lost in Forever" won't get out of your mind. Up next comes a melodramatic duet with Masterplan's Rick Altzi whose raw and romantic vocals harmonize very well with Jennifer Haben's enchanting performance in "Beautiful Lies". "Halo of the Dark" comes around with campfire acoustic guitars and dreamy orchestrations to evolve into an emotional gothic ballad for rejected loners. Again, this type of music isn't anything new and reminds me of Evanescence and similar acts fifteen years earlier but the songs are more focused, skilled and unique than the material on the predecessor and Jennifer Haben slowly develops her own style. Lost in Forever loses steam towards the end and has some repetition here and there as seventeen or even just thirteen tracks are a little bit too much to keep a constant quality level. On the other side, I have to admit that the album is listenable and even features a handful of truly well-crafted tracks.

It's up to you to decide whether you want to support a commercial plastic product like Beyond the Black. Concerning the music however, Beyond the Black delivers a very solid job. If you like melodic symphonic metal or commercial gothic metal in the key of early Evanescence and Within Temptation, you will love Lost in Forever. Since bands of this type have become a rarity or have lost their quality nowadays, Beyond the Black has spotted a market niche and receives more attention than it actually deserves.

Final rating: 70%

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Thirteenth episode: What story is that, Charlie? / The Return, Part XIII

Content: The Mitchum brothers bring Bushnell gifts at Lucky 7 Insurance. Duncan Todd orders Tony to kill Dougie. Cooper's doppelgänger arrives at a building in Montana where Ray and a gang await him. He kills the gang boss, and Ray tells him Philip Jeffries ordered Cooper's doppelgänger dead, and that a prison guard gave him a ring. After obtaining coordinates from Ray, he kills him. Richard Horne is also in the building and observes Cooper's Doppelgänger killing Ray. The ring and Ray's spirit appear in the red room, where MIKE picks up the ring. The Fusco brothers refuse to believe Dougie's fingerprint analysis. Tony asks the corrupt policemen for poison to kill Dougie. Hutch and Chantal drive through Utah. Tony poisons Dougie's coffee, but dumps it out and confesses his collusion with Todd to Bushnell. Big Ed and Bobby have dinner at the Double R, watching Norma meet with Walter, who has helped her franchise her business. Nadine and Jacoby meet for the first time in seven years. Sarah Palmer watches a loop of a boxing match at home. Audrey tells Charlie she doesn't know who or where she is and can't leave the house. Renee cries while watching James perform at the Roadhouse. Big Ed lights a piece of paper.

Analysis: The fact that Richard Horne Comes to the place where Evil Cooper kills Ray seems to prove that Evil Cooper is actually Richard Horne's father. They could team up and become very dangerous along with Hutch and Chantal. Another thing I have observed is Audrey Horne's state of confusion. Maybe she got infected by an evil spirit when Evil Cooper raped her. Audrey Horne acts differently from the first two seasons and such a possession by an evil spirit would explain this radical change. An important element to observe in this episode is time. Sarah Palmer's television seems to have interferences and loops a short part of a boxing match over and over again. Since we know that the spirits from the Black Lodge travel and communicate through electricity and time, this could mean that Sarah Palmer's house is used as a portal by evil spirits. It's also possible that she is a vehicle for those spirits herself which would confirm my theory that she is the girl from the eighth episode. Another element related to time is the fact that Bobby Briggs mentions that the police has just found a message from his father when he comes to the Double R Diner. However, this has happened several episodes earlier and Bobby Briggs has already been to the Double R Diner to talk to Becky and Shelly before. However, the way he talks about his father's message sounds as if it had just happened. This could mean that this series isn't chronological at all. I don't think this is a coincidence. Maybe the portal to the Black Lodge is opening up and not only influencing machines via electricity and people by making them feel more aggressive, confused and emotional, but also by influencing the space-time continuum. Perhaps the entire town of Twin Peaks is caught in a loop and cut from reality because of the Black Lodge. Something similar might have happened in New York and South Dakota which explains the gruesome murders that nobody could explain. In all other places such as Montana, Nevada and Utah, the space-time continuum doesn't seem to be affected. Maybe the conclusion of this third season could lead to the fact that all characters in Twin Peaks travel back twenty-five years in the past and continue to live in an undisturbed space-time continuum. This would be a happy ending since all characters of the first two seasons have changed for the worse. In the cases of Audrey Horne or Doctor Jacoby, These changes seem obvious but even those who seem to be successful such as Bobby Briggs and Big Ed have lost the loves of their lives and don't seem as happy as they could be. A return in time would mean a second chance for everyone. This could also be the moral of the series: take your chances, enjoy every day and don't let yourself down.

Description: One great sequence doesn't make a great episode yet. While the sequence involving Cooper's doppelgänger, Ray and the gang of criminals was a highlight of this season, this episode also had several repetitive and redundant moments. I wasn't impressed by Big Ed's return on screen at all, the meeting between Doctor Jacoby and Nadine Hurley was just awkward, the conversation between Becky and Shelly seemed pointless, the scene involving Sarah Palmer overstayed its welcome and even the conversation between Audrey and Charlie that gave this episode its tagline could have been a little bit more fleshed out. Thanks to a great opening half and several interesting elements to analyze, this episode isn't the weakest of the new season but it came very close.

Favorite scene: The entire sequence involving Cooper's Doppelgänger, Ray and the gang of criminals was absolutely brilliant and a highlight of this episode and the entire season. The acting was stunning, we got some important background information and the atmosphere was very tense.

Rating: 7/10